Detroit Tigers: New Era Committees Give Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell Shot at Hall of Fame
By Matt Snyder
New era-specific committees give Detroit Tigers legends Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammel a fresh shot at Hall of Fame induction.
The mid 1980s was a golden era of Detroit Tigers baseball, but sadly two stars of that generation were shut out of the Hall of Fame by the Base Ball Writers Association of America.
Alan Trammell fell off the ballot this year after failing to reach the 75% induction threshold in his 15th year of eligibility. Lou Whitaker fell off the ballot in 2001 after failing to garner even 3% of the vote. Both omissions look like big mistakes.
The Baseball Hall of Fame has always had a process of trying to correct some of these oversights with various committees (expansion era, golden era, and pre-integration era) giving such players second looks.
The Hall of Fame recently announced changes to these committees which will both (1) further break them down to more specific eras and (2) allow for more frequent voting. For Trammell and Whitaker, that means they’ll (probably) be considered by the new “today’s game” committee (1988-present) instead of sitting alongside every player from the expansion era.
Baseball America has an excellent breakdown of the new committees and offers a look at who might stand to benefit the most from the changes.
According to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, Whitaker and Trammell are both the second-best player at their position to not be included in the Hall of Fame. According to JAWS, Trammell bests Derek Jeter (who will certainly be inducted on the first ballot in 10 years time) and Whitaker bests Roberto Alomar (who narrowly missed the Hall in his first year and made it in his second).
The Today’s Game Committee will hold their first vote this December (for possible 2017 induction), so it’s possible that one or both of these Detroit Tigers greats receives the Hall call early next year.
Whitaker and Trammell walking into the Hall of Fame would be a fitting end to this unfortunate ordeal.
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But even if Trammell and Whitaker are ultimately not elected into the Hall of Fame (though they should be!), the Tigers would do well to create a Comerica Park statue of the duo turning a double play.