Denny and the Mick

Detroit’s Denny McLain wins his 31st game of the 1968 season 55 years ago today, beating the New York Yankees 6-2 at Tiger Stadium.

That historic win – no pitcher wins as many games since then – quickly becomes a secondary storyline to the game within the game.

With little doubt as to the outcome, McLain decides to have a little fun in the eighth inning.

As the story goes, McLain has his catcher, Jim Price, tell the once-great, but now-fading Mickey Mantle that he plans to throw him nothing but straight, BP-slow fastballs.

Seems McLain, sensing Mantle is in the final season of a Hall of Fame career, wants to give Mantle a nice parting gift before a Thursday afternoon crowd of 9,063 in Detroit.

Initially, Mantle does not believe what Price is telling him, only to have McLain reinforce his commitment to throw nothing but hit-me-hard fastballs.

Something that Mantle could hit out of the ballpark.

Finally convinced, Mantle proceeds to deposit McLain’s 0-2 fastball, such as it is, into the right-field stands for his 535th career homer, moving him past Jimmie Foxx and into third place behind only Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the all-time list.

McLain eventually gets to be involved in another parting gift, well sort of, just a few years later.

Exactly one week shy of the fourth anniversary of his gift homer to Mantle in 1968, McLain – by then mightily toiling with the Atlanta Braves – faces the final three batters of his meteoric career as he works the top of the ninth inning of a 4-4 game against the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 12, 1972 at Fulton County Stadium.

There, he promptly allows a leadoff homer to Cesar Geronimo, a single to pinch-hitter Joe Hague and another single to Pete Rose – the 7,719th and final batter McLain faces in his major league career.

Oh, yeah, McLain loses that final game to the Reds 7-5.