Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon Review

Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Are you looking to buy Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon ReviewWhere were you one week after your high school graduation? Future Detroit Tiger Hall Of Famer Al Kaline was playing the first of what would eventually be 2,834 Major League games of which *ALL* were with the Detroit Tigers. No Tiger has ever played more games before or since. (And that includes the legendary Ty Cobb who holds the record for the highest lifetime batting average in Major League history.) His career statistics will continue to speak loudly for this ever humble low-key icon. 3,007 hits... 399 home runs... 1,583 runs batted in... 1,622 runs scored... 10 gold gloves as the best fielding right fielder in the American League... 15 All Star games... and in 1955 he became the youngest batting champion in league history when he hit 340 three months before his twenty-first birthday.
There are many plusses and minuses in this book... the positives are presented by the rich detail of Al's childhood (Believe it or not even though Kaline first entered the big leagues over fifty-years ago... this is his first biography.) growing up in Baltimore to very humble parents. His Father worked in a broom factory and his Mother had multiple menial jobs. Despite the need for additional income in the family... they would not allow Al to work. His Dad told him there will be plenty of time throughout the rest of his life to work... he should go ahead and follow his dream... and his passion... playing baseball. That's all Al cared about and that's all he did. Kaline admits to being a lousy student because he believed he'd one day play big league baseball. His teachers believed it also and let him skate by. During the summer Al would play on four to five teams at a time. His Father and his Uncle's would arrange to pick him up from one game and bring him to the next. There were times on a hot sweltering summer day that Al would play in three games in one day. His childhood heroes were Ted Williams and Stan Musial and there are some interesting tidbits regarding Kaline and Williams years later when Al plays in the big leagues.
Highlighted along with his Hall Of Fame statistics is Kaline's innate shyness which at times was taken to be aloofness by the sportswriter's. The constant management changes in Detroit... would result in Kaline playing for fourteen different managers in twenty-two years. His feelings towards each manager are interspersed in the telling of his story. I feel bad having to point out what I feel are the shortcomings in this book since Al Kaline was one of my childhood heroes... and I actually wore an Al Kaline glove in Little League... but the negatives have absolutely nothing to do with Kaline himself. He still remains *FIVE-STAR-AS-A-PLAYER-AND-AS-A-PERSON*... the author has what eventually becomes an annoying habit of constantly repeating the same information over and over again in different parts of the book. Additionally the author may be in the midst of one season's story and then starts talking about another season... and then goes back again to the earlier season... not only within the same chapter... but back and forth in subsequent chapters. It becomes very confusing and at times dulling when you hear the same story again. Here's a couple of examples:
On page 4 and 5 the author quotes manager Charlie Dressen when asked to name the greatest player he had ever managed says: "JACKIE ROBINSON WAS THE MOST EXCITING RUNNER I EVER HAD," DRESSEN DECLARED. "HE COULDN'T BE EQUALED ON THE BASES. HE COULD ROB A TEAM BLIND. PEE WEE REESE WAS THE GUTSIEST LITTLE INFIELDER I EVER HAD. I'D HAVE TO PUT ROY CAMPANELLA IN A CLASS WITH MICKEY COCHRANE, GABBY HARNETT, AND BILL DICKEY. AND HANK AARON IS THE BEST HITTER I EVER HAD. BUT IN MY HEART, I'M CONVINCED KALINE IS THE BEST PLAYER WHO PLAYED FOR ME. FOR ALL-AROUND ABILITY-I MEAN HITTING, FIELDING, RUNNING, AND THROWING-I'LL GO WITH AL." Very fine praise indeed... but the exact same speech in full is on pages 103-104. On page 92-93 the story about the game on May 26, 1962 when Al broke his collarbone on a catch of a ball hit by Elston Howard is told in detail... and the same story is told again on page 120-121. There are numerous other examples of this duplication. Then... really hard to understand is why in Chapter 14 you're told who won the 1968 World Series... the averages in the series of Kaline and Cash... how many RBI's they had... about Lolich's three victories and his winning the World Series MVP... etc. and then chapter 15 tells you about each game of... "you guessed it"... the 1968 World Series.
The only thing I can guess is that this lack of good editing relates to the following: For months this book was presented as being released on April 15, 2010. Then out of nowhere I got an email that it was being shipped on March 29, 2010. I have experienced this "phenomena" before. A book seems to be rushed out ahead of schedule to beat some "new" deadline (Perhaps the baseball season starting this weekend?) and true professional editing is dropped by the wayside.
Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon OverviewIn the Tigers' clubhouse of today, stars Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Curtis Granderson - none of whom were even born when he played in the major leagues - respectfully address him as "Mr. Kaline." Tigers fans around the country of every generation refer to him simply as "Mr. Tiger." For more than a half century, as a superstar ballplayer, television broadcaster, and front office executive, Al Kaline has personified the Detroit Tigers like no one else - including the tempestuous Ty Cobb, Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, beloved Alan Trammell, or steady George Kell - has ever done before. Now, for the first time, the life and career of this remarkable individual are presented in this compelling new biography. Learn how the skinny, shy youngster with a deformed foot and an undying love for the game went straight from high school and the sandlots of Baltimore to the big leagues where, at the age of 20, he became the youngest batting champion in baseball history. That achievement marked the start of a first-ballot Hall of Fame career that would carry him to 3,000 hits and a plaque on the hallowed wall at Cooperstown--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Want to learn more information about Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

0 comments:

Post a Comment