Denny McLain on Alcohol and the Mile High Club

Denny McClain is a lot of things: ~~a Hall of Famer,~~ the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season, a convict, a recovering alcoholic ... and these days, a blogger. The former Tigers pitcher is now writing for the Britannica Blog, where he touched upon the Josh Hancock tragedy by looking at how players treated alcohol in his heyday:

Our '68 team had a number of heavy drinkers and several who were serious problem drinkers. In fact, Norm Cash, my roommate Ray Oyler, and our manager, Mayo Smith, all died prematurely and all three were alcoholics. The best place to get high on booze was a Major League clubhouse.

But the clubhouse wasn't the only place to enjoy some post-game hijinks ...

When I was a rookie on the Tigers, we were traveling on a DC-6, a four-engine propeller airplane and the First Class section of the plane was in the rear, away from coaches, managers, and others who didn't need to know. The section had a round card table and a couch around it for about six guys and a United Airlines blanket. Many a willing stewardess found her way under the blanket with one of her drunken sporting heroes. You would be shocked at who made their way under the blanket.

Good times were had by many, and "United" was certainly an appropriate name for our plane because there was a fair amount of "uniting" going on thanks to the lowering of inhibitions due to alcohol.

So ... yeah. I bet you weren't expecting to read about a good ol' fashioned mile-high orgy today, were you? Not to be lost in the humor of McLain's post is his actual point, that alcohol can be a very dangerous drug, one that cost him the lives of not only some former teammates but also his daughter, who was killed by a drunk driver. But if it takes a little sex to spice up the message to make sure people actually hear it, it's fine by me.

(via master equestrian Dan Steinberg at the D.C. Sports Bog, courtesy of Ballhype)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-22-2007 @ 5:31PM

Matt W. said...

Thanks for the correction, BigDaddySteve. I'm a Tigers fan, I should have gotten that right.

5-22-2007 @ 5:47PM

BigDaddySteve said...

Matt,
I too am Tigers fan--I grew up in Garden City, some 12 miles west of downtown. My first game was game one of the 1968 World Series --- McLain vs. Bob Gibson. At three, it was one helluva way to start my love of the Tigers, and the great game of baseball.
I spent many a warm night at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull --- even in the bad times.
35-50 games a year from the early eighties until 2002 when I relocated to Omaha, Nebraska to persue my career in journalism. Love those "Fans" that couldn't be bothered with the lowly Tigers-- the lovable losers, stuck in Hockeytown.
Last year, they started flocking back to Comerica with their heads high, and chests out as "Lifetime Tigers Fans" reclaiming their team. These are the same people that spend the entire game either standing in line for a beer, or going to the john.
Diehard fans-- when it counts, can't be bothered any other time. I sat through the 100 loss seasons, the laughs and giggles when I wore my old English D jersey from fantasy camp ( Yes, I spent $2500 to play at Tiger Stadium in 2000, and it was well worth it, baby! Three days of Heaven on Earth, Thanks Jerry Lewis, camp director!)

This is MY team -- no need to reclaim what's always been mine. Good or bad, Worlde Series Champs or runners up, I'm there with you boys. DETROIT FANS are the best, folks. Like everywhere else, bandwagoners exist --just less here.