Hall of Fame

Alan Trammell & Lou Whitaker 1996 Fleer Golden Memories card

Where’s Whitaker? Eight Theories on a Hall of Fame Snub

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If Alan Trammell gets a Hall of Fame plaque, why is his double play partner Lou Whitaker—who had an essentially identical career—shut out not only from induction but from voting consideration altogether? There is no rational reason to induct Ryne Sandberg in 2005, Roberto Alomar in 2011, and Craig Biggio in 2015, while keeping Whitaker—whose numbers keep pace or surpass them—not only out of the Hall but off the ballot. So what’s going on? I’ve seen at least eight different explanations.

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Allou Trammaker

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They were mirror images of each other, Trammell and Whitaker, Whitaker and Trammell, one white, the other black; one a left-handed hitter, the other right; one a second baseman, the other a shortstop; one as quiet as a tree, the other, as the old line goes, would talk to a tree–different but exactly the same, too. Good fielders, good baserunners, underrated, beloved, lifetime Detroit Tigers.

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