OT RIP...Al Kaline

Discussion in 'New York Yankees' started by yankeesince59, Apr 6, 2020.

  1. yankeesince59

    yankeesince59 "Oh Captain, my Captain".

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    One of the greats;


    https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/al-kaline-detroit-tigers-legend-and-baseball-hall-of-famer-dies-at-85/



    Al Kaline, Detroit Tigers legend and Baseball Hall of Famer, dies at 85





    Hall of Famer and Detroit Tigers icon Al Kaline died Monday at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, according to the Detroit Free Press. He was 85. A Tigers team official confirmed the news to ESPN.

    Kaline grew up in Baltimore and made his MLB debut as an 18-year-old in 1953. He played 22 seasons in the big leagues, all with the Tigers. He is the franchise's all-time leader in games played (2,834) and home runs (399). He ranks second to Ty Cobb in most other offensive categories, including hits (3,007) and total bases (4,852).

    The Tigers scout who signed him out of Southern High School, Ed Katalinas, once said of Kaline: "To me he was the prospect that a scout creates in his mind and then prays that someone will come along to fit the pattern."

    At Katalinas' desperate urging, the Tigers signed Kaline soon after his high school graduation to a $15,000 bonus and a $20,000 salary for each of his first three seasons. In accordance with the "bonus baby" rules of the time, the Tigers, because of the size of Kaline's bonus, were required to keep him on the major-league roster for at least two full seasons.

    In 1953, Kaline made just 30 plate appearances for Detroit, but the following season he emerged as the regular right fielder. While he didn't produce at a high level as a 19-year-old, he showed the Tigers enough to stick. The following year, in 1955, he enjoyed one of his best seasons, batting .340 with 200 hits, 27 home runs, 82 walks (against 57 strikeouts), and 321 total bases. Kaline finished runner-up to Yogi Berra in the AL MVP balloting and would never play a game in the minors.

    From 1955-67, Kaline was selected to the All-Star Game in 13 consecutive seasons, and he received MVP votes in 14 different seasons. Kaline never did win an MVP, though he finished in the top five of the voting four times, including second-place finishes twice. He also won 10 Gold Gloves and was regarded as a brilliant defensive right fielder.

    Kaline retired as a career .297/.376/.480 hitter and was fifth on the all-time hits list and 16th on the all-time home runs list when he called it a career. He ranks 42nd all-time with 92.8 WAR. Kaline won a World Series ring in 1968 and went 16 for 48 (.333) with three home runs in 12 career postseason games.

    Following his retirement, Kaline broadcast Tigers games from 1976-2002, and also spent time in the front office as a special assistant. In all, "Mr. Tiger" spent more than 60 years with the organization. He was voted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, receiving 88.3 percent of the vote in 1980. Kaline is one of six players with a statue outside Comerica Park.
     
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  2. cagedlion

    cagedlion "I am the problem, and I am the solution."

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    R.I.P.Mr. Kaline. One of the best players to play against the New York Yankees. I particularly remember
    he displayed his offense and defense at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoons. Single-handedly he’d
    be a threat to beat very good Yankee teams. One Sunday afternoon I saw him hit three HRs and rob
    Mantle and Berra of definite HRs. And he did it with no fanfare. It was all in a day’s work. One of the
    games greats!
     
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  3. yankeesince59

    yankeesince59 "Oh Captain, my Captain".

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    Yeah, one of the best RFers ever...I think I read that he once broke his shoulder diving into the stands at Yankee Stadium. I once traded his card for a Mantle card...sweet deal for me.
     
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  4. Yankeefan5545

    Yankeefan5545 Well-Known Member

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    Al Kaline in one word: GAMER! EIP Sir you were a top notch worthy opponent and this Yankee Fan salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
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  5. Mattingly23NY

    Mattingly23NY Turning Fastballs Into Souveneir's ~

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    A great ballplayer and overall human being.

    Kaline was

    This is a man who got hitting tips from Ted Williams, who smacked a hit off Satchel Paige, who once went into an auto parts business with Gordie Howe, and who made the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

    https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...Q2FfNvYrf_E2FF6MLtxSzOpEv3dW7NLnVNfa-VVGPAgLs


    Kaline is one of the few dozen players in baseball history to get 3,000 hits. Like his contemporary, Pittsburgh right fielder Roberto Clemente, Kaline is a member of the 3,000-hit club who is remembered nearly as much for his defense as for his offense — perhaps just as much. In one game as a rookie, Kaline threw out a Chicago White Sox runner for three consecutive innings — at home, third and second. The Sporting News said of a robbery he made in 1956 at Yankee Stadium: “No one who saw it will forget how Kaline shot above the right-field scoreboard in the stadium to make a great one-handed catch on Mickey Mantle.”

    Kaline is one of six Tigers with a statue behind the left-center field fence at Comerica Park. And despite his 3,007 hits and those club-record 399 homers, that statue shows him not with a bat in hand, but making a leaping, one-handed catch like the one he made on Mantle.

    Yet without his defensive superiority, Kaline likely would have made the Hall of Fame on his hitting. Every eligible player who has gotten 3,000 hits has entered the Hall except for Rafael Palmeiro, whose candidacy was short-circuited by a positive test for steroids soon after his milestone base hit in 2005. Kaline won the American League batting title as a 20-year-old in 1955, and although he never won another batting title, he never stopped hitting.

    In Kaline’s final season, ace Baltimore pitcher Jim Palmer said of him: “I like to watch him hit. I like to watch him hit even against us. He’s got good rhythm, a picture swing. Other hitters could learn a lot just by watching him. The thing about Kaline is that he’ll not only hit your mistakes, he’ll hit your good pitches, too.”

    Palmer recalled how in his first big-league start, in 1965, he struck out Kaline looking on three pitches the first time he faced him. The second time up, Palmer said, he threw Kaline a fastball, curve and change-up. Kaline hit the change-up for a two-run homer.


     
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