I Told You I Wasn"t Perfect begins on the night of March 20, 1992, when Denny McLain and his wife, Sharon, received the shocking news of their daughter"s death. The book moves on from there, recounting McLain"s loveless childhood and home life in working-class Chicago before his whirlwind marriage at age 19 and his meteoric rise to baseball superstardom. But the success was short-lived, as McLain found himself out of baseball and headed to prison after winning both the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1968. Few characters soar to such dizzying heights and then plunge to the depths of despair like McLain did. But it is his ability to finally reflect on his mistakes and self-indulgences that makes his story especially compelling.