Yesterday, Monday, April 6, 2020, we mourn the death of Tigers legend Al “Mr. Tiger” Kaline. Kaline lived a long life to the age of 85. The cause of his death is currently not available to the public.
Kaline accomplished a lot on the field in his 22-year. He was a very loyal man as he spent all of his 22 years in the MLB with the Detroit Tigers also sparking the idea to give him the nickname “Mr. Tiger”. Kaline was an all-star 18 times out of his 22 years in the MLB ranking in the top ten of most times making the All-Star game.
He was outstanding on both offense and defense. Kaline is a part of the 3000 hit club and was the American League Batting champ in 1955. The Tigers right fielder was a 10-time Gold Glove winner.
Kaline’s biggest accomplishment on-field was leading the Tigers to their 3rd World Series title in 1968. In 1968, “Mr. Tiger” put up a slash line of .287/.392/.428 with an OPS of .820.
In August of 1980, the Tigers retired the number six in honor their 18-time All-Star’s accomplishments, however, Kaline’s biggest accomplishment was his induction to the Hall of Fame. In 1980 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 88.3% first-ballot votes. He would join names like Ty Cobb, Charlie Gehringer, and many other accomplished Tigers in the Hall of Fame.
Statistically, Al Kaline is the second-best player to ever wear the Old English D behind Ty Cobb based on their slash lines.
Kaline was known as a very kind man as many people have come out today and said many nice things about Kaline. Justin Verlander tweeted, “Such a kind and generous man who meant so much to many people.”
Tigers prospect Jake Rodgers had this to say on twitter “Al Kaline was one of the best people and players of all time!”
If these comments do not sum up what kind of man Kaline was, I’m not sure what will.
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Photo: Getty Images
