Today's "Then and Now" thread takes us to
1974 and the Tigers' all-time great Al Kaline, who was wrapping up his
Hall of Fame career after 22 brilliant seasons in the Major Leagues.
Take a look at my card design:
What a player.
"Mr. Tiger" spent his entire career in the "Motor City", and went
on to collect over 3000 hits, 399 home runs, 1583 runs batted in and
1622 runs scored.
Though he never took home a Most Valuable Player Award, he did
finish in the top-10 in voting nine times, including a second-place
finish in 1955 when he won the American League batting title at the age
of 20!
As if that all wasn't enough, he also took home ten Gold Gloves and was named to 15 all-star teams!
Needless to say, as soon as he was eligible for the Hall of Fame in
1980, he was voted in, getting named on 340 of 385 ballots, capping off
one of the greatest Detroit Tiger careers in the history of the storied
franchise.
One of the most well-liked players of his day, Kaline did it all, and did it all with class.
I only wish I was old enough to have seen his work his magic at the plate, and out in the field.
