Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

See who dazzled on the red carpet and took home gold at the 78th Primetime Creative Emmy Awards.

Primetime Creative Arts Emmys: Photos We Love

15-time All-Star Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers was one of the premier baseball players of his generation, slugging 399 home-runs and amassing 3,007 hits in those less-statistics crazy times. (In this era, Kaline -- who announced his retirement before his final season of 1974 and stuck to it -- would have come back for another season to hit homer #400, one of the great benchmarks of that time, before steroids and human growth hormone made nonsense to the baseball power-hitting records in the late 1990s.) The winner of 10-gold gloves for fielding excellence, Kaline was greatly respected as an all-around star player with all the tools, like his contemporary Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox, who became the first American League Player to hit 400 dingers and 3,000 hits in 1979.

Kaline, who had the desire to excel at baseball, did not have the desire to upstage Yaz by pointing out that it was something he easily could have done, and was gracious when the Red Sox left fielder set the milestones in 1979. Perhaps Kaline could afford to be generous, for unlike Yaz, who was perpetually a bridesmaid and never a bride when it came to the post-season (Yaz's BoSox even lost the A.L. East pennant to Kaline and Billy Martin's Tigers by Tigers won the 1968 World's Championship. Distinct underdogs to the the same St. Louis Cardinals team, and post-season marvel Bob Gibson, who had beaten Yaz's "Impssible Dream" BoSox the year before and had whipped the last team of the great Yankees Dynasty, the '64 Bronx Bombers of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard and Whitey Ford, the Tigers made history by staging one of the great upsets in World Series history. The '68 battle royal for the World's Championship was almost as good, and legendary, as the '67 Series, and like the previous match-up of the Cards and the American League contender, it had gone done to the seventh and deciding game. Though the Cardinals were mighty, it was the Tigers behind the pitching of donut-maven Mickey Lolich who prevailed. Al hit .379 with two homers and eight runs batted in during the Series, further establishing his credentials as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Al Kaline had been signed as a "Bonus Baby" by the Tigers in 1953, and under the extant rules of Major League Baseball, had gone straight to the major league team, bypassing the minor leagues. (To justify the bonus, or rather, to limit the payout of large bonuses, MLB required teams signing young players to large bonuses to keep them on the major league roster for part of the year, every year, or lose them.) The 18-year old Kaline came up for a cup of coffee with the Tigers in 1953, and then played a total of 22 seasons for them, a record only surpassed by Yaz for the Red Sox and Brooks Robinson for the Baltimore Orioles, who in those pre-free-agent times, played a total of 23 years for the same team. Kaline blossomed early, winning his first and only batting title in 1955, at the tender age of 20, leading both leagues with a .340 average. Kaline became the youngest player ever to win a batting title, establishing that record by nosing out fellow Tiger Ty Cobb by one day.

Although he never won a Most Valuable Player Award, Kaline ranked in the Top 10 in M.V.P. votes nine times between 1955 and 1967, coming in second in '55 and '63 and third in '56. Never a true power hitter, he was remarkably consistent and steady in his production, hitting a minimum of 25 homers seven times and hitting over .300 nine times, playing primarily in what is becoming known as baseball's second "Dead Ball Era". His superb fielding was a marvel, and he once went 242 consecutive games in the field without committing an error. Kaline was the type of player a general manager dreams of building a franchise around.

Fittingly, Al Kaline was known as "Mr. Tiger" when he retired after the 1974 season. Kaline was the most popular player in the Detroit franchise's history (the dyspeptic Cobb was a greater player and highly respected by Tigers fans, but not particularly beloved). After his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in his first year of eligibility, his number 6 was the first number ever to be retired by the Tigers.

Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 1980.

He won ten Gold Gloves and was selected to the All-Star game fifteen
times.

Upon graduation from High School, he went directly to the American
League Detroit Tigers to play outfield and never played a day of Minor
League Baseball.

Outfielder for the American League&#39;s Detroit Tigers, 1953-1974.

Jersey number &quot;6&quot; is retired by the Detroit Tigers.

Detroit Tigers All-Time Games Played Leader (2,834).

Detroit Tigers All-Time Homerun Leader (399).

Detroit Tigers All-Time Walks Leader (1,277).

Selected to play for the American League in 15 All-Star games
(1955-1967, 1971 and 1974)

Inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

Inducted into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.

Inducted into the Polk County [Florida] Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Inducted into the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015 (inaugural class).

Trivia

Al Kaline

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