Monday, August 19, 2013

George Kell



I don't know when it happened...I guess sometime over the last year--it has been a while since I thought about it. But this week when I thought about my all-time Tiger team Miguel Cabrera had replaced George Kell at 3B. It kind of broke my heart because I loved George Kell. I never saw him play, but he was the Tiger TV play-by-play man of my youth. I also had as one of my prized possessions a 1952 Topps George Kell baseball card. In case you're wondering here is how my All-Time Tiger team breaks down (in parentheses is the All-Time team that I actually saw play--mid 70s).

1B Hank Greenberg (Norm Cash)
2B Charlie Gehringer (Lou Whitaker)
SS Alan Trammell 
3B Miguel Cabrera
C Mickey Cochrane (Lance Parish...I-Rod and Freehan were right there)
OF Ty Cobb (Kirk Gibson)
OF Harry Heilman (Willie Horton)
OF Al Kaline
SP Hal Newhouser (Jack Morris)
SP Denny McLain (Max Scherzer) 
SP Justin Verlander
SP Mickey Lolich
RP John Hiller

They've had other greats who didn't play with the Tigers very long and players who had amazing seasons, but I took longevity into account (Eddie Mathews, Willie Hernandez, Mark Fidrych, etc...).