I love consuming everything baseball. Whether it’s documentaries, movies, TV shows, or video games; as long as it’s baseball, I’m in. Each character created for these platforms have their own unique personalities. So here we have it, a case for a number of fictional baseball players, to eventually decide who the best truly is.
Appearing in the first season of Hey Arnold, one of the greatest shows of the golden age of Nickelodeon, "The Baseball," features Mickey Kaline; a standout, future Hall-of-Fame baseball player, who is in the twilight of his career with the Hillwood Black Sox.
Mickey Kaline is the most famous baseball player within the Hey Arnold universe, as every baseball fan knows exactly who he is. The character of Kaline is influenced by a couple real major league players. His name is a combination of New York Yankees great, Mickey Mantle and Detroit Tigers great Al Kaline, both of which were first ballot hall-of-famers. In addition, Kaline is a large power hitter who dons the number 3, much like Babe Ruth.
When Arnold takes his baseball card out of a safe, he lists off all of Kaline's important facts. Kaline has 533 home runs, a batting average of .299 (one point under .300), married his high school sweetheart, Shirley, wears a size 13 shoe, and goes by the nickname "Chet." He is regarded as the greatest baseball player who ever lived in the eyes of the main character, Arnold.
Kaline may have played a year or two too long (maybe a little similar to what we are now seeing with Albert Pujols), as the Black Sox fan-base seems to be growing tired of his strikeout numbers, and celebrating the fact that he is in his final professional season. He strikes out swinging during the live game coverage and the announcer sympathetically says, "the world may never see another Mickey Kaline."
Arnold and Gerald head to the "House that Kaline Built," Quigley Field, to see Kaline play the final game of his career. Kaline hits a home run in the final at-bat of his career, which Arnold manages to catch. This would theoretically bring Kaline's total home run count to 534, tying Jimmy Foxx for 19th on the all-time home run list.
Arnold turns down $400 and all the rump roast he can eat for the famous home run ball, to bring the ball back to the stadium and give it to Kaline. We get a little more background information on Kaline from here. Ever since he was seven-years-old, all he wanted to do was play baseball. Kaline also played in at least one World Series in his illustrious career, as the episode fades to black to Kaline telling Arnold the story of when he faced Cardinals great, Bob Gibson, in the World Series.
When Arnold takes his baseball card out of a safe, he lists off all of Kaline's important facts. Kaline has 533 home runs, a batting average of .299 (one point under .300), married his high school sweetheart, Shirley, wears a size 13 shoe, and goes by the nickname "Chet." He is regarded as the greatest baseball player who ever lived in the eyes of the main character, Arnold.
Kaline may have played a year or two too long (maybe a little similar to what we are now seeing with Albert Pujols), as the Black Sox fan-base seems to be growing tired of his strikeout numbers, and celebrating the fact that he is in his final professional season. He strikes out swinging during the live game coverage and the announcer sympathetically says, "the world may never see another Mickey Kaline."
Arnold and Gerald head to the "House that Kaline Built," Quigley Field, to see Kaline play the final game of his career. Kaline hits a home run in the final at-bat of his career, which Arnold manages to catch. This would theoretically bring Kaline's total home run count to 534, tying Jimmy Foxx for 19th on the all-time home run list.
Arnold turns down $400 and all the rump roast he can eat for the famous home run ball, to bring the ball back to the stadium and give it to Kaline. We get a little more background information on Kaline from here. Ever since he was seven-years-old, all he wanted to do was play baseball. Kaline also played in at least one World Series in his illustrious career, as the episode fades to black to Kaline telling Arnold the story of when he faced Cardinals great, Bob Gibson, in the World Series.