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This year, the National Baseball Hall of Fame is inducting Alan Trammell without his Tiger teammate Lou Whitaker. Itβs like a Songwriters Hall of Fame including John Lennon without Paul McCartney. But baseballβs longest-ever paired second baseman/shortstop turned more double plays than The Beatles made hits.
βItβs impossible to think of either oneβs career without thinking about how important the other one was to it,β says Gabriel Schechter, a former National Baseball Hall of Fame Library researcher.
The duoβs careers were nearly tandem: Called up to the majors September 1977; they played together through the 1995 season, when Whitaker retired. (Trammell hung on another year). Trammell played 2,293 games, with 185 homers and 1,003 runs batted in (RBI). Whitaker played 97 more games, hit 59 more homers, and had 81 more RBIs.
Each year, the Baseball Writers Association of America members vote for up to 10 players whoβve played 10 Major League championship seasons and have been retired at least five years. A player on 75 percent of ballots is in. Under 5 percent, heβs off the ballot. Shockingly, Whitaker was named by just 2.9 percent in 2001. Trammell did much better his first year of eligibility (nearly 16 percent in 2002 and over 40 percent by the end of his eligibility).
Why did Trammell get more votes than Whitaker? Gary Gillette, founder and head of the Detroit chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, says Hall of Fame voters pay a lot of attention to a playerβs standout seasons. Trammell had a βslightly higher peakβ β his best years were better than Whitakerβs. And 1984 wasnβt Whitakerβs best year β he was overshadowed by Trammell, who was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.
One reason may be that Whitaker, a devout Jehovahβs Witness, had a reputation as being aloof and inaccessible. In contrast, Trammell was βone of the boys,β and chummy with reporters.
Holland Sentinel sports editor Dan DβAddona had heard stories about Whitaker being unapproachable. But when βSweet Louβ came to Grand Rapids in 2013, DβAddona got a surprise: βThat was the most talkative player interview weβve ever had. He was jovial, he was genuine, he was relaxed.β
Last year, there was another slight for Whitaker. Each year, a Hall of Fame screening committee examines baseball history to find overlooked deserving players β and construct a 10-man ballot. Trammell and teammate pitcher Jack Morris were voted in by the Modern Era Committee. Whitaker wasnβt even on the ballot, and many believe he was a more deserving candidate. DβAddona thinks the ballot makers didnβt want three Tigers up for consideration. And Trammell and Morris had survived 15 years of the writersβ vote.
Whitakerβs exclusion caused what DβAddona calls an βoutcryβ among number-crunching βsabermetricians.β Their analyses hold sway, especially Wins Above Replacement. Whitakerβs career WAR is 75.1. Trammellβs is 70.7. The only modern players with WAR numbers higher than Whitaker not in Cooperstown, N.Y. are tarnished: steroid user Barry Bonds and gambler Pete Rose. More than 50 players with lower WARs are in the Hall!
Did Whitakerβs personality put off so many voters? Or was it something else? βRace has an undeniable role in this,β says Gillette, bluntly. βBut we canβt say whether 5 percent or 50 percent of the writers would have cast their ballots differently if he were white and Trammell were black.β
In 2020, the Modern Era Committee will release a new list of 10 overlooked players. Whitaker should be on that ballot.
Meanwhile, the Tigers plan to retire the numbers of Trammell and Morris in August. What if, DβAddona asks, they were persuaded to retire Whitakerβs number as well? At least then the two longtime teammates would be honored together.
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