By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

It was either late in the 1988 or 1989 season.

I was seated in the lunch room an hour before first pitch with the late, great Michigan scribe Vern Plagehoef.

“Mind if I sit down?” said the voice from behind me.

Vern said, “Sure, Hall of Famer, have a seat.”

And that’s the first time I met Al Kaline, the Detroit Tigers legend. Kaline graced right field at old Tiger Stadium, formerly Briggs Stadium, when my father, Uncle Sam, took cousin Geoff and I to see Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chase Babe Ruth in 1961. He stood out.

Kaline moved into the Tigers TV booth after his 22-year career, each and every year in a Tiger uniform, each and every game (2,834) and every plate appearance (11,596) wearing an old-style English D.

To paraphrase New York Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen: “How ‘bout that? Ernie Harwell on radio, Al Kaline on TV!”

He collected 3,007 hits and hit 399 homers. Vern and Kaline did all the talking as I’d never met a Hall of Famer and was shy. But he was so down to earth. When Kaline left Vern said “Later ... Hall of Famer.”

Next time I saw Kaline I wasn’t calling him Mr. Kaline, I wasn’t calling him Al and I wasn’t calling him Pally. My solution was that every time I saw him whether it be in the Tiger press box, at SkyDome or Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, I’d say --just like Vern -- “Hello Hall of Famer.” And he’d break into his soft smile.

I’m unsure if Al Kaline ever knew my name but he always smiled when I said it. Perhaps it was because it reminded him of his good friend Vern who passed in 1992 on a trip to Chicago. Tracy Ringolsby flew in from Denver and gave the eulogy, Jayson Stark flew in from Philadelphia. The Cleveland contingent was there as the Indians were in town to play the Tigers that night. I drove to Michigan for the funeral.

Over the years my opening comment was always the same. Sometimes we talked about each other’s teams. A few times I interviewed him:

Is Jack Morris worthy of election to the Hall of Fame?” He always said yes and had valid reasons.

Kaline retired in 1974 never having spent a day in the minors. After sitting out a year he re-joined the Tigers’ TV booth, with George Kell, also a Hall of Famer, From 1976 until 2001 he was the TV voice to the Tigers. The next year new president Dave Dombrowski named Kaline a special assistant. He stayed on with the new GM Al Avila too.

Everything went along well until the spring of 2012 at Lakeland. Four months before I’d been named the winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink award for baseball writing, thanks to my campaign manager Richard Griffin of The Toronto Star.

Any time some one would congratulate me for being in the Hall of Fame I’d explain how Paul Molitor, George Brett, Eddie Mathews and Warren Spahn had plaques -- they are in the Hall of Fame ... all I did was watch the game.

It even led to an on-air argument with Bob McCown of The Fan.

“Is your picture in the Hall in Cooperstown? Yes or No?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then you are a Hall of Famer.”

“No I am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

And it sounded like recess in grade 4.

I would painstakingly explain the difference to friends and players (one asked me my career hit total ... I asked: “Peewee or bantam or combined?”): Yes, I had been honoured by the Baseball Writers Association of America in Cooperstown, but I was not a member of the Hall of Fame.

Now the Jays were in Lakeland in the spring of 2012.

“Hello Hall of Famer.”

I sighed and turned ready to explain it all again. Except it was Kaline, a real Hall of Famer.

Who was I to correct him?

Over the years we interviewed him a few times on why zero Tigers had been elected since Kaline in 1980 until 2017 or Morris. Kaline said voters held the city’s crime rate against the Tiger players.

In February of 2015, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont. called to say I had been elected. Then, I didn’t feel as guilty when Kaline said:

“Hello Hall of Famer.”

He’d shake my hand and I’d say “Hello, Hall of Famer.”

Tiger greats Alan Trammell and Morris were elected to Cooperstown in 2018 by the Golden Era committee.

* * *

“He was a proud man, who loved baseball, but loved the Tigers even more. Forever a Detroit Tiger.” _ Jack Morris on the late Al Kaline. *

* * *

Hours after Kaline passed I sent out a Tweet: “R. I. P. Hall of Famer Al Kaline. He was elegant and graceful in RF for the Tigers The way he carried himself when we’d see him in Lakeland or the press box reminded us of Jean Beliveau in a regal senatorial manner.”

I asked my pal Serge Touchette, formerly of Le Journal de Montreal and a travelling partner with the Montreal Expos, who always respected the rules and still loves wrasslin’. Touchette, a good judge of character replied: “It’s funny that you mentioned Jean Beliveau. I wrote something about Kaline and mentioned that he was very close to Beliveau in terms of class and kindness. I met Al Kaline a couple of times and I was really impressed. He was a class act.”

The well-respected Kaline -- signing autographs on the field, talking over last night’s game with an usher or GM Dave Dombrowski -- played in more games and hit more homers than anyone else in Tiger history, and he compiled a batting résumé second only to Ty Cobb’s. Cobb was not well liked.

Kaline had a career average of .297 -- .301 for his first 20 years -- with an .855 OPS. He could run (131 stolen bases). He won 10 gold gloves. He showed he could hit and could hit for power. Field?

Well, there was one night when in three straight innings from Kaline threw out a Chicago White Sox runner on the bases July 7, 1954 in front of 5,099 at Briggs Stadium.

The White Sox won 9-0 but what people remembered was the Tigers’ skinny right fielder. He was 19, playing in his 96th game in the majors.

In the second inning, the White Sox future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox singled to right field. Kaline threw home to catcher Frank House beating runner Fred Marsh.

Now, down by four in the third, Johnny Groth singled to right as Jungle Jim Rivera headed for third. Kaline unleashed another missile to third baseman Ray Boone, which easily erased Rivera.

And in the fourth, Minnie Minoso delivered a run-scoring single to right, making it 6-0. Minoso kept motoring towards second and was erased in a rundown. Three assists in three innings, one shy of Ducky Holmes’ record with the Chicago White Stockings in 1903 and equaled four times, but not since 1928.

Kaline, 85, died Monday afternoon in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Farewell Hall of Famer.