Two bits of news have taken two locals from us. In the case of one, the passing of Al Kaline — Mr. Tiger or the Brooks Robinson of Detroit — at the age of 85 is not super shocking, but he led such a full life after his retirement. Through Jim Henneman, I got to spend some time with Jim, Al and a bunch of guys who were in their 70s at the time. These were Al’s baseball buddies from Baltimore.
These guys revered Kaline, the player from their high school days and sandlots. But like the comparison to Mr. Oriole, Brooks Robinson, they didn’t hold him in awe as a person. To them, he was just a great friend.
If you haven’t taken a couple minutes to read Henneman’s column on Kaline, I urge you to click on this link (but, only after reading the entirety of this column).
