Denny McLain Is A Bitter, Bitter Man

Former Tigers pitcher, and the last man to win 30 games in a season, Denny McLain is angry. That much is obvious to anybody who has read his new autobiography I Told You I Wasn't Perfect, written with Eli Zaret.

It's the third autobiography McLain has written about his life, proving that he loves himself just as much as he hates everybody else. To be fair, McLain says a lot of negative things about himself in the book but saves some of his harshest criticisms for his teammates from the 1968 World Series champion Detroit Tigers.

On Hall of Famer Al Kaline:

"As respectfully as I can say about a Hall of Fame player, Kaline wasn't the most loved SOB in the clubhouse, and we did win the pennant without him. Our guys resented Kaline for turning down a $100,000 salary when Jim Campbell offered to put him on par with the top players in the game. While the media played him up as a hero for being so modest, we all knew that it cost us serious dough."

On Tigers manager Mayor Smith:

"Mayo drank so much that it usually took him three or four innings to sober up and get his head into the game."

McLain also has some words for his fellow pitcher Mickey Lolich, whom he once left in Washington D.C. after the 1969 All-Star Game.

"Overwhelmingly jealous. I was the last guy he wanted to see win 30 games."

"What a (expletive) baby, that Lolich. There are a thousand flights a day from Washington to Detroit. The league paid for his first-class transportation back to Detroit, and Mickey should have kept his mouth shut."

I would say something about what an A-hole McLain seems to be, but frankly I find the fact that he's so bitter about all of this 40 years after it happened to be incredibly sad, and I kind of feel sorry for him.