The Detroit Tigers lost one of its most well known voices on Tuesday.
Baseball Hall of Famer and former Tigers broadcaster George Kell died on Tuesday at 86. Kell served as a broadcaster for Detroit Tigers games from 1959 to 1996, serving as one of the most prominent voices in the team’s history, along with Ernie Harwell and Al Kaline — the latter of whom was Kell’s broadcast partner for 21 years.
Kell got his first job in broadcasting in 1958, when he “[filled] in for Dizzy Dean on ‘Game of the Week’” on CBS.
In remembering his former colleague, Harwell remakred that “George’s appeal was that he brought the field to the booth. There was an authoritative ring to what he said. He was straight forward with a laid-back touch. … And to the people who listened, they all thought he was a friend of theirs.”
FOX Sports Detroit paid tribute to Kell on Wednesday by re-airing a 2005 TV special featuring Kell and Kaline reminiscing.
