Near the end of his career, Kaline also played as first baseman and, in his last season, was the Tigers' designated hitter. He retired soon after reaching the 3,000 hit milestone. Immediately after retiring from playing, he became the Tigers' TV color commentator, a position he held until 2002. Kaline worked for the Tigers as a front office assistant from 2003 until his death in 2020.^[4]

Early life[edit]

Kaline was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Naomi (Morgan) and Nicholas Kaline.^[5] His family was poor. Several of his relatives played semi-professional baseball, but no one in the family had graduated from high school. When he was eight years old, Kaline developed osteomyelitis and had two inches of bone removed from his left foot.^[6] The surgery left him with scarring and permanent deformity, but he was an outstanding pitcher in youth baseball.^[7] Kaline had learned to throw a fastball, changeup and curveball by the age of nine.^[8]

Kaline attended Baltimore's Southern High School, where he starred in basketball and also played football until he sustained a cheek injury. When he tried out for the baseball team, there was no room on the pitching staff so Kaline moved to the outfield.^[8] He earned all-state honors in baseball all four years.^[7] Kaline said that he was a poor student but that he was well-liked by his teachers. He said that his teachers passed him, believing he would become a baseball player.^[9]

MLB career[edit]

Early years[edit]

Kaline bypassed Minor League Baseball and joined the Tigers directly from high school as an 18-year-old "bonus baby" signee, receiving $35,000 ($382,823 in 2020 dollars) to sign with the team.^[10][11] The Detroit scout who had tracked him through high school, Ed Katalinas, said, "To me he was the prospect that a scout creates in his mind and then prays that someone will come along to fit the pattern."^[12]

He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. Kaline wore number 25 during his rookie campaign, but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 after the 1953 season ended. Kaline wore the number for the rest of his major league playing career.^[13]

In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League (AL) batting title. No 20-year-old major league player had won a batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907. During the 1955 season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning, became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in (RBIs).^[1][14] His 200 hits led the major leagues, and he also led the American League with 321 total bases. Kaline finished second to Yogi Berra in the American League's 1955 Most Valuable Player Award voting.^[15] He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first in a string of consecutive All-Star selections that lasted through 1967.^[1]

Kaline followed in 1956 with a .314 batting average, 27 home runs and a career-high 128 RBIs, finishing third in the AL MVP voting.^[1] He led the league in outfield assists with 18 in 1956^[16] and again in 1958 with 23.^[17] In 1957, he won the first of what would be ten Gold Glove Awards over the next eleven seasons. Kaline was out for several games in 1958 after he was hit by a pitch. He missed several games in 1959 after he was hit by a thrown ball and sustained a fracture in his cheekbone. Kaline had been knocked out from the blow and initial speculation was that he could miss six weeks of the season.^[18] Kaline ended up missing only 18 games, and finished the 1959 season with a .327 batting average and 27 home runs. He also led the AL in slugging percentage (.530) and OPS (.940).

Middle career[edit]

Following the departure of Harvey Kuenn, Kaline played the entire 1960 season in center field, the only time of his career he would do so. In 1961, the Tigers acquired Bill Bruton from the Milwaukee Braves to play center field, allowing Kaline to move back to right field.

In 1961, Kaline led the majors with 41 doubles and hit .324 to finish second in the AL batting race (behind teammate Norm Cash). The Tigers won 101 games, to date the third-highest win total in team history, but still finished eight games behind a New York Yankees team that was led by the home run heroics of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Kaline began the 1962 season hitting .345 with 13 home runs and 38 RBIs in 35 games. On May 26 of that season, he sustained a broken collarbone while making a game-ending catch on a ball hit by New York's Elston Howard. He missed 57 games due to the injury and Detroit was unable to seriously compete for a pennant due to his absence. When healthy, Kaline was great in 1962, hitting a career-high 29 home runs and driving in 94 runs in only 100 games.^[19]

By late March 1963, Kaline said that he felt good and he was hitting .373 in 53 spring training at-bats.^[19] In the 1963 regular season, Kaline hit .312 with 27 home runs and 101 RBIs, finishing second to Elston Howard in the American League's Most Valuable Player Award voting.^[1][20] Kaline experienced pain in his left foot, the one that had been affected by osteomyelitis as a child, throughout the 1964 season. His batting average dropped to .293 that season. Kaline tried to ignore the pain, but he saw physicians who thought he was suffering from gout and administered injections.^[21]

Still in pain the following season, Kaline saw an orthopedic surgeon who prescribed corrective shoes. "I feel so much better than I did before, that it's ridiculous", Kaline said by June 1965.^[21] Sportswriter Milton Gross described Kaline's deformed foot, saying, "The pinky and middle finger don't touch the ground. The fourth toe is stretched. The second and third are shortened. The first and third toes overlap the second and the fourth is beginning to overlap the big toe, which has begun to bend to the left. It is hard to believe, but for all of his career with the Tigers while he has been called the perfect player, Kaline has bordered on being a cripple."^[21]

In 1966, Kaline tied his career high with 29 home runs. In the summer of 1967, the normally calm Kaline broke a bone in his hand when he struck a baseball bat against a bat rack.^[22] Kaline missed a month of play. When he returned, the Tigers were in a four-team pennant race, but the team finished the season one game behind the first place Boston Red Sox.^[23]

Kaline missed two months of the 1968 season with a broken arm, but he returned to the lineup when Tiger manager Mayo Smith benched shortstop Ray Oyler and sent center fielder Mickey Stanley to play shortstop to make room for Kaline in the outfield.^[24] ESPN later called Smith's move one of the ten greatest coaching decisions of the century.^[25] In the 1968 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals won three of the first four games of the series and were leading Game 5 by a score of 3–2 in the seventh inning, when Kaline hit a bases loaded single to drive in two runs.^[26] The Tigers won that game, and then won Game 6 in a blowout. Kaline had two hits, two runs scored and three RBI in the Tigers' 10-run third inning of Game 6. Detroit went on to win Game 7 for their first world championship since 1945. In his only World Series appearance, Kaline hit .379 with two home runs and eight RBIs in seven games.^[27] For their victory, Kaline and his teammates each received bonus checks of $10,000 (at a time when Kaline's salary was "about $70,000").^[28]

Final seasons[edit]

In 1970, Kaline sustained a freak, near-fatal injury in an outfield collision. In a game at Milwaukee's County Stadium on May 30, against the Milwaukee Brewers, Kaline collided with center fielder Jim Northrup as they both pursued a fly ball. Kaline fell to the warning track injured. Alertly, left fielder Willie Horton rushed over and quickly recognized that Kaline was turning blue. Horton reached in and cleared Kaline's airway, saving his life.^[29][30]

After hitting .294 in 1971, Kaline became the first Tiger to sign a $100,000 ($722,597 in today's dollars) contract. He had turned down a pay raise from $95,000 to $100,000 the previous year, saying he did not feel like he deserved it after hitting .278 with 16 home runs in 1970.^[31][32] Detroit contended all season for the 1972 pennant, trailing the Red Sox by a half-game before a series against them to end the regular season.^[33] Kaline batted eight times in two games, registering five hits and three runs scored.^[34] Detroit won those first two games and clinched the AL East pennant.^[35][36] Kaline batted .313 in 106 games in 1972, topping .300 for the first time since 1967. The Tigers lost the 1972 American League Championship Series to the Oakland Athletics that year after Reggie Jackson stole home in the decisive fifth game of the series.^[37] In March 1973, Kaline won the Roberto Clemente Award in recognition of the honor he brought to baseball on and off the field.^[38]

On September 24, 1974, Kaline became the 12th player in MLB history to reach the 3,000 hit milestone, when he hit a double off the Orioles' Dave McNally.^[39][40][41] After reaching the milestone, Kaline announced that he would retire at season's end.^[23] "I'm glad it's over. I really am. I don't think I'll miss it. I may miss spring training", Kaline said after his last game on October 3, 1974.^[42]

Kaline finished his career with 3,007 hits (currently 32nd on the all-time list), 498 doubles, 75 triples, 399 home runs (a Tigers record and currently 58th on the all-time list), 1,622 runs scored, 1,277 bases on balls, and 1,582 RBIs (currently 44th on the all-time list).^[1] He batted over .300 nine times in his career to finish with a lifetime batting average of .297 and hit 25 or more home runs seven times in his career.^[1] Kaline also holds Tiger career records for games played (2,834), walks (1,277), and sacrifice flies (104).^[43] He had more walks than strikeouts (1,020). His highest season strikeout total came in his final season, with 75. Prior to that, Kaline never struck out more than 66 times in a season. Among position players, Kaline ranks 29th all-time (15th among outfielders) in Wins Against Replacement (WAR) with a career mark of 92.8.^[44]

Defensively, Kaline finished his career with an overall .987 fielding percentage.^[1] In his first full season (1954), he recorded 16 outfield assists, including three in one game (July 7 against the Chicago White Sox).^[45] He recorded 84 outfield assists between 1954 and 1958, posting a career-high 23 in 1958. After that season, baserunners rarely tested his arm, and his assist numbers dropped.