❚ The day Willie Horton saved Kaline’s life,
Fifty years ago, Tigers legend Al Kaline was honored in front of a packed Tiger Stadium crowd during the Al Kaline Day celebration.
But without the heroics of Willie Horton just two months prior, the legendary right fielder might never have basked in the sunshine Aug. 2, 1970, or in Cooperstown, New York, at the Baseball Hall of Fame 10 years later.
In the early evening of Memorial Day, May 30, 1970, at Milwaukee County Stadium, in the bottom of the first inning, Tigers pitcher Les Cain had loaded the bases and gave up one run before striking out Danny Walton and Jerry McNertney.
Second baseman Roberto Pena then hit a long fly ball to deep right center field in front of the Milwaukee bullpen, just short of the warning track. Tigers center fielder Jim Northrup and Kaline tracked it down, both calling for the ball.
Neither man yielded to the other, and they collided.
Free Press sports writer Jim Hawkins wrote in part: “Kaline apparently had the ball in his glove before he and Northrup hit. Both fell to the ground, but while Northrup got immediately to his feet, Kaline appeared not to move. While Northrup stood bareheaded and possibly still dazed and apparently confused as to where the ball had gone and what he should do, Pena circled the bases easily with a grand slam that gave the Brewers a 5-2 lead.”
It stood as the only inside the park grand slam in the history of County Stadium.
Jackie Moore, a third-string catcher for the Tigers in 1965 in his only major league season, was in his first year as the Brewers’ bullpen coach. He was less than 30 feet away from the collision.
“Right away I could hear that Kaline was choking, so I jumped on top of the bullpen dugout and went over the fence and I was the first one there,” said Moore, now 81. “I could see right away that his face was turning blue and it was a very, very scary situation. I tried my best to try and get his clenched jaw open. I then remember seeing Willie Horton running full speed towards us from over in left field.”
Cain, 72, remembers seeing Kaline trying to wave off Northrup before the train wreck.
“At first, it looked like Willie was going to try and get the ball but then he went straight for Al,” Cain said.
Sitting in his large, lower-level recreation room at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Horton, 77, recalled what he did to help Kaline.
“When the ball was hit, I ran towards the play like a safety in case the ball got between Northrup and Kaline,” Horton said. “When they ran into each other,
I saw Northrup get up and go for the ball and I saw Al on the ground. His eyes were turned back, and his jaws were locked. He was in trouble.
“When I was a Golden Gloves boxer as a kid, I had been shown what to do in a situation like that. I acted quickly, compressed his chest, grabbed the back of his jaw and pried open his mouth and we got his tongue out of the way. My hand kept his mouth open until the trainer (Milwaukee trainer Curt Rayer) got there. I still have the scar on my right hand from his teeth marks.”
Kaline left on a stretcher and was taken to Lutheran Hospital, where he was observed overnight. X-rays showed no fractures, but he complained of soreness in his jaw and left knee.
“I didn’t even see Jim,” Kaline told Hawkins the next day. “And I don’t remember us hitting. The doctors told me I swallowed my tongue and the guys said I was starting to turn blue. I sort of remember Willie leaning over me and getting my mouth opened and Dick McAuliffe said I asked, ‘How did you guys get out here so fast?’ ”
Northrup, who struck Kaline on the jaw with his left forearm, told Hawkins he didn’t see Kaline, either.
“I called for the ball the last couple of steps but the kids in the bleachers were yelling and he must not have heard me,” Northrup said. “I got up right away but I didn’t know where the ball had gone.”
Three months later on Aug. 22, the team held a pregame ceremony at Tiger Stadium to honor Horton’s heroics. With Kaline standing beside Horton, Harold DePree, the president of the Michigan Heart Association, presented a framed citation to the Tigers’ left fielder. The award, which hangs in Horton’s recreation room, reads:
“For seeing what needed to be done and doing it, thereby quite probably saving the life of his teammate Al Kaline. Unconscious after a collision in the outfield, Kaline’s jaws were locked and he was turning blue. Horton forced open his jaws, allowing air to reach his lungs. Speed in applying this first step in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is all important.”
“Al was part of my family and you do what you have to do to help anyone,” Horton said. “It’s hard to believe that he is now gone.”