Albert William "Al" Kaline, also known as
Mr. Tiger, ' onMouseout='HidePop("74686")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Baltimore,_Maryland">Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is an independent city and the largest city in the state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore City in order to distinguish it from surrounding...
) is a former
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
player. Kaline was active from 1953 to 1974 and spent his entire career with the
Detroit TigersThe Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in . The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant 10 times...
(hence the nickname "Mr. Tiger"). He bypassed the minor league system and joined the team directly from Baltimore's
Southern High SchoolSouthern Senior High School was a former secondary school in south Baltimore, Maryland, originally built in 1910 with an addition in 1926. Part of the Baltimore City Public School System, it was originally located on the southeast corner of Warren Avenue and William Street...
as an 18-year-old "
bonus babyThe Bonus Rule was a rule instituted by Major League Baseball in 1947 that prevented teams from assigning certain players to farm clubs. The rule stipulated that when a Major league team signed a player to a contract in excess of $4,000 , the Major League team was required to keep that player on...
" signee, receiving $35,000 to sign with the Tigers. For most of his career, Kaline played in the outfield, mainly as a
right fielderA right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
, where he was known for his strong throwing arm. He once threw out two baserunners at home in the same inning. Near the end of his career, he also played as
first basemanFirst base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team. A first baseman is the player on the team playing defense who fields the area nearest first base, and is responsible for the...
and, in his last season, was the Tigers'
designated hitterIn baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...
. Kaline, who made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing, wore No. 25 during his rookie campaign but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 after the '53 season ended. Kaline, who was also known simply as "Six" in the Tiger clubhouse, wore No. 6 for the rest of major league playing career. The Tigers retired the uniform number on August 17, 1980 in a ceremony between games of a doubleheader with the visiting Texas Rangers. It was the first uniform number the organization had ever retired. Kaline was a rarity among professional baseball players, in that he never played in the minor leagues, and also played his entire career with the same team.
In , Kaline hit .340 for the season, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League batting title. Tiger hall-of-famer
Ty CobbTyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was a baseball player and is regarded by some historians and journalists as the best player of the dead-ball era, and is generally seen as one of the greatest players of all time.In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the...
had also won a batting title at age 20, but Cobb was born on December 18, making him one day older than Kaline when he won. During the season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two
home runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring runs for himself and each runner who was already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play...
s in the same inning and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 HRs and 102 RBIs to go along with the batting title. Although it would be his only batting title, in he followed that great season with another as he batted .314 with 27 HRs and 128 RBIs and became one of baseball's brightest young stars. He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956, and again in 1958 with 23. Versatile and well-rounded, he won ten
Gold Glove AwardThe Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League and the American League , as voted by the...
s (1957-59 and 1961-67) for excellence in the field and appeared in fifteen
All-StarThe Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
games (1955-67, 1971, 1974).
Baltimore OrioleThe Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula, is a small icterid blackbird which is on average 18 cm long and weighs 34 g. This bird received its name from the fact that the male's colors resemble those on the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore...
third baseman
Brooks RobinsonBrooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball. He played his entire 23-year career with the Baltimore Orioles . Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in .Robinson grew up to play third base for the Orioles, and gained great renown for his...
said of him, "There have been a lot of great defensive players. The fella who could do everything is Al Kaline. He was just the epitome of what a great outfielder is all about -- great speed, catches the ball and throws the ball well.”
Kaline played in only one World Series in his long career. Although he had missed two months of the 1968 season with a broken arm, he returned to the lineup when Tiger manager
Mayo SmithEdward Mayo Smith was an American player, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball.Smith was born in New London, Missouri, but grew up in Florida. A left-handed batter who threw right-handed, Smith was a career minor league outfielder who spent many seasons in the International League with the...
benched shortstop
Ray OylerRaymond Francis Oyler was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball who played for the Detroit Tigers , Seattle Pilots , and California Angels...
and sent center fielder
Mickey StanleyMitchell Jack "Mickey" Stanley was a baseball player for the Detroit Tigers from 1964-1978. Stanley was known as a defensive outfielder over his 15-year career, though he is best remembered for the last few weeks of the 1968 season.-Professional Baseball:Stanley made his MLB debut in center field...
to short to make room for Kaline in the outfield. Kaline responded by batting .379 with two home runs and eight RBIs, helping the Tigers come back from a 3–1 games deficit to defeat the
St. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball...
in seven games. It was the Tigers' first world championship since 1945, and Smith's move was later called by ESPN one of the ten greatest coaching decisions of the century.
Kaline finished his career with 3,007 hits (25th on the all-time list) and 399 home runs (a Tigers record and 43rd on the all-time list). He batted over .300 nine times in his career to finish with a lifetime batting average of .297 and, while never considered a true power hitter, he hit 25 or more home runs seven times in his career. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in , his first year of eligibility, and was subsequently honored by the Tigers as the first of their players to have his uniform number (6) retired. With earlier legend
Ty CobbTyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was a baseball player and is regarded by some historians and journalists as the best player of the dead-ball era, and is generally seen as one of the greatest players of all time.In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the...
having been more respected and feared than loved, Kaline is the probably most popular player ever to play for the Tigers, and possibly the most popular athlete in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
history, as he is remembered as much for being a true gentleman as he is for being a superb athlete.
Since retiring from the playing field, Kaline has lived in the Detroit area, and has remained active within the Tigers organization, serving first as a
color commentatorA color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The term is of North American origin. The color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics, strategy and injury reports...
on the team's
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
broadcasts (1975-2002) mostly with play by play announcer and former Tiger
George KellGeorge Clyde Kell was an American baseball third baseman who played for the Philadelphia Athletics , Detroit Tigers , Boston Red Sox , Chicago White Sox , and Baltimore Orioles in the American League, who later was a baseball announcer for 40 years.-Playing career:A solid right-handed hitter and a...
, and then later as a consultant to the team. Cherry Street, which ran behind the left-field stands at Tiger Stadium, was renamed Kaline Drive in his honor.
In , he ranked Number 76 on
The Sporting NewsSporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
list of
the 100 Greatest Baseball PlayersIn 1998, The Sporting News compiled a list of Baseball's Greatest Players. A committee of twelve Sporting News editors reviewed the players to determine a master list. Then, each editor was asked to pick his/her Top 10, without rankings. Those players receiving the most votes were ranked in the...
, and was nominated as a finalist for the
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
All-Century Team. Later that year, on September 27, when the team played its last game at Tiger Stadium, Kaline was invited to appear in uniform and present the last lineup card to the umpires. He did so along with
George BrettGeorge Howard Brett is a former Major League Baseball player, a third baseman for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hits are the most by any third baseman in major league history, and 15th all-time...
, considered one of the greatest players ever for the Tigers' opponents that day, the
Kansas City RoyalsThe Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
.
Since 2003, Kaline has served as a special assistant to Tigers President/CEO/General Manager
Dave DombrowskiDavid Dombrowski is the current president, CEO, and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.-Education:...
. Former Tigers teammate Willie Horton also holds this position, and the two threw out the first pitch of the
2006 World SeriesThe 2006 World Series, the 102nd edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, began on October 21 and ended on October 27, and matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion, St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the Series in five games, taking...
at
Comerica ParkComerica Park is an open-air ballpark located in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It serves as the home of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball's American League, replacing historic Tiger Stadium in 2000...
.
Kaline is an active golfer, playing multiple times per week. On May 24, 2008, Kaline hit a hole-in-one at
Oakland Hills Country ClubThe Oakland Hills Country Club is a private golf club in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. It has hosted many prestigious professional golf tournaments throughout its history. The Oakland Hills grounds crew maintains two courses, designating the North and South Course. The South Course...
.
See also
External links