Johnny Sain was a winner on every team he played and coached on from 1946 - 1968. I saw him pitch when I was a kid.
And, I was aware of his impressive results in coaching pitchers in the 1960's-1970's. It's my opinion that he should have
been considered for induction into the Hall-of-Fame.
1946 - 1951 Boston Braves
1951 - 1955 NY Yankees
1961 - 1963 NY Yankees (pitching coach for Whitey Ford, Ralph Terry, Jim Bouton)
1965 - 1966 Minnesota Twins (pitching coach for Mudcat Grant, Jim Kaat, Jim Perry)
1967 - 1969 Detroit Tigers (pitching coach for Denny MacLain, Mickey Lolich, Earl Wilson)
1971 - 1976 Chicago White Sox (pitching coach for Stan Bahnsen, Goose Gossage, Jim Kaat, Wilbur Wood)
1947 Rookie card
Rookie
I enjoyed a nice conversation with Denny McLain this past weekend at the Philly Show. Denny was a very friendly guy. I asked him about Johnny Sain,
who I have always thought was an overlooked figure in Baseball. Denny smiled, and just continued talking about Johnny Sain for about 15 minutes. He
attributes his 31 games won in 1968, and his 24 games won in 1969 to Johnny's expert guidance. Check-out the SABR write-up that follows.
FOOTNOTE.....Excerpted from SABR.
"What Sain achieved as a pitching coach (sixteen 20-game winners in all or part of 17 seasons) is impressive, given the diversity of talents he worked with.
Some, like Whitey Ford and Denny McLain, had experienced considerable success. On the other hand, Jim Bouton, Jim Kaat, Mudcat Grant, and Stan Bahnsen
had yet to show how capable they were. Then there was Wilbur Wood, undergoing the transformation from reliever to starter.
The project that best epitomizes Sain at work has to be Denny McLain. The quintessential flake, McLain had all the tools to be a great pitcher except seriousness
of purpose, sense, and maturity. Sain took Denny for what he was and worked his magic indirectly. Learning that McLain was working to obtain a pilot’s license,
Sain helped him prepare for the required tests, and even went up in the air with him. From that basis the two moved to McLain’s pitching so smoothly that he
was the best pitcher in the American League in 1968 and 1969, winning 55 games, a Most Valuable Player Award, and two Cy Youngs. At 25, he already had 114
wins under his belt and seemed on path for the Hall of Fame. What McLain’s career might have been had he had Sain’s guidance for a few more seasons is pure
speculation, but the train wreck — erratic and criminal behavior; suspensions from baseball; prison for drug dealing, racketeering, and extortion; poor health
in the form of obesity and heart trouble; and who knows what else — that has been McLain’s life in the more than 40 years since is indisputable. Denny needed
grounding, and Sain gave it to him for a magical couple of years."
TED Z
T206 Reference
.