Thursday, March 26, 2009

George Kell dies at 86

Another symbol from my youth has disappeared. George Kell, a Hall of Famer player and great Detroit Tiger broadcaster, died earlier this week at the age of 86 at his home in his native Arkansas.
Long before Al Kaline and Kell existed as a TV broadcast unit, he had teamed with legendary Ernie Harwell on the TV side, and was at the microphone during the 1968 World Series championship season.
My favorite Kell quote came during a road trip to Comiskey Park (the OLD Comiskey) on a Sunday when George looked over the left field wall and saw this horrific storm cloud gather.
"Ooooooo," he said. "That's some kinda ugly comin.'"
He never overspoke, never talked over the action and if it needed "'splainin'," he took care of it from personal knowledge.
George Kell was a great Detroit Tiger and a credit to the community and the organization.
His kind will never be seen again!

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