Tom is telling the story of a lot of kids from Detroit, the exact same story. Great skill and class, incredibly humble and prideful at the same time. Understated but a shining star. The hero of my youth who never faded as I grew to adulthood. I ceded the number 6 to my younger brother I like to think

I got to meet Al at the Detroit Auto Show. He was working for Dodge and I was working for Pontiac. It was a thrill.

For a Michigander...He was sent to us, was always with us and he was always Good.

You could hear the emotion in Tom’s voice. Sadly days of “act like you’ve been here” are largely over.

Al Kaline- hall of Famer and a great man once said. "I was never good enough to catch one handed" Always called Mr. Kaline by everyone in the Tigers organization

I had an Al Kaline bat as a 14 year old and made it to the All Stars. I can see his signature burnt into the end of that bat right now. My good luck charm in the Summer of '70. Sure wish I had it today!

No. 6 the class of our Tigers.

Al was also underrated as a broadcaster as he taught so much. Teamed with the outstanding George Kell, they were the trusted TV voices of Detroit.

Kaline once told George Kell and the viewing Detroit audience that he had two HR's taken away because of a rainout during his career. I remember Kell would always say "Come on, you had to hit another HR somewhere in there" because he ended on 399. If Kaline did hit 400, he would have been the first American League player in MLB history to accomplish 400 HR's and 3000 hits in a career. Yaz of the Red Sox became the 1st AL hitter to accomplish that in the early 80's before he retired.

Interesting memory, my ninth grade science teacher played semi pro baseball. During one of our science quizzes he gave the class a hint. The hint/answer he gave, was 'who played right field for the Detroit Tigers?'. The correct answer was alkaline. Yep, I missed it but I think every guy in the class got the right answer.

Also remember reading that by 1961 when Norm Cash and Rocky Colavito were slugging it up on the Tigers, somebody asked Kaline what kind of tips he had for those 'kids'. Kaline had to remind the that person that both of those two were older than him. Because he first played when he was 18 he seemed like an old hand by the time he was about 25.

I remember being a little kid growing up in a Detroit suburb. I didn't know the first thing about baseball, but the only sports player I could name was Al Kaline.

He went big league at ,17 out of high school, in "74 "tigers tried pay him 100,000 he said want worth it now... Doug from Detroit saw him lot with my dad. ,. Was a favorite outfielder of lot people retired with 298 /299.. batting ave just missed 300 average

Mr. Tiger

I don’t like bat flippers either.

Oftentimes during the filming of an episode of Magnum PI Tom could be seen wearing a Tigers cap.

@luthravin4774

23 күн бұрын

Pretty much EVERY episode

Back in the day when 3000 hits was the benchmark. As a Tiger fan I'm sad to admit that I didn't appreciate him the way I should have.

@johnboehmer6683

2 жыл бұрын

3000 hits is still a benchmark. What, maybe 30 guys have done it ever?

Al Kaline was such a great ballplayer that they decided to honor him by naming a battery after him. True story. 😲

Al had no idea he was 1 hr. short or he would have come back the following season.

@johnboehmer6683

2 жыл бұрын

No, I disagree, he wasn't like that. Maybe if he wasn't really old and broken down, but he wouldn't have jeopardized the team for selfish numbers, that wasn't him.

@Embur12

2 жыл бұрын

@@johnboehmer6683 400 hrs and 3000 hits is an elite club. He said if he had know,he would have come back for the record.

@jimcoleman598

Ай бұрын

Seriously? lol He knew how many HR's he had, as did all Tiger fans. We were hoping he would hit one more, late in the season. But he actually took himself out of the last game of the season, a home game, after two at-bats. He could tell he didn't have anything left. Also, he actually had two HR's retracted because of rainouts during his career. He told George Kell on tv once he was doing color commentary.

@Embur12

Ай бұрын

I was wrong. Sorry I thought I heard Al say in an interview he didn’t know. Those two rain outs with lost homers are a bummer.

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