The Al Kaline Statue

by David Fleitz 

Anyone who knows me knows that Al Kaline was my favorite ballplayer when I was growing up.

Maybe I chose him because he was the best player on the Tigers, the team I started following when I was about five years old.  Maybe it was because Kaline won the batting title the year I was born in 1955.  Maybe it was because he seemed so even-tempered and professional.  I could get pretty difficult while playing baseball when I was eight, and my dad would say things like, "Al Kaline never throws his bat after he strikes out," or "Al Kaline doesn't get angry when things don't go his way."  Well, actually, he did once, in 1967 when he slammed his bat into the bat rack and broke his finger, putting him out of the lineup for several weeks. 

But mostly, Kaline was as admirable a star as one could find.  Most of the kids in the neighborhood preferred the flashier Rocky Colavito, who only played for the the Tigers for four seasons, but I stuck with Kaline.  He was a star in the Tiger lineup when I was born, and he was still there when I went to college.

Anyway, I went to Comerica Park on Labor Day and took a picture of the Al Kaline statue with my cell phone.  The result is presented to the right.  Below it is a shot from the left-field stands, and the last one in the group is a photo of one of the tigers that guards the entrance to the park.