24 | APRIL 8 • 2021 

OUR COMMUNITY

O

ur beloved “Mr. Tiger,
” 
Al Kaline, died during 
the first week of the 
2020 baseball season.
In the year since, more than 
100 former major leaguers, 
including Hall of Famers Hank 
Aaron, Whitey Ford, Tommy 
Lasorda and Tom Seaver, also 
died. None of the aforemen-
tioned, though, impacted me as 
much as someone who joined 
Detroit in 1955, Kaline’s best sea-
son with the Tigers.
Those of us who were old 
enough can recall when Kaline 
won the American League bat-
ting championship by hitting 
.340 and hit 27 home runs at the 
age of 20 that season. I was at 
the ballpark on a sunny Sunday 
when the Tigers slaughtered the 
Kansas City Athletics 16-0, and 
Kaline contributed three home 
runs, two in one inning. I viewed 
the game from the lower right-
field bleachers, but J.W
. Porter 
had a much better view from the 

bench in the Tiger dugout.
J.W
. Porter broke into the 
major leagues with the St. Louis 
Browns in 1952 at the age of 19. 
He was the only player in the 
majors without a first name. 
Porter’s parents didn’t give him 
one as they said they used up all 
the names they liked on their 
four other children.
After playing in his first game 
with the Browns on July 30, he 
called his wife, and the former 
high school sweethearts shared 
the good news. They decided 
that since her father was visiting 
at their last minor league stop in 
Colorado, his wife and father-
in-law should drive together to 
their full-time home in Oakland, 
Calif.
J.W
.
’s wife and her father were 
killed the next day by a drowsy 
driver when his car jumped 
to the wrong side of the road. 
Authorities contacted Browns’ 
owner Bill Veeck who gave J.W
. 
the sad news and made all the 
arrangements for his young 
catcher. After taking a week off 
for the funerals, Porter lived in 
an apartment in the ballpark that 
Veeck provided, and his team-
mates, including the legendary 
Satchell Paige, tried to cheer him 
up.

JOINING THE TIGERS
Porter was traded to Detroit after 
the season but wore an army 
uniform for the next two years 
before becoming Kaline’s friend 
and teammate in 1955. After 
three seasons of limited playing 

time with the Tigers, Porter wore 
the uniforms of the Cleveland 
Indians, Washington Senators 
and St. Louis Cardinals, where 
he made his last major league 
appearance on the last day of the 
1959 season by replacing Stan 
Musial at first base.
After J.W
. dreidled around the 
minor leagues, including a man-
agerial stint in the 1960s, Ted 
Williams used his connections to 
land him a job with Sears. It was 
a great move as he found love 
again and married one of the 
company’s secretaries, and they 
were a team for 52 years until his 
passing last October at 87.

SPRING TRAINING
They lived a couple of miles 
north of my winter dugout in 
West Palm Beach, and I often 
saw him during spring train-
ing. The last time I saw him, he 
walked with his familiar cane, 
fashioned from a baseball bat. 
We sat together in the first row 
of a small bleacher area behind 
the home plate screen where 
the Houston Astros were taking 
batting practice in one of their 
practice fields in West Palm.
The soft-spoken Porter had 
numerous stories and patiently 
answered all of my questions 
about my favorite baseball 
decade, the 1950s. His wife 
summed him up best. “He was 
a sweet soul,
” she told the Palm 
Beach Post. “He always wrote a 
note and a letter to every person 
who requested an autograph. 
And people would write back 

and thank him for the letter.
”
Fast forward to the 2021 base-
ball season that’s upon us. The 
Tigers aren’t too interesting. The 
most interesting name to me is 
Robbie Grossman, an extra out-
fielder who is an average player 
at best. But those are the kind 
of players I root for. Grossman, 
who is not Jewish, will probably 
see more playing time with the 
Tigers than the several teams he 
played for in the past few years 
as the Tigers outfield is one of 
the worst in the league.
 But there is hope on the hori-
zon as the baseball mavens in 
both leagues claim the Tigers 
have some blue chip prospects 
in the minor leagues, including 
infielder Spencer Torkelson, a 
good hitter with a lot of power. 
Time will tell, but in the mean-
time, we can watch overpaid first 
baseman Miguel Cabrera inch 
toward 3,000 career hits and 500 
career home runs, milestones he 
should reach during the 2021 
season. 

Author and public speaker Irwin Cohen

headed a national baseball monthly for 

five years and worked in the front office 

for the Detroit Tigers, where he earned 

a 1984 World Series ring. He went on 

to write several Detroit and baseball 

history books. He may be reached in his 

dugout at irdav@sbcglobal.net.

Remembering my favorite baseball legends.

A New Season without 
 
 
 
‘Mr. Tiger’

IRWIN COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

J.W. Porter

Al Kaline

