DETROIT -- Mike Ilitch was getting restless. The late Tigers owner was hearing plenty about his top hitting prospect, Nicholas Castellanos, but was wondering why he wasn’t in the Majors yet. This was 2012, and the Tigers had Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera at the infield corners, so they had Castellanos transitioning from third base to the outfield at Double-A Erie.

“I remember [Ilitch] told Al [Kaline], ‘I want you to go to Erie, and I want you to work with Nick and tell us when we can bring him up,’” general manager Al Avila recalled Wednesday.

Even at age 77, Kaline was still working with outfielders in Spring Training back then. But this was a road trip.

Off went Kaline to work with a 20-year-old Castellanos.

“That was something that he went out of his way to do,” Avila said.

Castellanos didn’t make it to Detroit until late in the 2013 season, but Kaline’s work started a friendship that blossomed over Castellanos’ Tigers tenure. And when Castellanos addressed an uncertain future a couple years ago, he used Kaline as the example of a model career.

“Plan A: I never leave, and I play 20 years in the big leagues here, and I’m an unbelievable right fielder, and I’m in conversations with Al Kaline,” Castellanos said at TigerFest in 2018. “That’s the dream. That’s the goal. That’s what I love.”

A year and a half later, when Castellanos was traded to the Cubs and needed a new jersey number, he chose No. 6. One reason was for his son’s sixth birthday. The other reason was a tribute to Kaline, who wore No. 6 in his Hall of Fame career.

On Monday, after Kaline passed away at age 85, Castellanos posted on Instagram a picture of them together from the 50th anniversary of the Tigers’ 1968 World Series victory.

“Congratulations on your new beginning my friend,” Castellanos wrote.

Castellanos and Kaline were nearly 60 years apart in age. Though the Michigan side of Castellanos’ family -- including his Detroit-raised grandfather -- knew all about Kaline, his playing exploits were in stories. Many current Tigers are three generations removed. Unless their parents or grandparents knew about him, the only way they’d know about his Hall of Fame career would be through research.

And yet, current Tigers not only revered Kaline, they loved him as much as generations before them. As gifted of a player as Kaline was, his ability to connect with young people was one of his greatest attributes.

• Fergie Jenkins remembers 'true professional' Kaline

“Not every young player that walks through that door knew who Al Kaline was,” Avila said. “That's just the nature. But once they got into the organization, they found out very quickly. The smarter ones did a little bit more of their homework, but you know how players are.

“But Al, he would go out of his way. It wasn't like he was going to sit there in the cafeteria or in the clubhouse or dugout and you would go to him. He would come to you and start a dialogue. And he's not the type of person who would sit down and talk to you like, ‘I'm Al Kaline and I'm going to show you how to hit.’ He never approached it as he was smarter than you. Quite the opposite. The conversation was never that lopsided. Players were able to open up to him.”

Former Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski echoed that.

“He had a passion about the game and loved to talk about the game with everybody, and players knew that,” Dombrowski said. “That was unique to be able to do that with people with the age difference. But he did it easily. My children loved him.”

Avila called Kaline the father of the organization, noting he was one of the first people everybody would meet when they joined the Tigers. Matthew Boyd experienced this first-hand after his trade from the Blue Jays in 2015.

“He was one of my dad's favorite players growing up, so I always heard about Al Kaline,” Boyd said. “And when I got traded, one of the first things he said were three names: Ernie Harwell, Al Kaline and Ty Cobb. He said, ‘You're going to one of the most historic franchises.’”

As time went on, Kaline became much more than a historic figure to Boyd. When Boyd started a night game, he would eat his pregame meal in the clubhouse food room around the same time as Kaline. At first, Kaline left him alone. But as they became more familiar, they struck up conversations.

“He was always Mr. Tiger, but so much of the time, it was just hanging out with Mr. Kaline,” Boyd said.

That carried over into other days as well.

“Getting to talk about the game, talk about life, it was so much more than baseball,” Boyd said. “Al Kaline was more than just the baseball player, the legend. He was what it meant to be a man. He would sit and listen to us and ask what was going on in our lives. He knew that my grandfather was ailing, and he continually asked about him and how I was doing. He knew [Boyd's second child] Isaiah was coming and asked how my wife was doing. He was a mentor. He was a leader. He was a father figure to so many. He was a friend. He was the epitome of what a gentleman, what a class act should be.”

Tigers catching prospect Jake Rogers talked hitting with Kaline as he changed his approach at the plate. But it wasn’t just the top prospects. As a special assistant who was in on every major organizational meeting, Kaline had a soft spot for grinders in the Minor Leagues trying to make it.

Dean Green was an 11th-round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft out of Barry University in Miami. He was a monster hitter who earned Division II All-America honors, but he was limited to first base defensively.

“He was the man who stuck his neck out for me in the Tigers draft room in 2011 and pushed them to draft me,” Green said of Kaline in a tweet Green posted Monday afternoon. “He was one of the first people to call me after I was drafted and one of the first to greet me as I arrived at TigerTown.”

Bryan Holaday came up through the Tigers' system and spent parts of five seasons in Detroit as a backup catcher.

“Simply put, Al Kaline was the best,” Holaday tweeted. “He made a huge impact on my life, and I will forever be grateful for having the opportunity to meet him.”

They never saw Kaline play, and some might not even know all he did on the field. But they loved and respected him. And as baseball mourns the passing of a Hall of Famer, they mourn the loss of a friend.

“It will be a void in the locker room,” Boyd said, “but you know what? He's in a better place now.”