Detroit Tigers: Four Biggest Hall of Fame Snubs
Alan Trammell (Hall Score: 143)
I’m sure you all expected to see this name first on the list, and there is good reason for it. Tigers, Alan Trammell is one of the greatest shortstops ever. The most common knock against Trammell is that his accumulated totals are not great.
While 2365 hits and 185 home runs are nothing to sneeze at, they aren’t very impressive over the course of two decades. For comparison’s sake, future (hopefully) Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera has already posted 2519 hits and 446 home runs over the course of fourteen seasons.
That being said, it is erroneous to simply look at Trammell in this manner. Stating that Trammell only had 2356 hits over twenty years makes him out to be a player who could barely crack 100 hits a season. That is far from the truth; Trammell just simply didn’t see much playing time during the last half decade of his career. In actuality, Trammell averaged 167 hits per 162 games for his career; a more than respectable tally for a shortstop.
His Hall of Fame credentials only get better when you start looking into his advanced statistics. Trammell’s 70.4 career WAR ranks 11th all time among shortstops, placing him higher than 10 Hall of Fame shortstops, including Ernie Banks, and the recently inducted Barry Larkin. Trammell’s .285 lifetime batting average is also elite for his position. Trammell was also widely regarded as being one of the best defenders of his era, taking home four Gold Gloves and sporting a 22.0 dWAR.
If the BBWAA didn’t absolutely butcher the 1987 AL MVP selection, Trammell probably would be in the Hall already. Instead, he will have to wait for the Veteran’s Committee to look at his case.