McLain arrested on outstanding warrant

DETROIT, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain was being held in a Port Huron, Mich., jail Friday after being arrested on an outstanding warrant, officials said.

U.S. Customs Chief Ronald Smith said McLain was stopped while driving on the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron Thursday, and a customs agent checked his identification and discovered a Louisiana warrant charging him with theft of scrap metal worth more than $1,500, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Smith said McLain wasn't trying to flee to Canada.

McLain, who won the Cy Young Award and the American League Most Valuable Player Award and led the Tigers to a World Series victory in 1968, was being held at the St. Clair County jail on the outstanding warrant. He was arrested without incident and is to be extradited to Louisiana.

Capt. Patrick Yoes of the St. Charles Parish, La., Sheriff's Office said McLain was wanted on an Aug. 26 warrant for not paying landowners for more than $1,500 worth of scrap metal as promised, the Free Press said.

Documents presented at the border indicate McLain lives in Pinckney, Mich.

McLain and a business partner were convicted of embezzling $2.5 million from a pension fund and then laundering it in 1999, and he pleaded guilty in 1985 to possession of cocaine, the Free Press said.