Top Tigers #2: Al Kaline
By Blake VandeBunte • Mar 15th, 2009 • Category: Al Kaline, Top 100 Tigers- Rank: 2
- Name: Albert William Kaline
- Position: Outfield
- Tigers Tenure: 1953-1974
- Awards: Received MVP Votes 14 times (Finished 2nd twice and finished 3rd twice), 15-time All Star, Third in Rookie of the Year Voting (1954), 10-time Gold Glove Winner, Baseball Hall of Fame (1980)
- Best Season: 1955. Kaline’s 1955 season is incredible to look at today. The things this guy was able to accomplish at the age of 20 are unreal. Kaline won the American League batting title in 1955 with a mark of .340. Kaline is still the youngest American League player to ever with the batting title (roughly a month younger than Ty Cobb). Kaline ranked second in the league in on base percentage, second in slugging percentage, second in OPS, second in runs scored, first in hits and fourth in home runs. He ranked in the top ten in just about every offensive category that season, and all at the age of 20. Kaline showed a great eye at the plate walking 82 times and striking out only 57 times in over 600 plate appearances. While the Tigers were a 79-75 team and finished only fifth in the American League, Kaline established himself as one of the game’s true stars.
- Good Stuff: Even though Kaline’s best season came at the age of 20, it was not all downhill from that point on. Kaline was the epitome of consistency. Every season from 1955-1972 saw Kaline finish the season with an OPS+ of at least 108. He topped the 100 RBI mark three times and hit at least 20 home runs nine times during his 22 seasons as a big league player. Kaline was never really defined as a power hitter but somehow managed to slug 399 home runs in his career. His batting average topped the .300 mark nine times which is incredible considering that hitting .300 was quite rare for a good chunk of his career. Kaline was also a great defensive player. On top of all of the Gold Gloves, Kaline had the stats to back it all up. He had range factors and fielding percentage numbers far above the league averages for most of his career. He also won Gold Gloves while playing in right field and in center field.
- Bad Stuff: Not a thing.
- Place In Tigers History: Kaline was the first member of the Tigers to have his number (6) retired. He was also elected to the Hall of Fame during his first season on the ballot (88% of the vote). While the greatest Tiger of all time, Ty Cobb, was a bonafide racist who was often hated by his own teammates, Kaline was a class act all the way. When the Tigers needed to have Kaline sit a bit to make room for younger player, Al was willing. He first played for the Tigers at the age of 18. Today he is 74 and still very much involved with the Tigers. No player is more loved and revered in Tigers history than Al Kaline.
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I would take a team of Al Kalines’ over any player not named Aaron, Mantle or Mays from his era. No player had a stronger AND Accurate throwing arm than Kaline. Those lasers - frozen ropes to second, third, and home are forever etched in my minds eye. Al Kaline had no weakness at the plate or in the field. Kaline was the Ultimate team player, looking for a basehit, or to hit the ball to the right side to advance the runners, instead of swinging for a 450 foot homerun every atbat. Al knew what to do in Every game situation.
Kaline was signed by Tigers’ scout Ed Katalinas the afternoon he graduated from high school in 1953, and turned his signing bonus of $35,000. over to his parents so his mother could have a much needed eye operation. Al played usually 2 and sometime 3 games most days while in high school at Baltimore Southern High and the sandlots-legion ball. He was schooled in his baseball acumen by his father and uncles all semi-pro players.
The one and only weakness Al had was his inability to stay healthy through out his career. He missed about 400 games from a variety of injuries from his all out play. Those years of injuries, (’59 fractured cheekbone, ‘62 broken collarbone, ‘63 sore leg and knee, ‘67 broken hand, ‘68 broken arm), and missing 15-20 up to 60 games in 1962, many of those years, cost Al many homeruns, hits, and several years that he could have had 30 homeruns and a few more 100 plus runs and rbi seasons. Many people don’t know that Al had the same debilitating osteomyelits (a bone disease),that Mantle also had for much of his playing career.
Kaline was so consistent at such a high level for so many years, and played with such a smooth and elegant style he was really taken for granted by many of the fans, but not the players. Kaline did play in an era that was geared more towards pitchers having the advantage, but his .296 batting average during the 1960’s was the highest of any American League player. Kaline led the league as mentioned in B.A. and hits in ‘55, and also led the league in total bases as well. In 1959 Kaline led the league in slugging and ops. In 1961 he led the league in doubles. Every other year ‘55-’67,Kaline consistently ranked in top 3, 5, or ten in nearly every offensive category. Those two years Al finished second in the MVP Award, ‘55 and ‘63, he was voted the Sporting News American League Player of the Year.
Al played in 15 All Star games, voted to 18 all together, and hit .324 12 for 37. Al played at the highest level in that ‘68 World Series and I was so Proud of my “Hero” coming through in game 5 with the clutch hit to win that game while the Tigers were down 3 games to 1.
I still get chills and a few tears in my 61 year old eyes every time I see old film of Al or when he is interviewed in recent years. The Greatest Tiger I have ever seen, a Class act and All Time Great player. God Bless and Thankyou for all the thrills Al Kaline - Mr. Tiger.
I should have had you write this one up, Ron. Seriously.
Blake, That is a very thoughtful and kind thing to say. Thankyou.
Whew. I had a feeling when you got to this point Kaline would be #2, but I was seriously hoping he would be the top dog. I never got to see him play, but he still creates a sense of awe in me - based solely on stories I have heard, and the way the man carries himself. He is the Tigers.
Great list Blake.
-s
trumbullandmichigan.com
No way to compare Cobb and Kaline… two ends of the Cosmic baseball Spectrum.
Kaline was, to those of us playing ball in school sandlots in Michigan in the 60’s, the King. Everybody wanted to wear #6… I even saw an older boy crying when they gave the 6 jersey to another, younger player.
Kaline was as close to the ideal as you could get… heroic yet tragic… overshadowed by Mantle and Mays in the media’s eyes, but to those of us who saw him play, none could compare. If the Tigers had traded Al to NY, it would have broken the fan base in half… attendance would have dropped for certain, and boys that would later develop into lifelong Tiger fans would have burned their baseball cards and turned to a life of crime… or at least cussin’ Jim Campbell forever.
Anybody who watched Kaline throw to home in the pregame was just praying for some stupid visiting baserunner to try his arm once the game started… but as third base coaches league wide had learned in 1956, better to hold up at third. There were so many skidmarks 10 feet past the third base bag that the groundskeepers had to sow extra Kentucky Bluegrass seeds there all year long.
Take a look at the video (if you can find it) of his Game 3 throw to Freehan in ‘68, holding Lou Brock at third… it’s priceless. Anybody else in right, (maybe excepting Clemente) and Brock scores standing up. In Game 5, Brock thinks little of Horton’s arm, and the tide of the Series turns.
Kaline needed to do only two things on any day to put a smile on 10,000 kids faces… Get a hit or make the big play in right… and you almost felt like asking Fetzer for your $1.50 back if he was left out of the lineup on a day you made it to the Corner.
Are you saying that Kaline was clearly better than Cobb or just saying that they were from different times so they are kind of 1a and 1b?