MLB: Detriot Tiger legend Al Kaline has died

The world is in the middle of a major pandemic. Many things have been shut down and will be shut down for a while. However, there is sad news to report from the world of Major League Baseball. According to the Detroit Free Press , legendary Detroit Tigers player Al Kaline has died. He was 85 years old. As of this writing, there has been no announced cause of death yet.

He was born in 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up very poor. Several members of his family did play semi-baseball, but no one played in the majors. After he graduated from high school, he would sign with the Tigers and join the Major league team right away. He didn’t go through the minor leagues at all. When he signed with the Tigers, he signed a deal worth $35,000 dollars. In today’s dollars, it would be roughly $334 thousand dollars. He made his debut for the Tigers on June 25, 1953.

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The Tigers were playing the Philadelphia Athletics. In his rookie season, he wore the number 25. He would not start wearing his famous six number until his teammate Pat Mullin retired after the 1953 season. In 1955, he would end up having a .340 batting average. He would become the youngest player to win the American League batting title. The last time a player in his twenties won the title was Ty Cobb in 1907.

He would end up playing his entire career with the Tigers. For a majority of it, he would be the teams Right fielder. He would end up getting a few shots playing first at the end. In his career, he would end up having 3,007 hits, 399 home runs, and 1,583 runs batted in. He was also an 18 time All Star, World Series winner in 1968, 10 time Gold Glove winner, and a winner of both the Roberto Clemente Award and the American League Batting title. After his career, the Tigers did retire his number. He would enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 along with Brooklyn Dodger great, Duke Snider.