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BY GEORGE CANTOR
DETROIT FREE PRESS — Sunday, September 15, 1968 — The Tigers won Denny McLain his 30th game Saturday and sent goose pimples down the back of the entire country.
Roaring from behind in the ninth inning, just like they’ve done all year, Detroit pulled it out for McLain in a win-it-or-bust rally, 5-4.
The victory made McLain the first man to win 30 games in 34 years, as the whole country and 44,087 fans at Tiger Stadium watched the drama unfold in spellbound fascination.
Willie Horton capped the two-run surge by belting a drive just out of the reach of pulled-in left-fielder, Goose Gosger, to knock in Mickey Stanley, and touch off the wildest scene at Tiger Stadium in 30 years.
Detroit had to pull it off because McLain was removed for a pinch hitter in the inning. If the team had merely tied the game, the decision would have been in the hands of another pitcher and Denny would have had to wait until next Wednesday.
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But as Stanley danced across the plate, the Tiger dugout exploded, led by McLain. First they mobbed Stanley at the plate, then the entire team rushed to grab Horton. Stanley finally picked up McLain bodily and hauled him off the field.
But the fans wouldn’t go home. They stood at their seats yelling for McLain until the pitcher came back on the field to take a bow.
Even then, several hundred fans stayed outside the Tiger clubhouse chanting “We Want Denny” long after the players had gone.
Going for the 30 victories was supposed to be drama enough. But the way it all ended made the affair vaguely unreal–as if McLain would suddenly strip-off his false face, reveal that he was really Paul Newman and the whole thing was a gigantic Hollywood put-on.
Reggie Jackson, the young Oakland rightfielder, looked as though he was going to steal the spotlight from Denny. He belted two homers, cut down one runner at the plate and made a leaping catch in right personally to account for the 4-3 score as the Tigers came up in the ninth.
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Diego Segui, who had entered the game in the fifth, had choked off Detroit on three singles. The only runs scored on a three-run Norm Cash homer in the fourth that had given Detroit a brief lead.
But Al Kaline came up to bat for McLain to start the ninth inning and worked Segui for a 3-2 walk.
Dick McAuliffe fouled off two sacrifice bunts and finally fouled out to third baseman Sal Bando in front of a silent Detroit dugout.
But Stanley ripped a solid single right over second base as Kaline, showing no trace of his leg injury, darting around to third.
The next hitter was Jim Northrup. He tapped a slow roller down the first base line, and in the game’s biggest play, Kaline broke for the plate.
Danny Cater raced in for the ball and made an off balanced throw that sailed over the head of catcher Dave Duncan, Kaline and Duncan collided with Kaline scrambling for the plate on his hands and knees to score as Stanley galloped to third.
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HORTON came up and Segui took him to a 2-2 count. All the Oakland players were drawn in close for a play at the plate to cut off the potential winning run.
Willie hit one that Gosger would have caught if he had been playing in normal depth–but Stanley would have scored anyhow after the catch.
Horton was given a single on the hit–which was the most ignored scoring decision of the year. No one would have cared less among the worked up Tigers.
The A’s took an early 2-0 lead in the fourth on Jackson’s first homer following a Cater single.
But Cash connected in the Detroit half of the inning off Chuck Dobson behind a walk and Horton’s single.
The lead lasted only until Oakland came to bat in the fifth. McLain walked Duncan to lead off. He was bunted to second and Bert Campaneris tied the score with a single to left.
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THEN JACKSON unloaded in the sixth to give Oakland the lead. It was his 28th of the year and the 30th off McLain. For a while, it looked as that were to be the only 30 Denny would reach Saturday.
Segui, who was beaten by a Bill Freeman homer in the 10th on Detroit’s visit to Oakland two weeks ago, was a tough customer. When he got Gates Brown with two on in the eighth, it seemed as he would make it all the way.
But the ninth inning turned him into a loser.
McLain wound up giving up six hits, walking just one and striking out 10. That brought his strikeout total to 265, just 10 short of Hal Newhauser’s club record.
That will be his next mark when he starts again, probably Wednesday night against the Yankees.
And almost forgotten in the general hilarity following the game–the victory reduced the magic number to four, Detroit wins or Baltimore loses, for the Tigers winning the pennant.
Detroit Free Press, 9/15/1968; Copyright 2021; Newspapers.com
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DETROIT FREE PRESS: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1968
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BASEBALL REFERENCE: For the complete Oakland A’s vs. Detroit Tigers September 14, 1968 game-day box score and stats — click HERE
ERNIE HARWELL / RAY LANE | COMPLETE GAME | SEPT. 14, 1968
