In all of major league baseball history, going back well over a hundred years, there has been only a handful of pitchers who have won 30 or more games in a single season.
That very short list includes names like Cy Young, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and Dizzy Dean.
And .. the last to do it — righthander Denny McLain.
It was on September 14th, 1968 that McLain, pitching for the Detroit Tigers, struck out ten to notch his 30th win of the season.
Fast forward 20 years, almost to the day — that’s when I met him.
So here now, from 1988, Denny McLain.
Denny McLain swept the 1968 American League MVP and Cy Young awards and won the Cy Young winner in 1969 as well, before his career imploded after rotator cuff issues.
But Denny McLain, who is 76 now, baseball’s last 30-game winner, never did make it to the Hall of Fame.