Mr. Hirshberg has done better. He reports Al Kaline's story as through he had been a fly on the wall throughout the baseball star's career. The supplied dialogue adds no reality and the subject's reported blushes, glances and general behavior have a wooden-puppet quality. Kaline is reputed to be shy and a man of few words, which certainly increases any biographer's difficulties. The best parts of the book are devoted to Kaline's years with the Detroit Tigers, his climb to the pinnacle of a batting championship and his razzle-dazzle in right field. Fan fare.