MLB / Players

Al Kaline

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 175 lb

BornDecember 19, 1934 · Baltimore, MD, USA

MLB debutJune 25, 1953

Final gameOctober 2, 1974

Seasons22 (1953–1974)

Detroit Tigers 1953–1974

Percentile snapshot

1974 season — qualified batters

147

45.8

630

66.4

558

67.2

51.1

146

51.9

76.3

22.9

55.7

RBI

52.7

70.2

34.4

74.8

.262

31.3

OBP

.337

SLG

.389

39.7

OPS

.726

33.6

wRC+

108.1

38.2

OPS+

105.4

31.3

wOBA

.339

36.6

sWAR

1.0

14.5

of 132 qualified 1974 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

136.3

94.7

OPS+

135.1

93.5

sWAR

77.0

99.8

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1953	30	30	28	9	7	0	0	1	2	1	5	1	0	.250	.300	.357	.657	71.3	75.9	.305	0.0
1954	138	535	504	42	139	18	3	4	43	22	45	9	5	.276	.305	.347	.652	73.8	79.3	.303	-0.7
1955	152	681	588	121	200	24	8	27	102	82	57	6	8	.340	.421	.546	.967	161.4	162.4	.435	6.6
1956	153	693	617	96	194	32	10	27	128	70	55	7	1	.314	.383	.530	.913	140.1	140.7	.409	5.0
1957	149	636	577	83	170	29	4	23	90	43	38	11	9	.295	.343	.478	.821	119.6	121.5	.365	2.9
1958	146	607	543	84	170	34	7	16	85	54	47	7	4	.313	.374	.490	.864	131.5	129.6	.384	3.6
1959	136	595	511	86	167	19	2	27	94	72	42	10	4	.327	.410	.530	.940	151.0	151.2	.414	5.8
1960	147	629	551	77	153	29	4	15	68	65	47	19	4	.278	.354	.426	.781	110.4	108.9	.355	3.1
1961	153	665	586	116	190	41	7	19	82	66	42	14	1	.324	.393	.515	.909	142.3	140.2	.404	5.0
1962	100	452	398	78	121	16	6	29	94	47	39	4	0	.304	.376	.593	.969	154.2	154.0	.419	4.0
1963	145	616	551	89	172	24	3	27	101	54	48	6	4	.312	.375	.514	.889	144.2	143.5	.388	4.6
1964	146	608	525	77	154	31	5	17	68	75	51	4	1	.293	.383	.469	.851	139.5	134.7	.381	4.2
1965	125	474	399	72	112	18	2	18	72	72	49	6	0	.281	.388	.471	.859	144.5	142.6	.384	4.0
1966	142	572	479	85	138	29	1	29	88	81	66	5	5	.288	.392	.534	.927	165.8	161.8	.408	6.4
1967	131	550	458	94	141	28	2	25	78	83	47	8	2	.308	.411	.541	.952	181.5	177.5	.425	6.4
1968	102	389	327	49	94	14	1	10	53	55	39	6	4	.287	.392	.428	.820	154.9	147.1	.380	3.1
1969	131	518	456	74	124	17	0	21	69	54	61	1	2	.272	.346	.447	.793	118.1	118.0	.361	2.2
1970	131	555	467	64	130	24	4	16	71	77	49	2	2	.278	.377	.450	.826	130.4	127.3	.377	3.0
1971	133	501	405	69	119	19	2	15	54	82	57	4	6	.294	.416	.462	.878	153.9	147.3	.404	4.2
1972	106	314	278	46	87	11	2	10	32	28	33	1	0	.313	.374	.475	.849	153.8	150.4	.387	2.4
1973	91	347	310	40	79	13	0	10	45	29	28	4	1	.255	.320	.394	.713	92.5	95.8	.325	0.2
1974	147	630	558	71	146	28	2	13	64	65	75	2	2	.262	.337	.389	.726	108.1	105.4	.339	1.0

Career totals

2,834

19th-most career G

11,597

28th-most career PA

10,116

28th-most career AB

1,622

43rd-most career R

3,007

32nd-most career H

498

67th-most career 2B

331st-most career 3B

399

60th-most career HR

RBI

1,583

44th-most career RBI

1,277

51st-most career BB

1,020

375th-most career SO

137

.2973

263rd-highest career batting average

OBP

.3756

229th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.4796

226th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8552

171st-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1955-04-17	ATH @ DET Gameday	5	3	4	0	0	3	6	1	13
1963-09-19	DET @ MIN Gameday	7	3	4	0	1	2	4	0	12
1962-05-20	DET @ CLE Gameday	5	3	4	1	0	2	3	0	11
1956-06-30	DET @ ATH Gameday	6	2	4	2	1	1	2	0	11
1962-08-23	CLE @ DET Gameday	5	4	4	1	0	2	2	0	11

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1980 (BBWAA)

10× Gold Glove15× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.