On May 26, 1981, McLaughlin was pitching in the eighth inning of a game against the Chicago White Sox. He threw a sinker to Harold Baines, who hit a line drive into McLaughlin's face. The pitch broke McLaughlin's left cheekbone and his eye socket in five different places. McLaughlin vomited blood and went into shock. It took two surgeries to wire his cheekbone and left eye socket, and doctors at Oakland's Merritt Hospital feared that he would not survive the night. McLaughlin recovered to play a few games in September that year and then spent 1982 with the A's. He was demoted to the Minors in 1983 and played three seasons of Triple-A baseball. He later went into the real estate business and coached in the minor leagues for the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles systems before moving on to his current job with the Rockies.
As a hitter, McLaughlin went hitless in his six-year major league career. He had 37 at-bats without a hit, reaching base three times by bases on balls in 45 plate appearances.

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