97. Alan Trammell
Alan Trammell is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, despite actually having a higher career WAR (70.4) than Barry Larkin (70.2). Perhaps the difference is that Larkin won an MVP award, while Trammell finished second in 1987. Hopefully, that call to Cooperstown will come from the Veteran’s Committee, and provide a fitting capstone to an excellent career.
During his 19 year career, all of which was spent with the Detroit Tigers, Trammell was one of the premier shortstops in the American League. He produced a .285/.352/.415 batting line with 185 home runs and 412 doubles, driving in 1003 runs at a time when shortstops were not expected to provide much value on offense.
That is not to say that Trammell was deficient defensively. Instead, Trammell was a slick fielding shortstop, winning four Gold Glove awards. He is 11th all time with 81 runs saved at short, and ranks seventh in double plays. His .977 fielding percentage is 24th best among all shortstops in MLB history, and he is 34th all time in defensive WAR.
In addition to those Gold Glove awards, Trammell was a six time All-Star and won three Silver Slugger awards at short. During the Tigers championship season in 1984, Trammell was the World Series MVP, sporting a .450/.500/.800 batting line while hitting two home runs and driving in six during the five game series. Trammell finished in the top ten on the MVP award three times, proving how important he was to those Detroit teams in the 1980’s.
Perhaps at one point, Alan Trammell will get his due and be enshrined in Cooperstown. Even without that honor, he was still one of the best shortstops ever to play the game.
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