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Despite his transgressions at Harlan and Clinton and his 5-8 record as a rookie pro, McLain came within one run of making it all the way to the White Sox in the spring of 1963. Unable to choose between Denny and another promising young pitcher, Bruce Howard, Chicago Manager Al Lopez decided to let them fight it out in an intrasquad game. Howard won 2-1 and got the job; McLain was put on waivers and claimed by Detroit for a piddling $8,000, an indignity that triggered the terrible McLain temper. He still gets mad when he thinks about it: "Isn't that a hell of a way to make a decision —on the basis of one ball game?" Denny was still fuming when he was called up from a farm club to pitch for Detroit in September 1963. In Tiger Stadium on Sept. 21, he made his major-league debut—against the Chicago White Sox. A few days before the game, Detroit Manager Chuck Oressen took Denny aside, and in a few short minutes of instruction taught him how to throw a curve. Thus armed, McLain mowed down the hated White Sox 4-3, striking out eight batters and aiding his own cause with a home run.
Back trouble and a proclivity for serving up home-run balls kept Denny a so-so pitcher for the next two years. Then, in mid-June of 1965, he was called in from the bullpen to relieve against the Boston Red Sox. McLain suddenly found what he calls "my rhythm, my groove." He struck out seven straight hitters to tie an American League record. He went on to win eight games in a row, and wound up the year with a mark of 16-6.
Mutual Irritation. McLain has not had a losing season since. He was 20-14 in 1966, 17-16 last year. But if he had matured on the mound, he still had his problems off it. It was a regular occurrence for an angry McLain to bash his eyeglasses against the dugout wall (which is one reason why he now wears contacts). In Baltimore, when he was taken out of a game, he threw the ball at his manager and tossed his glove at the dugout. His control that day was so bad that the ball sailed over the dugout roof and into the stands.
Denny's relations with his teammates became strained, particularly after he was quoted by a newspaper as calling the Tigers a "country-club ball team." He vigorously denied ever making the remark: "And may God strike me with a lightning bolt if that isn't true." Denny's traveling roommate, Pitcher Joe Sparma, promptly requested new accommodations, "just in case the Almighty should make a mistake and get the wrong man."
With Detroit's general manager, Jim Campbell, Denny established what he described as a "mutual-irritation society," which was largely a result of the pitcher's propensity for popping off about Tiger Stadium, Detroit fans, his teammates—and just about anything that came to mind. Denny became so annoying that after Detroit lost the 1967 pennant by one game, rumor had it that he was on the trading block.