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On the road again:
Greetings from Green Valley, Arizona,
where Cyndy and I are temporarily residing in the home of her brother John.
When I posted
my most recent blog about taking a time-out from our travels due to the COVID-19 virus, I also mentioned that my boyhood hero,
Today, I wish to devote …
Today's Story ...
... as a tribute to that great All-Star right fielder for the Detroit (Michigan) Tigers major league baseball team.
Kaline was not only my hero but a great man who was admired by many other young boys and girls in the 1950s and 1960s.
And for good reason: He was a great hitter, a terrific defensive player, and a humble, generous gentleman.
Born to low-income parents in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1934, Kaline played his first game for the Tigers in 1952 at age 18, the third youngest player in the history of America’s Game. When he played his last game at age 39 in 1973, he was the third oldest up until that time.
At age 19 in 1953, his first full season, he hit a grand slam homerun against the Philadelphia Phillies, the second youngest batter in baseball history to do that. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting.
He was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, one of a very few players to be chosen in their first year of eligibility.
In 1998,
The Sporting News ranked him as number 76 in their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.
Kaline played his entire career for Detroit. The team retired his uniform number—Number 6—in 1980, making him the first Tiger to gain that distinction.
He is one of six Tigers honored with a statue behind the left-center field fence at Comerica Park, the home of Detroit Tigers baseball. The other five are Hal Newhouser, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Ty Cobb, and Willie Horton.
After retiring as a player, Kaline was as an announcer and commentator for Tiger television and radio broadcasts from 1976 to 2001.
Starting in 2002, the Tigers appointed him to be a special assistant to the management team with a focus on mentoring outfielders; he held that position for the remainder of his life.
Thus, more than anyone else, he earned—and deserves—his nickname of “Mr. Tiger.”
In his 22 seasons of professional baseball, Kaline was selected to the American League All-Star team 18 times. He played more games and hit more homeruns than anyone in Tiger history.
In 1954, he won the American League batting title with a .340 average; he was 20, the youngest player to accomplish that feat. (The second youngest, by only 12 days, is Ty Cobb, the famed Detroit Tiger outfield from the early days of baseball, who won the batting title in 1907.)
Yet, it was his defense, especially his throwing arm, for which Kaline earned ten Gold Gloves, an award given only to the game’s best defensive players.
When attending a game as a teenager, I saw him throw out a batter at first base on what would have normally been a single to right field—a terrific play.
And humble and generous? You bet!
When the Tigers paid a $35,000 signing bonus to him on the day after his high school graduation, he gave it to his parents to pay off their mortgage and the cost of his mother’s eye surgery.
In 1971, he turned down a pay raise from $95,000 to $100,000 ($631,000 in today’s dollars) because he didn’t think he performed well enough during the 1970 season. (Compare Kaline’s humility to the multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts that players accept today.)
Jim Brandstatter, a career sports announcer in Michigan, wrote, “Al Kaline had a personal connection with all of us. His kindness, his talent, his humility, his class were on display to all who met him.”
A friend who was a wannabe pitcher in the Tigers’ minor league system said that Kaline, though much older, treated him with utmost respect and interest during his days in the Tigers’ spring training camp in Lakeland, Florida.
In 2014, I went to the Tigers’ spring training on a writing assignment. With my press pass, I was privileged to be on the field and in the clubhouse with the players.
There, I talked with Kaline, who also treated me kindley. At age 80, he was wearing his uniform with the Tigers’ famed Old English D on the front and his personal jersey number—6—on the back.
I asked him if still swings a baseball bat; he chuckled and replied, “No, that would mess up my golf game.”
I asked him to autograph a baseball for me, and he did. That ball also contains the signatures of other Tiger heroes from my youth that I collected on that assignment: Jim Price, Willie Horton, and Lance Parrish. It is one of my treasured possessions.
To read the article I wrote about that Detroit Tigers spring training experience, published by
Encore magazine in February 2015,
click here.
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Even though this blog is a tribute to Al Kaline, I also want to mention Willie Horton with whom I also spoke at spring training.
Born in 1942, Horton is an African-American who played left field for the Tigers from 1963 to 1977, the same era as Kaline’s career.
He was 71 when I interviewed him (77 now) and was full of smiles as he spoke and joked with me and others who passed by.
Like Kaline, he was a retired All-Star who served as a special assistant to the management team.
He said that he takes young players under his wing and encourages them “to be like family.”
That special mission isn’t surprising, considering that Horton is the youngest of 21 children. He spoke with reverence of his brothers and sisters and a minister who instilled him with character.
And character he had to have. In his first year as a Tiger in 1963, he walked six miles to play in the old Tiger Stadium because, as a black man, he couldn’t ride in a taxi driven by a white person.
Yet, during the race riots that ravaged Detroit in 1967, Horton stood atop his car, wearing his Tigers uniform, attempting to restore peace, a dangerous position even for a well-known sports hero.
Now involved with youth, wellness, and humanitarian programs in Detroit, Horton provides scholarships for financially deprived inner-city youth through the
Willie Horton 360 Foundation.
He’s one of only four people for whom the Michigan Legislature has named a day in their honor; Rosa Parks is another.
~~~~~ ~~~~~
Kaline and Horton. Yeah! These are men of character to be admired and imitated. May their influence continue to be an inspiration for young and old alike.
Thanks for reading my stories.
See Cyndy’s cool photos of our travels at
her Facebook Mobile Uploads page. Even though we have stopped for now, she is finding and posting great images of beauty here in Arizon
God blesses everyone ... no exceptions.
Robert (Bob) Weir
