Detroit — Alan Trammell remembers it vividly. It was in 1977. He and Lou Whitaker had just been called up to the Tigers and they were on the plane, their first big-league road trip.
Onto the plane walked Al Kaline and Trammell was star-struck.
“It was just Al, Al Kaline, Hall of Famer, you know?” Trammell said. “Just the classiness. That was the first thing you noticed. He always dressed appropriately. The way he handled himself. I had the utmost respect for Al and then being around him for all these years now — he never changed.