Monday
It was on this date in 1977 that the Detroit Tigers got to preview their double play combination for the next 18 years, as shortstop Alan Trammell and second baseman Lou Whitaker made their debuts for the team. They would be together until Whitaker retired in 1995, joined by Trammell a year later. They have still played more games together than any double play combination in major league history.
In 2018, Trammell was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Modern Baseball Era Committee, having been passed over by the Baseball Writers Association of America for 15 straight years from 2002 to 2016. Whether you believe Trammell should have been elected or not (Spoiler Alert: He absolutely belongs in Cooperstown), one thing that is abundantly clear is that there is no reason whatsoever why one of this duo was elected while the other was passed over. Either they both should be have elected, or both passed over, because there’s virtually nothing to distinguish between them.
Let’s go through their careers year-by-year to make this point perfectly clear. We’ll skip 1977 when each barely played.
1978: Whitaker hit .285/.361/.357, played very good defense at second base, posted 3.8 WAR and won the American League Rookie of the Year award, while Trammell finished fourth in the voting for the award after hitting .268/.335/.339 and totaling 2.8 WAR.
1979: Trammell had a pretty bad year. He had -11 fielding runs at shortstop and an 85 OPS+ at the plate, totaling just 0.7 WAR. Whitaker, on the other hand, improved on his solid debut. His OPS+ increased to 108 and his WAR went up to 4.5.
1980: This time it was Whitaker’s turn to slump. He had a really awful OPS+ of 69, but his strong defense allowed him to still post 1.9 WAR. Meanwhile Trammell had his first really excellent year. His OPS+ shot up to 113, he made the All-Star team, batted .300, won a Gold Glove, and posted 4.8 WAR.
1981: Whitaker rebounded nicely. He led the strike-shortened league in games played, had a 104 OPS+, and was still playing outstanding defense. He totaled 3.8 WAR and probably deserved a Gold Glove but lost out to the remarkable Frank White. Trammell wasn’t able to maintain his great hitting from the prior year, slumping to a 92 OPS+ and .258 batting average, but he also played excellent defense, posting an identical 3.8 WAR to match Whitaker, and won another Gold Glove.
1982: Trammell essentially replicated his 1981 season, only in a full 162-game schedule. He totaled 4.2 WAR, had the same .258 batting average, and a similar OPS+ of 97, though he didn’t get the Gold Glove. Whitaker had another excellent year. He had 5.4 WAR, +13 fielding runs, a 112 OPS+, and stole 11 bases in 14 tries, yet he still didn’t make the All-Star team or receive a Gold Glove. To this point in their careers, Whitaker was almost certainly the better player, but it was Trammell who received more accolades.
1983: This was the point at which both became stars. Trammell hit .319/.385/.471, won another Gold Glove, and had 6.0 WAR. But Whitaker also had his first true breakout year, batting .320/.380/.457, making the All-Star team for the first time, winning a Gold Glove for the first time, totaling 6.7 WAR, and finishing eighth in MVP voting, seven spots ahead of Trammell.
1984: Whitaker couldn’t quite maintain that level but he was still excellent. He was worth 4.3 WAR, won another Gold Glove, made another All-Star team, and had an OPS+ of 113, but Trammell did maintain his level from the year before, and even upped it a bit. He had 6.8 WAR, won his fourth and final Gold Glove, and finished ninth in MVP voting as the Tigers won the World Series. While Whitaker was very good in that Series with a .798 OPS, it was Trammell who was named series MVP for hitting .450 with a 1.300 OPS.
1985: Trammell slumped pretty badly in 1985. His OPS+ fell to a subpar 90, and his WAR total dropped by more than half, to 3.0. Whitaker kept chugging along though, compiling 4.5 WAR, winning his third and final Gold Glove, and setting a new career high with 21 homers as his OPS+ moved up to 124.
1986: Whitaker stayed at the same level (110 OPS+, 4.4 WAR, another All-Star team), while Trammell rebounded to 6.3 WAR, and a 120 OPS+.
1987: Trammell’s 1987 season, along with that 1984 World Series performance, is probably the main factor in separating him from Whitaker in the minds of Hall of Fame voters. There was nothing wrong with Whitaker’s season. It was very much the same as the prior few years (All-Star game, 3.6 WAR, 106 OPS+), but Trammell had the best year of his career, the best year in both of their careers, in fact. He batted .343/.402/.551, an OPS+ of 155, was worth 8.2 WAR, and finished second in MVP voting as he led the Tigers to the division title with a ridiculous September/October performance (.417/.490/.677). He probably should have won the MVP, and certainly should have won it over George Bell, the actual winner, whose team Trammell helped beat for the division title.
1988: Now 31 years old, Whitaker for the first time had a hard time staying on the field. He was still excellent when he played (.275/.376/.419, 127 OPS+, 3.5 WAR), but played just 115 games. Trammell couldn’t replicate his 1987 performance, but he was still excellent with his 6.0 WAR and 138 OPS+. He finished seventh in MVP voting.
1989: That wasn’t the case for Trammell this year though. He missed over 40 games and slumped to a batting line of just .243/.314/.334. His OPS+ of 85 matched the lowest of his career to that point, but his excellent defense still allowed him to produce 3.7 WAR. Whitaker played more than 140 games for the final time in his career and he was very good. He set a career high with 28 homers, had a 133 OPS+, and was worth 5.3 WAR.
1990: This was Trammell’s last hurrah as an All-Star level player. He totaled 6.7 WAR while hitting .304/.377/.449 and playing his usual excellent defense. Whitaker couldn’t match that but he was still very good with his 107 OPS+, 18 homers, good defense, and 3.8 WAR.
1991: Each of the next three seasons for Whitaker were very similar, but this is the one that produced the most WAR because he simply played more and had his last great defensive year. He got into 138 games, batted .279/.391/.489, had an OPS+ of 141, and 6.8 WAR. At the same time, this year made it clear that Trammell’s career was probably coming to an end soon. His OPS+ was just 90 and he played only 101 games. He still totaled 3.3 WAR due to his defense, but he was just out of the lineup a lot.
1992: This year was even worse, as Trammell got into just 29 games for the season, though he did hit better than the year before at .275/.370/.392. Whitaker finally took a step back defensively, but was still worth 4.7 WAR on the basis of his 137 OPS+ while getting over 500 plate appearances for the final time in his career.
1993: This marked the final season both players had good years. Trammell returned and got into 112 games, and played like his old self. He had a 138 OPS+ and batted .329/.388/.496, totaling 4.3 WAR, while Whitaker’s mark was a nearly identical 4.1. He played over 100 games for the final time, and batted .290/.412/.449, an OPS+ of 133.
1994: Trammell hung around for 76 game and an 85 OPS+, but he was done as an effective player. His WAR total was exactly 0.0 for the year. Whitaker couldn’t play every day anymore, but he still hit well when he did. He batted .301 with an OPS+ of 122 in 92 games, and still played passable enough defense to total 2.5 WAR.
1995: This was Whitaker’s final year, and it was very similar to the year before. He was only worth 1.5 WAR because his defense was pretty bad at this point, but he could still swat to the tune of a .293/.372/.518 batting line and 129 OPS+. It probably should have been Trammell’s final year as well. He got into 74 games, hit .269/.345/.350 (an OPS+ of 82), and could still play decent enough defense to be worth 0.9 WAR. The next year, after Whitaker was retired, Trammell returned and was terrible for 66 games (34 OPS+, -1.1 WAR) before finally hanging them up.
That’s 18 seasons as the primary double-play combination for the Tigers. In 10 of them Whitaker totaled more WAR than Trammell, and they tied in another, but they were close enough most of the time for that not to really matter much. Other than in Trammell’s remarkable 1987 season, or in his final years when he struggled, the gap between them was never very large. They each won 3-4 Gold Gloves, made 5-6 All-Star teams, and won 3-4 Silver Slugger Awards. Trammell always did better in MVP voting and nearly won the award in 1987, which probably should have been a signal as to how they were each viewed by the baseball writers, but they essentially had identical careers.
According to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, Trammell is the tenth-best shortstop ever while Whitaker ranks as the thirteenth-best second baseman. The slight difference is because there were simply fewer shortstops in baseball history who hit as well as Trammell did while still playing good defense. Again, the small gap doesn’t really matter much, as each of them is easily qualified to be in the Hall of Fame. There is virtually no reason for Trammell to hang around the Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, get as much as 40% of the votes cast, and eventually be elected, only to have Whitaker drop from the ballot after one year.
In 2020 Whitaker appeared on the Modern Baseball Era Committee ballot. He had, by far, the highest career WAR total of the nine players on the ballot, but he got just six of the sixteen votes cast. Three years later eight players were listed on the Contemporary Baseball Era ballot, a revamp of the prior Era Committees structure. Six of them were new to the ballot. The two who had been carried over, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy, each received three or fewer votes in 2020, meaning even if their support was combined it could only match the six votes Whitaker got. Yet he didn’t make the final ballot that year, and it remains to be seen if he’ll ever be considered again.
That would be a damn shame, because not only should he be in the Hall of Fame, but his plaque should occupy the space directly to the left of Alan Trammell’s, just as they spent most of their careers.
Tuesday
Two Hall of Fame pitchers made their respective big league debuts on this date, 54 years apart. Stan Coveleski first appeared for the A’s in 1912, just five games and 21 innings. He was 22 years old, and while Connie Mack thought he showed promise, he sent him back to Spokane of the Northwestern League for more seasoning. Mack never claimed his rights again, so when Coveleski developed into a very good starter, his contract was sold to the Indians. Called up in 1916, he soon became a star, winning 20 games or more five times in the next 10 seasons, winning two ERA titles, and dominating in the 1920 World Series with 3 wins in 3 complete game starts, including a shutout.
Nolan Ryan appeared first in the big leagues with the Mets, on the same date as Coveleski only 54 years later. Like Coveleski, it took a change of scenery to a second big league club before he blossomed into a star. We all know what happened then - the most strikeouts ever, 7 no-hitters, more than 300 wins, and so on.
What you may not know is that through the age of 36 it was Coveleski who was the better pitcher of the two. Here’s the comparison:
While Ryan obviously dominated the strikeout category and pitched more innings, in every other way Coveleski was better. Had he not been shipped to the minors between the ages of 23 and 25, he likely would have thrown more innings than Ryan as well and made the gap even wider. He very much earned his spot in the Hall of Fame.
Still, Ryan was close to him at this point their careers, and if he’d chosen to retire right then and there his strikeout total would have seen him elected to the Hall of Fame eventually, too. He probably wouldn’t have walked in on the first ballot with one of the highest vote percentages ever, but he was already enough of a legend that his election was inevitable.
Obviously that’s not what happened. While Coveleski pitched a couple more very ineffective seasons after age 36, Ryan just kept churning out innings, and wins, and strikeouts. Here’s the same comparison, only from ages 37 onward:
So, yeah. That stat line for Ryan from the ages of 37 to 46 is essentially the same as the full career of Jarrod Washburn:
No, there isn’t anything special about replicating the career of Jarrod Washburn, a perfectly fine major league pitcher who was eminently forgettable after he stopped playing. But being able to produce that career after turning 37 years old, and after already having a career that likely would have resulted in election to the Hall of Fame, is what makes Ryan the absolute freak of nature that we all remember.
Wednesday
Rusty Staub signed as a free agent with the Houston Colt .45’s on this date in 1961. I’m not going to write much about him, but I will take this opportunity to again demonstrate the absolute silliness that was Harold Baines’ election to Cooperstown.
By the way, this graphic doesn’t show that Baines also had a very solid .888 OPS in postseason play.
Meanwhile, Staub’s was 1.096.
If anyone can construct a cogent argument about why only one of these guys should be in the Hall of Fame, and that Baines should be that guy, please knock yourself out in the comments section. If you can do it, you’ll be the first person to pull it off.
Thursday
Carl Yastrzemski got his 3,000th hit on this date in 1979, making him the first American League player with both 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. Since accomplishing that feat he’s been joined by just two players:
That’s it. It’s a pretty exclusive list, one that Al Kaline missed by a single home run.
It’s sort of surprising they’re the only others to do it in the last 45 years given the explosion of home runs in that time, but I guess the more frequent movement of players between leagues makes it less likely for anyone to stay in just one league for most of their careers.
FYI, it’s only been been done 3 times in the National League, too.
Friday
Finally, Lonny Frey passed away on this date in 2009. You may not have heard of him, but there’s a pretty good chance you would know more about him if not for World War II.
Frey was an excellent second baseman and shortstop mostly for the Reds and Dodgers back in the 1930s and 40s. He came up with Brooklyn in 1933 as a shortstop and was decent there. In four seasons he batted .278/.361/.403 with a 108 OPS+. He wasn’t very good defensively at shortstop, though, and was traded to the Cubs before the 1937 season. He stayed there just one year in sort of a part-time utility role before being sold to the Reds.
Cincinnati had a good squad with a winning record in each of the years Frey played for them. Anchored by Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi at catcher, they also had 1940 NL MVP Frank McCormick at first base, along with a solid rotation that included Bucky Walters, Paul Derringer, and Johnny Vander Meer. The team won back-to-back pennants in 1939 and 1940, winning the World Series in the second of those years.
Frey played a critical role in that. Moved to second base since Billy Myers was already at shortstop, Frey regularly batted second in the lineup, and was perfect in that role. He had a .267/.357/.369 batting line and 104 OPS+, getting one base a lot with an average of 85 walks per 162 games. He could also steal a base once he got there and led the league in steals in 1940. In 1939 he led the league in sacrifice hits as well, and made the All-Star team three times in those six seasons.
Just as important was his embrace of second base. Frey became an excellent defender there, averaging over 14 fielding runs and 2.0 defensive WAR per season as he and Myers formed the best defensive double play combination in the league. For five straight years Frey was in the league’s top three in putouts at seconds base, leading the league in 1940. He was either first or second in assists for the same five years, and in double plays as well. He did this by showing great range - best in the league in 1943, and top-three four times - and was very sure handed. Twice he had the league’s best fielding percentage, and was second three other times.
Because of his combination of solid offense and sparkling defense at a critical position, Frey routinely racked up strong WAR totals. From 1938 to 1943 he accumulated 32.0 WAR, an average of 5.6 per full season. For those six years, only Joe Gordon of the Yankees had a better claim to being the best second baseman in baseball.
The other four guys on that chart are in the Hall of Fame, and while I don’t think Frey belongs there, I do think there’s a decent chance he would have received more attention if he hadn’t been drafted and served two years in the Army during World War II. He’d averaged 144 hits, 84 runs, 77 walks, 12 steals, a 106 OPS+, and 5.8 WAR per season in the five years before he left, and it’s reasonable to assume that his missing age-33 and 34 seasons would have been only slightly lesser versions of that. Let’s say they would have been something like this:
140 hits
80 runs
70 walks
10 steals
103 OPS+
4.5 WAR
And let’s also grant that upon his return in 1946, he may not have been quite as rusty as he proved to be. Instead of being a .246/.368/.321 hitter with a 99 OPS+, 4 fielding runs, and 2.5 WAR, let’s say he would have hit roughly .255/.376/.340 with a 101 OPS+, 6 fielding runs, and 3.5 WAR. We’ll leave his rapid decline of 1947-48 as-is.
Those aren’t unreasonable projections at all, and if he’d done anything like that his career totals would have looked like this: 1,840 games, 1,020 runs, 1,800 hits, 75 homers, 315 doubles, 80 triples, 680 RBI, 130 steals, 900 walks, a batting line very close to his actual line of .268/.362/.370, a 104 OPS+, and about 55 WAR.
That’s kind of Ian Kinsler only with less power and better on-base skills, and while I don’t think Kinsler is getting elected to the Hall of Fame, I think he’s going to get a few votes. That will be more than Frey ever received. He literally never got a single vote in any year of Hall of Fame voting. That’s a pity, because I think he was a better player than that.
This Week’s Editions
Monday: Baseball Remembers: Sam Bankhead
Tuesday: First Gloves: Wilbur Wood
Wednesday: Educating Twitter: Correcting Fergie Jenkins
Thursday: Late Bloomers: Ted Abernathy
It's a crime that Sweet Lou isn't in Cooperstown. It's also a crime that it took so long for Tram to get in, but now at least that wrong has been righted.
I disagree on those who disagree on Trammell’s HOF inclusion! … Which means I want him in the HOF, along with Sweet Lou! Great article, my friend!