The sports world and the city of Detroit in particular lost a sports legend earlier this month with the passing of Mr. Tiger himself, Al Kaline at the age of 85. As tributes poured in, actor and Detroit native Jeff Daniels published a touching tribute to his idol.
But that wasn’t all. Known for his sense of humor, Daniels later shared a story about Kaline that will definitely bring a smile to the face of anyone who reads it.
Daniels attended a game at Tiger Stadium at some point in the 1990’s, and sat in the broadcast booth along with Kaline, Ernie Harwell and Jim Price. That’s when a foul ball came whizzing in.
“Two feet in front of my face, it was heading right between my eyes. I ducked to the right, and the ball went off the back well and bounced down,” Daniels said with a chuckle. “And I turned to Kaline, and he was laughing his a– off. I could’ve been killed, and he thought it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.
“There would’ve gone the second half of my career. It wouldn’t have happened. I can just see the headline in the newspaper: ‘Al Kaline present when unknown actor takes foul ball between the eyes.'”
That’s quite the story from Daniels, and it’s great to see that both men had such a great sense of humor!
– – Quote via Tony Paul of The Detroit News Link – –
