December 8th, 2019 at 8:27 PM ^
Lou Whittaker, long time Tiger second baseman and one of the best middle infielders of his generation. Played along side Trammel and was ever bit as good.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:31 PM ^
Ok, yea I’ve heard of him. Not a Tigers fan, but I think have some of his cards from my dad. Didn’t know his nickname.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
C’mon man....
December 8th, 2019 at 10:26 PM ^
The driver .
December 8th, 2019 at 8:25 PM ^
Who’s Big Lou?
December 8th, 2019 at 10:28 PM ^
The driver
December 8th, 2019 at 8:26 PM ^
Definitely sucks. Lou deserves to be in. At least they finally corrected a long injustice by putting Miller in, and Simmons was a UofM student (alum?)
December 8th, 2019 at 8:36 PM ^
I'm a Yankee fan who watched a lot of games in that era. Whitaker was a hall of fame player and should be in. Dude could play.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:37 PM ^
If he was a Yankee he would be in. It’s bull shit he is not.
December 9th, 2019 at 5:44 AM ^
Whitaker was better than Ryne Sandberg
December 8th, 2019 at 8:38 PM ^
Even tommy john didn’t get in. Miller’s estate and Simmons probably bought their way in.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:38 PM ^
I loved the Tigers then, not so much now
December 8th, 2019 at 8:40 PM ^
Even tommy john didn’t get in. Miller’s estate and Simmons probably bought their way in.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:48 PM ^
Given the couple of damaging comments about Simmons, I’d note he’s a Detroit native, who had more hits and doubles than any catcher when he retired and only Yogi Berra had more RBI’s. Like Whittaker, he’s deserved to be in the HOF for a long time.
December 8th, 2019 at 11:04 PM ^
Simmons' son lived in West Quad/Chicago House while I was at UM ('92 alum). Got to meet Ted one time. Didn't know he was from Detroit area.
December 9th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
Simmons played at Southfield High School and graduated in 1967. I grew up playing baseball in Southfield and there were legends about where he hit some home runs while he played there.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:54 PM ^
It is a crime that he is not in the hall. He has better numbers than some 2nd basemen that are already in.
December 8th, 2019 at 11:21 PM ^
If I recall correctly he was a superb infielder, and a lesser hitter, and better baserunner, relative to Trammell, who was known for clutch hitting.
December 9th, 2019 at 12:59 AM ^
Most of the time Whitaker wasn’t too far behind as a hitter (.276 career vs. .285 for Trammell). One year — ‘87, maybe? — Trammell won the AL batting title, even though I think it was the only time he’d batted over .310 in a season. It greatly helped his HOF candidacy.
December 9th, 2019 at 5:43 AM ^
Trammel hit .343 in 1987, third behind Wade Boggs and Paul Molitor. But it was the best season of his career, and the one when he should have won the AL MVP Award. He finished 2nd to Toronto OF George Bell's power numbers.
December 8th, 2019 at 8:54 PM ^
Wow... that’s a shame. That Trammel - Whitaker duo was awesome. He should be in. He was a pretty good hitter as well.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:16 PM ^
This was a tough veterans ballot for him to be on. I thought he'd get in, weird to have Trammel in without Lou.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:17 PM ^
total. Ducking. Bull. stuff.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:23 PM ^
Whitaker has better stats than some 2nd basement that are in the hall of fame. It’s a shame he is not in.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:27 PM ^
This is purely a consequence of playing in a city that the national sports media has loved to hate for fifty years.
If Trammell and Whitaker had exactly the same careers individually and together for the Yankees or Red Sox or the Dodgers or the Cubs, they'd have been voted into the Hall years ago.
December 8th, 2019 at 11:24 PM ^
Partly. He was also not the most media friendly guy back in the day. He wasn't confrontational like Morris, but he was definitely standoffish.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:46 PM ^
Whitaker has the 4th highest career WAR of all HOF-eligible position players NOT in the HOF.
2 of those 3 ahead of him are special cases. Barry Bonds and Pete Rose.
Bill Dahlen is the 3rd guy, he was a shortstop from way back in the day: 1890s and 1900s decades.
Whitaker does suffer with voters from 3 things: (1) his relatively low batting average, (2) lack of truly monster great seasons and (3) only did win 3 Gold Gloves.
The first he made up for that by drawing a lot of walks, however. His OPS and OPS+ are very very good.
The 2nd statement isn't wrong. Only 1 time did he finish in the Top 10 of the AL MVP vote.
Whitaker winning only 3 Gold Gloves does mystify me, but I guess the voters of that era saw what they saw. Frank White was winning the AL Gold Gloves in the late 70s and early 80s, though today's defensive metrics would tell you Whitaker was better then. Lou's Gold Gloves were more in the mid-80s.
1 other thing: Sparky started platooning him in the early 1990s too, which limited his ability to aggregate numbers. 2369 career Hits is definitely noteworthy, but it is also quite a ways from 3000.
I think Whitaker should be in the HOF, but I'm not sure he'll ever get there.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:49 PM ^
I wonder if any of this was backlash for him showing up in a limo and suit for one of the players' meetings during the 1994 strike. That's the only possible explanation for leaving out one of the best 2nd basemen in the game's history.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:50 PM ^
December 8th, 2019 at 10:00 PM ^
"MLB writers are assholes."
When you consider the fact that Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays were not unanimous, to say that among MLB writers are some gigantic assholes is an understatement.
December 8th, 2019 at 9:52 PM ^
Garbage ballot, trash voters, shit institution.
Here endeth the lesson.
December 8th, 2019 at 10:52 PM ^
Complete bullshit.
December 9th, 2019 at 8:59 AM ^
Not surprising. The hall sucks. They way they did Andre Dawson was really shitty too. Fuck them.
December 9th, 2019 at 9:32 AM ^
Lou getting snubbed again is an absolute travesty.
December 9th, 2019 at 9:46 AM ^
He belongs. A terrific fielding second baseman who possessed a shortstop quality arm (maybe the best of any second basemen in arm strength). A very productive offensive player between hitting, garnering walks, good power for a second baseman, and a good baserunner (though he did not focus on stealing bases). Jack Morris and Tram eventually got in, I think he will too.