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McLain grateful to join Chicagoland Sports HOF

For Denny McLain, the road to redemption has been one endless construction zone.

But Wednesday night, the bedeviled baseball star will benefit from new grade when he is inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.

Forty-seven years after he became the last MLB pitcher to win 30 games in a season - finishing 31-6 for the world champion Detroit Tigers in 1968 - the Chicago-born McLain will be honored alongside Mike Krzyzewski, Stan Bowman, Mike Wilbon, Franco Harris, Jon Garland, Doug Plank, Ron Coomer, Allie Quigley and prep football coach and wrestling legend Jack Leese.

"It'll be a tremendous night for family and friends," said McLain, 71, who graduated from Mount Carmel High School in 1962. "Most of the McLains I knew are gone. But we'll have enough Boudreaus and others there to make it a very special occasion."

McLain married Sharon Boudreau - the daughter of Lou Boudreau, the Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime Cubs broadcaster - in 1964. By age 25, he was 114-57 for the Tigers with two Cy Young Awards, one American League MVP and a Time magazine cover.

By 1971, a sore arm and trade to the Washington Senators led to a fizzled final full season of 10-22. By 1974, his pitching career was over.

McLain had also begun a series of implosions that would disrupt his life: A three-month suspension by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in 1970 for being "the victim of a confidence scheme" involving Detroit-area bookmakers in 1967. A federal conviction in 1985 for racketeering and other crimes (later overturned on appeal). A second conviction related to the embezzlement of pension funds from a Michigan meatpacking firm in 1996.

Still, Howie Fagan, the executive director of the CSHOF, said the selection has met with "next to zero pushback."

"Everyone makes mistakes in life and Denny's have been quite public," Fagan said. "But he's paid his penances and no one can take away his incredible baseball accomplishments."

Said McLain: "The Chicagoland Hall is the way my mother always wanted me to return to Chicago. I am extremely blessed."

The hall's annual dinner benefits The Standing Tall Charitable Foundation of Maryville Academy. The sold-out event is at Hawthorne Race Course.

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