Former Detroit Tiger Denny McLain selling decades of memorabilia at estate sale

Denny McLain had one of the greatest single seasons for a pitcher in baseball history. He won 31 games back in 1968, leading the Detroit Tigers to a World Series championship. 

Now, many of those personal items are up for grabs at his personal estate sale this coming weekend. 

It won't be your average estate sale. Sure, you can leave with a couch but more than likely you'll be interested in the bats, balls, pictures and everything in between. Items at this sale span over six decades of baseball history.

"There's real history here," McLain said. "My father-in-law was Lou Boudreau, hall-of-famer with the Cleveland Indians. So we've got a lot of his stuff. So we've got a connection between the '30s, '40s and '50s right into the '60s, '70s and '80s."

For McLain, it's time to downsize. He recently lost his wife and his lifestyle of traveling to different shows across the country has changed. He used to do upwards of 175 memorabilia shows a year and now all of those shows have been canceled due to the coronavirus. But he says, he's still feeling good. 

"I'm going to be 107 next month," he joked. "You know, listen, I think once you hit a certain number all of a sudden you wake up one day and say, 'Geez, I'm old.' But I'm still moving around pretty good. I got hit with 24 railroad ties about 4 years ago and that's giving me a real problem. Otherwise, I'd be pitching every fourth day. No, I'm only kidding."

But one thing he's not kidding about  - everyone is welcome at the estate sale. Even if you just want to look around, he says you're free to do so. 

"Just come on out and say hello. By the way, we're going to have hot dogs and Pepsi and stuff like that. We're going to have a bunch of photo books you can look at."

The estate sale begins on Thursday, Oct. 1 with a VIP day that you must register for online. You can do that here

Otherwise, the sale is 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Friday - Sunday, Oct. 2-4.