Al Kaline - Detrot icon

Saturday was Al Kaline's 75th birthday and to mark the occasion, the Detroit Free Press asked it's readers to forward some of their memories of this Detroit icon.

To back up a bit, growing up in Detroit in the 1960's and 1970's, I can tell you that Al Kaline literally was thought of as a god and baseball here started and ended with Al Kaline. Yes, the Tigers had other beloved players like Willie Horton, Bill Freehan, Norm Cash etc but Al Kaline was #1 in the Tiger pantheon with #2 nowhere close to him. It would be hard to describe to an outsider just how iconic Al Kaline was (and to some extent still is) in this town.

Nationally, everybody knows the great stars from the large markets like New York (and by extension Brooklyn), Chicago and Los Angeles but the smaller markets had their heroes as well. St. Louis had Stan Musial, Pittsburgh had Roberto Clemente and a friend of mine from Philadelphia told me that unless you are from Philly, you cannot appreciate how much Richie Ashburn is loved there. I believe it because we experienced something like that with Al Kaline, a player who is not revered nationally.

I could go on and on about Al Kaline but I will just say that Kaline is still employed by the Tigers and is a regular at the ballpark. He is a humble "man of the people" and is quite approachable and while I am sure that it has happened once or twice, I can't see him refusing an autograph for a fan. I don't think I have ever heard a negative word about Al Kaline. I will leave it at that.

Well, anyway back to the fan's memories of Kaline as submitted to the paper. All were good and many spoke of Al's openness and kindness with the fans but one submission stood out for me above the rest.

Here it is:

"Al Kaline played his first full season with the Detroit Tigers in 1953 at the age of 18 years old. I was 12 years old at the time and my buddies and I found out that the new rookie, Al Kaline, had moved to Oak Park and lived a couple blocks from me. Of course, we were huge Tiger fans so we'd ride our bikes by his house several times a day, hoping to see him. We also made sure we had our ball gloves and a baseball or two with us.

One day we saw him in his front yard and we asked him if he'd play catch with us. He did so for about 15 minutes and it was definitely a special day in my young life. We were in awe of him but he was so nice and also kind of shy so we liked him that much more.

Happy 75th birthday, Al.

Wanna play catch?

Dan McKane, Canton"

I bet that he would still do it today.

Al Kaline? All ours.

Dempster loves it!

Per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster really likes the trade that brought starting pitcher, Carlos Silva to the Cubs for Milton Bradley.

"For us, we have a guy who's capable of eating innings* when he's healthy, and it sounds like he is."

"I know (Silva's) a really good guy.** A lot of guys (opposing hitters? CC) speak very highly of him. (The trade) definitely helps our team."

Dempster sees a guy with an ERA of 6.46 and 8.60 the last two years with a guaranteed roster spot because of his contract who has practically no chance of moving him out of starting rotation and also occupies a roster spot that could be used on somebody that potentially could.

That hot shot pitcher in AAA? Forget about him. Silva has his roster spot.

Dempster's no fool.

*Innings-eater: the ultimate back-handed compliment bordering on an insult in baseball.

**Another back-handed compliment.

The Yankees lay out the welcome mat for Granderson

Curtis Granderson said that her will wear No. 14 with the Yankees, the number his father used to wear in a men's softball league.

Gulp.

A productive player with a reasonable salary, well spoken, LOVED in the community and honors his parents.

And the Tigers couldn't wait to get rid of him. Couldn't have him around. "Who wants him?"

I punish my kids when they make critical thinking errors like this.*

*Well not really but you get the point.

Walt "No Neck" Williams

Happy 66th Birthday to Walt "No Neck" Williams!

You know, usually nicknames are designed to be funny, endearing and/or somewhat descriptive. They are not usually a literal description of the person in question.

Orlando Cepeda was not literally a "Baby Bull".

Andre "The Hawk" Dawson does not have wings.

Sal "The Barber" Maglie did not bring scissors to the mound.

Tom "Flash" Gordon cannot run as fast as Flash and never flashed anyone that I am aware of.

You get the picture.

But what about Walt "No Neck" Williams?

Look at that card above. I will let you decide but I don't see any neck on that torso; not even a millimeters worth.

Now growing up, I listened to quite a few baseball games on the radio as every game was not on television like today. The Tigers obviously played the White Sox and Indians quite a bit and I never ever heard Walt Williams referred to as anything other than Walt "No Neck" Williams or just "No Neck" Williams.

I don't think Williams minded this much and I never heard him complain about it. What would he have said anyway? He couldn't have said, "Liar!" or anything like that. He was stuck.

Actually, "No Neck" must have been quite the trooper. Think about it. How do you play baseball like that?

I see that Williams hit 33 home runs in 10 years. Pretty pathetic for a normal player but not for "No Neck". How do you "turn on a fastball" and really rip it if you have no neck. You can't!

In the field, if he lost a hard hit liner really bad in the lights and it was coming for his neck, the ball would have to hit either his head or chest because well.......he had no neck. What if Reggie Jackson hit it? Sorry, you need a neck out there. Try it without one if you don't believe me.

Now take a look at that Ted Williams card above.

Notice anything?

Now there's a ballplayer.

My garbage for your trash?

The Cubs trade Milton Bradley to the Mariners for Carlos Silva.

A "mad at the world" malcontent for a portly underachiever who well.........blows. Oh, and neither can simply be cut or waived as they are both in the middle of guaranteed long term contracts.

It's like David Hasselhoff for Pauly Shore.

Carrot Top* for Bob Goldwaith.

William Hung for that one guy in Milli Vanilli who is still alive.

Both sides lose.

*There are a lot of words in the English language but not one that quite describes Carrot Top's "new" appearance above.

So that's why!

When I was a little kid, that 1969 Topps card above scared me. It literally made me a bit uneasy just looking at it.

You see, Zoilo Versalles does not at all look like a baseball player in this card. It really looks like the photograph might have been taken at the prison yard at Rikers Island or just before Zoilo did something horrible to get himself sent to Rikers Island. Why so angry?

Another thing. Zoilo Versalles looks like really really old in that card. At this point in his career, he would have only been 28 years old but in this card, he looks worn and weathered and closer to 48 years old. Where did the other two decades go?

I also remember that as a kid, I had a hard time assimiliating Zoilo Versalles' name with his face and that creeped me out a little. You know how Mickey Mantle looked like a "Mickey" and Joe Torre looks like a "Joe"? Well in my 7 year old mind, I thought this guy kind of looked like "Gonna Kill You" with his first, middle and last names but not really a Zoilo. I had never met a Zoilo before (or since) so I did not know what a Zoilo looked like. Was this the template? Ok but.....

As an adult, in looking through various Zoilo Versalles cards, I think they offer an important clue as to why he looked so darn angry in that 1969 card. It's probably the "Zorro" thing. Now Zoilo grew up in Cuba and no doubt worked hard perfecting his baseball skills enough that he came to the United States and then continued working his way up the minor league ladder and up to the major leagues. The pinnacle, right?

He then finally gets his own Topps rookie card in 1961 and he looks at it and sees himself identified as "Zorro Versalles". Zorro! This was probably the name that all the kids constantly teased him with growing up! He turned to baseball to get away from all that! He of all people did not need this type of error on his rookie card. He couldn't even show it to his family and friends!

Then Zoilo Versalles improbably wins the 1965 A.L. MVP and after that, people should be able to remember him by his real name, right? Especially a card company. No! On the back of the 1968 card, they mention his 1965 A. L. MVP award however it is accompanied by a Zorro cartoon figure playing baseball with a cape, mask and sword. What the...? He was 1965 A. L. MVP and this is how Topps "honors" him? He has reason to be angry. For the ten millionth time, he is not Zorro! Never has been. Never will be. He never even held a sword and only wore a mask at Halloween and also that one night. I can see how this could put anybody into a life-long funk.

Well, after all these years of wondering about that card, I think the mystery behind it has finally been solved. Listen here people! It's Zoilo! Not Zorro! He doesn't know nothing about fencing! He doesn't usually wear black! Get it right!

Everybody's got a right to their own name after all.*

*This does not however touch on the question of why this guy looks so "old" in that card. Oh, well. I know that Zoilo Versalles died in 1995 and no doubt had enough of the "Zorro" thing up until then. Because of that, we should probably cut him some slack regarding the "appearance" thing. Ok?.......but he did look pretty ancient there though.

Jorge, come again?!

"We have to try to get one more starter. I think Cashman knows it. I think it's a priority for us. Hopefully, we can get that." Jorge Posada to Sweeny Murti and Ed Coleman on WFAN radio.

I guess he doesn't like Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain very much.

Borrowing a phrase from the "poet", Paul Stanley, I say this, "Shout it out loud!"

Jorge, "Shout it out loud!"