Alan Trammell Deserves Your Vote

Here we are, back at the shortstop world, trying to determine how to best measure the value of a middle infielder on the Hall of Fame ballot against the relative merits of power-hitting outfielders and those from elsewhere in the lineup hitting for higher average. When it comes to those slick fielding guys more weight must be given to what they brought to their team beyond their stick.

Alan Trammell, mainstay of the Detroit Tigers’ infield for seemingly forever (will he be in the Tigers’ opening-day lineup?), will lose out on this year’s vote to Barry Larkin on shortstop merits, but he deserves votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America in their current balloting ending Saturday so that his candidacy can stay alive. Trammell won’t be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown next July, but hopefully his turn will come and he will be chosen some day.

Compared to outfielders or first basemen, Trammell’s hitting statistics don’t match up. Compared to shortstops not named Honus Wagner, Luke Appling, or Derek Jeter, they do. Trammell batted .285, with 185 home runs, 1,003 RBIs, 236 stolen bases and 2,365 hits. He spent his entire 20-year career with the Tigers and anchoring the middle of the infield with partner Lou Whitaker. Trammell was a six-time American League All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner, and a three-time Silver Slugger winner. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 1984 World Series when the Tigers won it all.

Trammell and Whitaker formed one of the most memorable and durable double-play combinations of all time, playing in 1,918 games together. Not truly a power hitter, twice Trammell amassed more than 20 homers in a season with a high of 28. He was, however, pretty much a doubles machine, collecting 412 of them.

As an aside, Whitaker even more so has been victimized by Hall of Fame voting indifference. He has almost the same credentials as Trammell and he was one-and-done on the ballot after not obtaining at least five percent of the vote his first year. That means the voters barely glanced at him. Whitaker batted. .276 with 244 home runs, 1,084 RBIs, 2,369 hits and 420 doubles, was a five-time All-Star, three time Gold Glove winner, four time Silver Slugger winner, and was also a World Series champ with the Tigers during his 19-year career. It’s hard to believe that Whitaker wasn’t worth a few handfuls of votes right away, especially if he was being measured against other second basemen’s achievements.

Trammell also managed the Tigers between 2003 and 2005 and has been a big-league coach with Detroit, Arizona, San Diego and the Chicago Cubs. This year, sitting on the same ballot as Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, who batted .295 with 12 All-Star selections, Trammel will not be selected for the Hall of Fame now. But he deserves to get in and has seen gradually rising support in the voting in recent years.

Be sure to check out Lew’s other Hall of Fame profiles.