Today is a really special anniversary for Tigers fans: it's the 40th anniversary of Al Kaline's 3,000th career hit! Who is Al Kaline, you ask? Well, I am about to tell you.
Al "Mr. Tiger" Kaline played his entire 22-year career with the Detroit Tigers from 1953-1974. Kaline could definitely hit for power, smashing 399 career home runs, but he was more so a contact hitter, and a good one, too. Averaging about 137 hits per year, Mr. Tiger collected 3,007 career base hits, 27th on the all-time list. He led all of Major League Baseball in hits (200) and batting average (.340) in 1955 at the age of 20, becoming the youngest man to win a batting title, a record that he still holds.
The 18-time All Star who batted .297 lifetime is also known for his glove. He won the Gold Glove Award as an outfielder ten times, seven of them consecutive from 1961-1967. Despite all of this regular season greatness, Kaline appeared in just one World Series during his playing days (and the Tigers won that Series), but boy, did he have a fine 1968 Fall Classic against the Cardinals: .379 batting average, 11 hits, a pair of homers, and eight RBIs in seven games.
As I mentioned before, on this date in 1974, Al got hit number 3,000 of his career against Dave McNally in a 5-4 Detroit loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the Charm City. Six years later, Mr. Tiger was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, receiving 88.3% of the vote.
Anyway, thanks for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it and check back soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."
I remember hit #3000 very well. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI never hear Al Kaline's arm mentioned. I believe he had one of the best arms in baseball when he was a young player.
ReplyDeleteanadolu yakasında sex shop ve erotik shop sektörünün en eski firmalarından olan firmamızda bütün seks shop ürünlerini ve fantazi iç giyim çeşitlerini bulabilir ve en uygun fiyatlarla teslimatta ödeme seçeneği ile satın alabilirsiniz.
ReplyDelete