Al Kaline 12/19/1934 - 04/06/2020 RIP#6

[kalinecountry]

August 17, 1980: The Tigers retired Al Kaline's jersey number 6 in a ceremony held between games of a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers, George Kell emceed and also in attendance were Ed Katalinas, who signed the humble man later dubbed Mr. Tiger to a bonus contract off the Baltimore sandlots;
Hall of Famer second baseman Charlie Gehringer and Kaline's former teammate, Pat Mullin, who had given him his No. 6 jersey.
The Tigers would retire the numbers of Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg in 1983 & Hal Newhouser in 1997.

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[kalinecountry]

Al Kaline went 38 for 112 against Whitey Ford for a .339 BA.

 

[kalinecountry]

September 24, 1974: At Memorial Stadium with his parents, family, and friends in the stands, Tigers Legendary Right fielder Al Kaline gets his 3000th hit.
The milestone hit is a double off Oriole hurler Dave McNally in a 5 - 4 loss to the Birds. In 5 years, Kaline will become the 10th member of the Baseball Hall Of Fame voted in on the first try.

 

[kalinecountry]

September 25, 1955: Detroit Tigers Rightfielder Al Kaline becomes the youngest batting champ in history, as he takes the American League Batting Crown at age 20 with a .340 average. Ty Cobb was older by one day when he won in 1907.
The future all-time great will also lead the league in hits with 200, and total bases with 321. Kaline will finish 2nd in the MVP vote to Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, and win the Sporting News' American League Player of the year award.
Great Pictures of a 20 year old Al Kaline.
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[kalinecountry]

“Al Kaline treated me better than I should have been, probably. He was like Sparky Anderson in that, they’re hell-bent on making sure the game is better than it was when they came in. That’s their big deal".
Kirk Gibson".

At 19, Al Kaline was Detroit’s regular right fielder and acclaimed the best glove man to field that spot in Tiger's and MLB history. At 20, he had led the American League in batting and was named the player of the year.
With credentials like these, Sid Keener up in Cooperstown was already dusting off a cubicle in the HOF for the slender clouter. In style and ease of performance he is the closest approximation we have to the flawless rhythm of Joe DiMaggio on a baseball diamond".
Murray Olderman.

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