Tuesday, April 7, 2020
RIP AL Kaline
There were a lot of guys who killed the Yankees back in the day. Some of them you hated like Yaz and Rico and Denny Mc Clain.
But some guys you respected and wished were on your team. Brooks Robinson. Boog Powell. Joe Rudi. Frank Robinson. Willie Mays. Willie Mc Covey. Willie Stargel. Most of all there was Al Kaline.
A great player. A class guy. A real gentlemen.
The best praise I can give him is that he would have made a great Yankee.
They don't make guys like Al Kaline anymore.
Rip Al.
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9 comments:
Was Al Kaline his given name? It basically sounds juiced up on potassium.
I met Boog Powell at the then new Orioles park at the Inner Harbor in Bawmer. Got his autograph. Still have it here somewhere. He said he made more money selling barbeque at his joint next to the park than he ever did when he was playing that stupid game.
Hey, anyone named Booger has to be okay, all right?
What, nobody remembered The Virginian?
Hawk Harrelson made the All Star team back in the 60's. He was in the on deck circle waiting to bat against JR Richard, a flame throwing nasty pitcher. Al Kaline walked up to Hawk and said, "Kid..we're all scared up there." It meant so much to Hawk. Ballplayers don't talk about fear but to varying degrees they all have it.
My old man reserved his ultimate compliment, "He's a ballplayers" to just a few. He said many times when the Yanks were playing Detroit, "Kaline's a ballplayer."
I don't remember anything about him but his name rang a bell that I associated with the Tigers. Chances are I carried him around in my little pack of baseball cards for awhile.
The difference a life can make, famous or otherwise, is more than we can imagine or control. And when we see it, played out in front of our eyes, it speaks to the greater truth--a faithful journey matters. As does daily living with authenticity and integrity.
“He was always in my corner from day one. That’s just the way his personality was,” Trammell said. “Al was not pushy. He was always there if you needed him. And if you had a question, he always had great baseball knowledge.
“The look of his era, the way he dressed, he did everything to me better than most. Not that I was trying to be him, but I took notice of the things that he did, how he spoke, how he treated people. It was very special to be part of the Tiger family, and Al Kaline is really at the top. There's no question.”
From the same article about him, a baseball card reference:
The son of a broom maker grew up to become one of the greatest ever to swing a bat. No player, not even Ty Cobb, has played more games (2,834) or hit more home runs (399) in a Tigers uniform than Kaline. He’s the only player other than Cobb to lead the franchise in a cumulative offensive category, and had he hit one more homer, he would be on a list that includes only 10 players in big league history with 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. When Kaline won the American League batting title in 1955, he bested Cobb by a day to become the youngest batting champion in league history.
Unlike Cobb, Kaline spent his entire career as a Tiger. Until Alan Trammell, Kaline was the only Tiger ever to spend an entire career of at least 20 years in the organization.
"I’m proud I was a Tiger for my entire career," Kaline said in 1986. "And you know what they say, it looks good on the back of your bubble-gum card if there’s only one team."
Thanks, Mama. The last year Tiger Stadium was open I drove from Madison to watch a Saturday game. Serendipity had it being the annual kids/coaches day. Anyone got to go on the field and go to different stations for hitting, fielding, pitching, etc. The stations were manned by a Tiger coach and player. Being a coach, I enjoyed the knowledge. But, mostly I loved walking the grass where so many great players roamed. Growing up a Yankee fan, I thought of Ruth, Mantle, Joe D, etc. But as I looked @ the Tiger uniforms and right field, I thought of Kaline.
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