I always feel a little uneasy when I do too many of these because even though I'm giving a tribute to a person, I don't want to be macabre' about these.
I look at these as a way of remembering a person to someone that may know the person I'm writing about and also a way of introducing them to a reader that may never have heard of them previously.
Goodbye to Al Kaline at the age of 85.
"Mr. Tiger" spent his entire 22-year career with the Tigers, making 18 All-Star teams, winning 10 Gold Gloves, and finished with 3,007 hits with 399 homers to earn induction into the Hall of Fame in 1980.
Known as one of the most gracious persons around baseball, Kaline won his only batting title in 1955 at the age of 20 in hitting .340.
Kaline finished his career with more walks than strikeouts and his arm was known as one of the American League from rightfield.
Kaline was the color analyst for the Tigers local television after his retirement following the 1974 season until 2002 and would serve as a consultant to the Tigers front office until his passing.
Tigers fans around the nation took the loss of the classy Kaline very hard and I think the reaction toward Kaline from those fans is very similar to how Orioles fans feel towards Brooks Robinson.
They certainly don't make them like that often anymore and when they do, the supply is very light.
Goodbye to Damaso Garcia at the age of 63.
Garcia started his sports career as a soccer player in college and captained the Dominican Republic team in the 1974 Central American games.
Garcia moved through the minors in the Yankees system but was traded to Toronto in a six-player trade in 1980.
Garcia would make two All-Star teams in 1984 and 85, hit over .300 in 1983 and 84 for the Blue Jays and in his final five seasons in Toronto, Garcia would not hit lower than .281.
Garcia also stole 54 bases in 1982 as part of his 194 steals with the Blue Jays and was traded to Atlanta after the 1986 season, but would only play 21 games for the Braves and following an eighty game 1989 season with Montreal, Garcia would not play in the big leagues again.
In 1990, Garcia was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was given six months to live, but after having it removed in 1991, Garcia would regain some functions although he wouldn't be allowed to drive a car and did have some speech difficulty for the rest of his life.
Goodbye to Jim Frey at the age of 88.
I remember Frey as part of Earl Weaver's powerhouse coaching staff in the 1970s that included fellow future big league managers George Bamberger and Billy Hunter before taking the difficult position of replacing Whitey Herzog as manager of the Kansas City Royals for the 1980 season.
In the only season that Frey completed in Kansas City, Frey would lead the Royals to their first World Series before losing to Philadelphia in six games.
Frey was fired in the second half of the strike season of 1981 despite the Royals leading the second half at the time of his firing.
Frey would next be given a shot at managing with the Cubs in 1984 and promptly took Chicago to the playoffs for the first time with an Eastern Division championship.
Frey's Cubs won the first two games at home at Wrigley Field against the San Diego Padres in the best of five NLCS, but would then drop the final three games in San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium to lose the series.
Frey was fired as manager in 1986 and served as a color commentator in 1987 for Cubs games before being hired as the general manager in the winter leading to the 1988 season.
Frey made several trades that didn't work out, including trades that sent Lee Smith to Boston and Rafael Palmiero to Texas, but during his tenure as GM, Chicago won the 1989 Eastern Division before losing to San Francisco in four games in the NLCS.
Frey was fired in the middle of the 1991 season by Chicago and would never be more than a consultant in the game again.
Goodbye to Bobby Winkles at the age of 90.
Winkles built the Arizona State baseball program in 1959 and would coach the Sun Devils through the 1971 season winning 524 games, losing only 173 and coaching several future big leaguers including Reggie Jackson.
Winkles left Arizona State to join the California Angels coaching staff as a coach under Del Rice and would manage the Angels for 1973 and part of 1974 when Winkles was fired in June.
Winkles would later manage Oakland for portions of the 1977 and 1978 seasons. coach for the White Sox, lead the player development department for the Expos and serve as English color analyst on the Expo radio network.
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