I Told You I Wasn't PerfectFrom being the only 30-game winner in more than 70 years to having the Gambino crime family order a hit for your murder, Denny McLain has surely seen it all: RICO charges from the U.S. government to touring the country as a popular musician playing on national TV and the Las Vegas strip before becoming a close jail-house friend to John Gotti Jr. I Told You I Wasn’t Perfect allows the former All-Star pitcher to share his cautionary tale with generations of baseball. In 1968, McLain set the baseball world on fire by being the first pitcher to win at least 30 games since Dizzy Dean 34 years earlier. But just two years later he was banned from the game for half a season, traded away to the laughing-stock Washington Senators where he entered into a never-ending battle with baseball icon Ted Williams. By 1972, he was a retired star, hustling games of golf. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he was in and out of prison for charges including racketeering, loan-sharking, extortion, cocaine possession, and fraud before being included in wide-sweeping RICO charges that tried to connect him to Gotti and the violent underworld of the mafia. In this moving autobiography, McLain reveals how his desire for excitement and attention led directly to his downfall from being a popular public image and cost him his marriage, which has since been reconciled and remarried. |
From inside the book
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Page 87
... Joe Sparma had a 4-2 lead in the seventh . With two out and one on , Joe Foy bounced one back to Sparma , who muffed it , allowing Foy to reach first safely . Ken Harrelson stepped up and blasted a three - run homer to put the Sox up 5 ...
... Joe Sparma had a 4-2 lead in the seventh . With two out and one on , Joe Foy bounced one back to Sparma , who muffed it , allowing Foy to reach first safely . Ken Harrelson stepped up and blasted a three - run homer to put the Sox up 5 ...
Page 143
... Joe Sparma , whose locker and house were both next to mine , and our kids played together . May represented Sparma , and Sparma convinced me to take him on . Joe was a bright guy who'd played some quarterback for Woody Hayes . May had ...
... Joe Sparma , whose locker and house were both next to mine , and our kids played together . May represented Sparma , and Sparma convinced me to take him on . Joe was a bright guy who'd played some quarterback for Woody Hayes . May had ...
Page 172
... Joe Sparma , or Earl Wilson— McLain called a Detroit radio man and said : " Hey , I'll give you a scoop - I'm pitching tomorrow . Mayo already has told me . " He wanted to put one over on the Free Press . every- As I explained earlier ...
... Joe Sparma , or Earl Wilson— McLain called a Detroit radio man and said : " Hey , I'll give you a scoop - I'm pitching tomorrow . Mayo already has told me . " He wanted to put one over on the Free Press . every- As I explained earlier ...
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All-Star asked ball baseball beat Bill Freehan bullpen called cell changeup Charlie Charlie Dressen Chicago club clubhouse cops cortisone cortisone shots Cy Young Award Denny McLain Detroit Dressen dugout Egan f*ck f*cking fans fastball Freehan gambling gave going gonna Gotti Jr guys hell hitters hurt inmates jail Jim Campbell Joe Sparma Kaline kids knew Koufax Kristin Kuhn looked loved major league manager Mantle Mayo Mayo Smith McKean Mickey Lolich Mintline mound never night Norm Cash Northrup Orioles Peet pennant pension Pepsi pitch pitcher play players prison Red Sox Sandy Koufax season Sharon shit Shorthorn shutout Smigiel Sparma Sports Illustrated spring training started story strikeouts talk tell thing thought threw throw Tiger Stadium told took two-run homer Waldmeir walked wanted week White Sox World Series writers Yankees