Al was about 18 or 19 in this photo from his 1954 card. The following year, at age 20, he won the AL batting championship with a .340 mark. He was one day younger than Ty Cobb had been when Cobb won the batting title in 1907, making Kaline the youngest batting champion ever, a mark that has endured to this day.
“Al Kaline, who in a long and unique Detroit Tigers lifetime grew from youthful batting champion to Hall of Famer to distinguished elder statesman, died Monday afternoon at his home in Bloomfield Hills. He was 85.”
If you are a baby boomer and a baseball fan, you certainly remember him well. He never played an inning for any pro team but the Tigers, not even in the minors. He was probably the 2nd-best American leaguer of his era, behind Mickey. He never won an MVP, but he finished second twice and third once – and finished in the top ten six more times!
He is considered one of the two best defensive right fielders of his time, perhaps of all time, alongside Roberto Clemente.
Kaline had nowhere near Mickey Mantle’s power, but thanks to his consistency and a 22-year career, he managed to hit 399 lifetime homers without ever reaching 30 in a season, and in 1959 he even managed to lead the AL in slugging average, upsetting the favored Mantle.
I loved the players of that Kaline era. I looked it up. He had 17 seasons with more walks than Ks !!! in the modern era Pujols did it 10 times before he started to slip at age 30.
The Colosseum was a mess. Ruined Snider, turned Wally Moon into a “slugger”. And huge. Non-Angelenos used to laugh at the fans with transistors in their ears as rubes. But nobody was ever stupid to be listening to Vin & Jerry (Doggett) and some of the seats were so far removed from the playing area you actually needed to be told about what was going on down there.
In Spring 61 he finally fixed the control problem. He had been so wild at times (but not quite Dalkowski) that WWII vets like Hodges and Furillo were scared to hit against him.
There were some great quotes about him from opponents. I like Berra’s in 63: “I can see how he won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.” Or Stengel: “On the question of who was the finest pitcher in baseball history, Stengel said, “The Jewish kid is probably the best of them.”
He had had serious flashes. The 18-strikeout game and his WS start in 59 for one of the most unlikely WS champs ever (the 59 season needs a good book – weirdness in both leagues that year). The first few years in LA Alston mostly started him but would use him as a reliever. I got to thinking Alston was conceding the game when he would come in.
He did get to about 2/3 of what he would be in 61, breaking the NL strikeout record. But next year when the stadium opened he became Sandy Fucking Koufax. Over the years I had endless arguments with my old man over who had the better dominating stretch – him or Grove. The WARheads downplay him but Stengel didn’t. I’m going with Casey.
If you want to be really analytical about his performance, he was just as good in 1960 and 1961 as in 1962, actually better, but the Colosseum disguised it.
1960 on the road: 7-4 3.00
1961 on the road: 9-5 2.77
1962 on the road: 7-3 3.53
1960 was his best strikeout year in road games (per inning). He fanned 126 in 105 innings on the road, but was a disaster at the Colosseum. (1-7, 5.27, 71k)
But his home ERAs were:
1960 at the Colosseum: 5.27
1961 at the Colosseum: 4.22
1962 at Dodger Stadium: 1.75
His lifetime record at Dodger Stadium was 57-15 with a 1.37 ERA! His ERA was above 4.00 at both Ebbets Field and the Colosseum. ‘
Some of those years were crazy:
1958: 9-5 on the road, 2-6 at the Colosseum.
1960: 7-6 on the road, 1-7 at the Colosseum.
Of the players who were considered established stars when I first started following baseball (the year Vin brought it out to SoCal) damn few left – Mays, Aaron, Ford, Colavito (in bad health), Aparicio, Groat & Mazeroski, can’t think of any others off the top of my head.
I think Orlando Cepeda is still alive. He was the ROY that year
And Koufax of course. He had been around for many years, but didn’t really click until Dodger Stadium opened. (After his first seven years in the majors, his lifetime record was 54-53.)
But I guess they were not, by your definition, established stars at the start of the 1958 season.
I used to trade baseball cards BITD. Al Kaline was one of my favorites 🙁