a memorial patch for al kaline

it's been not quite a year since al kaline passed away. he was the first of seven hall of famers to die in 2020, and given his status as a player and icon in detroit, he was honored with a memorial patch during the 2020 season.

the tigers have color coordinated their memorial patches in recent years, and they did the same with kaline's. there was a white-bordered patch that the team wore on their home jerseys, as seen on this 2021 topps miguel cabrera redux 52 insert

and they also had an orange bordered version that they wore on the away grays, as seen on this 2021 topps isaac parades card:

kaline was a 15-time all-star (not including the years that he played in two all-star games) and a 10-time gold glove winner, who won the american league batting title at the age of 20 in 1955. he hit .379 in his only world series appearance (1968), and his game 5 2-run go ahead single brought the tigers back to life as they were 8 outs from losing the series at that point. kaline was a first ballot hall of famer whose number is retired by the only franchise for which he ever suited up. he never played professionally below the major league level, and retired with over 3,000 hits and one home run shy of 400.

i have a couple more examples of 2020 memorial patches that i will post about in the near future. stay tuned.