Denny McLain, a 31-game winner for the...

Denny McLain, a 31-game winner for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and cocaine charges, 14 months after an appeals court had overturned his conviction stemming from a 1984 indictment alleging that he had engaged in loan-sharking, gambling and drug dealing.

In a plea agreement accepted by U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, the government recommended that McLain be given a prison term not to exceed 12 years. McLain, 44, was convicted in March of 1985 and served 29 months of a 23-year sentence before his release on an appeals court ruling that he had been denied a fair trial because of reversible errors made by the trial judge and federal prosecutors.

Sentencing in the new trial was set for Dec. 15.