I just saw a headline about the passing of Al Kaline. When I started playing pee-wee baseball in 1968 I was placed on the Tigers. Since I played right field my older brothers let me know that Al Kaline, one of the best Tigers, also played there.
Of course you all know why kids like me, around age 5 - 6, played right field.
Years later I sent a handful of cards away to get signed and I got them all back with beautiful signatures. I never considered whether they were real or not and I still don't. That didn't matter. Some players returned nothing.
When I started going to card shows in the 1970s I was focused on getting his rookie card. I was normally too cheap to buy any cards in great shape but I splurged and spent $2 on one with colors that made it look new and great corners. I had another one that wasn't as nice that I ended up trading.
A few years in those annoying, sticky photo albums sucked a lot of the color out of the card, but I still have it. The cards stuck in there so tight that the edges even got beat up when trying to peal them out of the album.
I made the mistake of trading lots of 1950s rookie cards that I had but I would never part with the Kaline. I made it a goal to get all of his cards and I accomplished that quickly while they were still cheap. I look forward to looking at these cards this weekend since there is no school and I am stuck at home like everyone else.
$2 for a Kaline rookie card? Those were the days.
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