Kaline, known as ‘Mr. Tiger,’ dies at 85
Al Kaline, a Detroit Tiger legend who accumulated 3,007 hits and 399 homers in a 22year career that included 15 American League All-Star selections, died Monday after having recently suffered a stroke. He was 85.
Kaline, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 on the first ballot with 88.3% of the vote, was still working for the Tigers, for whom he spent his entire career, as a special assistant to the general manager.
Kaline broke into the major leagues as an 18-year old in 1953 after signing with the Tigers out of high school in Baltimore and never spent a day in the minor leagues. Two years later he became the youngest player to ever win a batting title, with a .340 average and a league-leading 200 hits and 321 total bases. He went on to have nine other .300 seasons, including .337 in 1959 when he led the American
League in both slugging (.530) and OPS (.940). In 1961, he hit .324 with a league-leading 40 doubles.
Kaline, who finished with a career .297 average, remains the Tigers’ franchise leader in homers, walks (1,277), sac flies (104) and games played (2,834). His No. 6 is one of nine Tigers uniforms to be retired. Statistically, he is considered the second greatest Tiger of all time, behind Ty Cobb.
Former Yankee manager Billy Martin, who also managed Kaline in 1972, said of him: “I have always referred to Al Kaline as ‘Mr. Perfection’. He does it all — hitting, fielding, running throwing — and he does it with that extra touch of brilliancy that marks him as a super ballplayer.”
Besides his hitting prowess, Kaline was a superb defensive right fielder who won 10 Gold Gloves. On July 7, 1954, as a 19-year old, he threw out three Chicago White Sox baserunners in three innings.
Kaline was 34 when he got in his one and only World Series for the Tigers in 1968. At the time, the Tigers had four semi-regular outfielders and, in an effort get Kaline in the starting lineup, manager Mayo Smith, in a controversial and daring maneuver, asked center fielder Mickey Stanley to move to shortstop in place of weak hitting Ray Oyler. Kaline responded by hitting .379 with two homers and eight RBI in leading the Tigers to a seven-game World Series win over the favored Bob Gibson-led Cardinals.
After his retirement in 1974, Kaline went into the Tigers’ broadcasting booth, where he worked alongside fellow Hall-of-Famer George Kell until 2002.
“He will always be ‘Mr. Tiger’,” said Hall-of-Fame Tiger shortstop Alan Trammell Monday.
Kaline is survived by his wife, Louise, his high school sweetheart, and two sons, Mark and Michael.