Albert William Kaline (/ˈkeɪlaɪn/ KAY-line; December 19, 1934 – April 6, 2020), nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played his entire 22-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kaline played in the outfield, mainly as a right fielder where he won ten Gold Glove Awards and was known for his strong throwing arm. He was selected to 18 All-Star Games, including selections each year between 1955 and 1967. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 in his first year of eligibility.

Near the end of his career, Kaline also played as first baseman and, in his last season, was the Tigers' designated hitter. He retired soon after reaching the 3,000 hit milestone late in the 1974 season. Immediately after retiring from playing, he became the Tigers' TV color commentator, a position he held from 1975 until 2002. Kaline worked for the Tigers as a front office assistant from 2003 until his death in 2020.

Kaline was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Naomi (Morgan) and Nicholas Kaline. His family was poor. Several of his relatives played semi-professional baseball, but no one in the family had graduated from high school. When he was eight years old, Kaline developed osteomyelitis and had two inches of bone removed from his left foot. The surgery left him with scarring and permanent deformity, but he was an outstanding pitcher in youth baseball. Kaline had learned to throw a fastball, changeup and curveball by the age of nine.

Kaline attended Baltimore's Southern High School, where he starred in basketball and also played football until he sustained a cheek injury. When he tried out for the baseball team, there was no room on the pitching staff so Kaline moved to the outfield. He earned all-state honors in baseball all four years. Kaline said that he was a poor student but that he was well-liked by his teachers. He said that his teachers passed him, believing he would become a baseball player.

At the time of Kaline's signing, the bonus rule implemented by Major League Baseball was still in effect. The rule stipulated that when a major league team signed a player to a contract with a signing bonus in excess of $4,000 ($58,000 today), the team was required to keep that player on their 25-man active roster for two full seasons. If the team failed to comply with the rule, they would lose the rights to that player's contract, and the player would then be exposed to the waiver wire.

As Kaline had received a bonus of $15,000 ($216,000 today), he bypassed the minor leagues and joined the Tigers directly from high school. Ed Katalinas, the Detroit scout who had tracked him through high school, said: "To me he was the prospect that a scout creates in his mind and then prays that someone will come along to fit the pattern."

He made his major league debut on June 25, 1953 in Philadelphia as a late-inning replacement for outfielder Jim Delsing. Kaline wore number 25 during his rookie campaign, but asked teammate Pat Mullin for his No. 6 when he retired after the 1953 season ended. Kaline wore the number for the rest of his major league playing career.

In 1955, at age 20, Kaline ended the season with a .340 batting average, becoming the youngest player ever to win the American League (AL) batting title. No 20-year-old major league player had won a batting title since Ty Cobb in 1907. During the 1955 season, Kaline became the 13th man in major league history to hit two home runs in the same inning, became the youngest to hit three home runs in one game, and finished the year with 200 hits, 27 home runs and 102 runs batted in (RBIs). His 200 hits led the major leagues, and he also led the American League with 321 total bases. Kaline finished second to Yogi Berra in the American League's 1955 Most Valuable Player Award voting. He was selected to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the first in a string of consecutive All-Star selections that lasted through 1967.