Mr Tiger (Al Kaline) is 80 years old today.

Free Republic ^ | 12/19/2014 | none

[cripplecreek]

They just don't make them like this anymore.

[cripplecreek]

Still working for the Tigers to this day.



Born December 19th 1934 Baltimore

18× All-Star (1955–1961, 1962–1967, 1971, 1974)

World Series champion (1968)

10× Gold Glove Award (1957–1959, 1961–1967)

Roberto Clemente Award (1973)

AL batting champion (1955)

Detroit Tigers #6 retired

Kaline started playing for the Tigers right out of High School and played his entire major league career with the Tigers.

[dfwgator]

[mason-dixon]

Al Kaline came from BALTIMORE!

[NotSoFreeStater]

So is my Mom!

[JennysCool]

They had faces then. Amazing to see a team photo where everyone has such an individual character written on their face. These days everybody’s always Photoshopped to boring “perfection.”

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Al!

[Vigilanteman]

Born in Baltimore, but he was a Detroit Tiger through and through. I wonder how many people remember that the 1968 World Champion team had a combined batting average of under .200 at third base and shortstop?

Manager Mayo Smith took a major gamble in teaching regular center fielder Mickey Stanley to play shortstop in the closing days of the 1968 season, a gamble which paid off handsomely in that world series.

[dfwgator]

So did Babe Ruth.

[cripplecreek]

Says he settled in with the Tigers and never felt a need to be anywhere else. He would have lived in the clubhouse and lived on free hotdogs if that’s what it took to play with the Tigers.

[Vigilanteman]

There is at least one player (and future Hall of Famer) on their roster who is missing from that team photo. Can you name him?

[ScottinVA]

I wonder how many people remember that the 1968 World Champion team had a combined batting average of under .200 at third base and shortstop?

Yep. That year MLB shortened the distance from the mound to home plate -- batting averages and pitcher ERAs dropped like a rock. The top batter in the AL that year had a .301 average.

[cripplecreek]

Ernie Harwell, George Kell, and Al Kaline. Ernie and George have moved on to the Ultra Major Leagues.

[dfwgator]

That would be Eddie Mathews.

[NotSoFreeStater]

Eddie Matthews?

[dfwgator]

Eddie Mathews went out a winner with ’68 Tigers

http://blog.detroitathletic.com/2014/08/25/eddie-mathews-went-winner-68-tigers/

[Netz]

AL Kaline was our hero, growing up in Detroit. It is said that two things saved 1968 for Detroiters (and America)...the ‘68 Tigers and Apollo 8 circling the moon on Christmas eve of that year.
The Tigers should have stayed at Tiger Stadium...it was magic.

[cripplecreek]

If you’re a lifetime Michigander, Harwell, Kaline, and Kell are like honorary family members to all.

[shove_it]

As a kid playing sandlot baseball in Detroit, Al Kaline was my favorite player. He had a deadly throwing arm which he used to pick off base-runners who hit singles to him in right field then rounded first base - he’d leisurely field the ball then whip it to the firstbaseman who’d tag out the runner scrambling back to the base. I got his autograph shortly after he made it to the Tigers as a rookie — he was delighted to give it to me. In those days, grandstand tickets in the outfield were 75 cent$ as I recall at Briggs Stadium.

[nascarnation]

We used to have these potato chips when I was a little kid growing up in Cleveland. As an Indians fan I could never understand why they were on Al Kaline's side?

(true story)

[Vigilanteman]

Yes, not too shabby. He started game #4 at third base and reached safely in two of three plate appearances against the legendary Bob Gibson, one on a base hit, one as a walk.

Of course, it wasn't a good day overall for the Tigers as they got a lopsided beating that day.

[dfwgator]

I was in Ann Arbor at the time as a young boy, one of my fondest childhood memories.