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Posted by BarbaraAnne Helberg Jul 12, 2008 |
As a teenager, I was a huge Detroit Tiger fan, and in particular, an Al Kaline nut, in the 1950s and 1960s. Year after year, until the old format of just two full leagues was replaced by division playoffs, the Tigers chased the New York Yankees for a pennant.
The division decisions spread things out in the 1970s, when it became the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics doing battle for a division title, while Detroit played second fiddle, and the Yankees split and languished elsewhere, in the expanded version of diamond warfare.
There was no rightfielder like the young Kaline, who joined the Tigers from high school in 1953. He had an immediate impact on the Detroit scene, playing in 136 games and getting 504 at bats the next season. His bat sung heroics and his glove was golden year after year.
Off the field, he was a giant, too. He was a straight shooter, as they said in those days. Not a womanizer, not a drinker, not a showboat. Just a good kid who emerged into an icon playing a game he loved and, amazingly, he always said shyly, making a living at it.
That was Al, my first big time sports hero.
Wow, was I happy in 1968 when Al got to the World Series! Every player of great stature wants to play in the fall classic, and every kid wants to see his/her favorite player in it. Not only did Al get there, he had a major contribution in game five that spurred the Tigers on to the world title after they had trailed the powerful St. Louis Cardinals three games to one.
It was heaven, for a day, and more. Thanks, Mr. Tiger!