Alan Trammell to Baseball HOF

Alan Trammell, #3, the great Tiger shortstop was recently declined his rightful Hall of Fame induction. This is great travesty for any fan of the game.

This is the second greatest crime of the century, ranking second only behind Trammell not be awarded the American League MVP in 1987. That year, George Bell of the Toronto Blue Jays unjustly won the award that Trammell so deserved.

Look at the numbers for 1987 to see how Trammell was cheated and how this crime was nothing but foreshaowing to the present HOF travesty:

Trammell's Hits, AVG, OBP, SLG: 205, .343, .402, .551
Bell's Hits, AVG, OBP, SLG: 188, .308, .352, .605

These figures do not even begin to address that Trammell was one of the greatest shortstops (a position player) in MLB history and Bell was a mediocre outfielder who platooned as a DH. Trammell and his counterpart at second base, Sweet Lou Whitaker, went on to combine for the most double plays turned in MLB history. George Bell was subsequently traded to the White Sox to make the transition from obscurity to oblivion.

As to the current HOF voting debacle, Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals (and the San Diego Padres before that) was the darling of the sportwriters an was easily inducted in his first year of eligibility. We of the Alan Trammell fan club do not hold this against the Wizard of Oz and we believe he should have been inducted. However, when you consider the facts of the case for Trammell and the statistics of Ozzie side-by-side, you can clearly see how Trammell was robbed.

As an example, Trammell played one year longer than Ozzie and all for the same team. No one doubts that Ozzie's greatest asset was his glove and mobility as his career fielding percentage was .978, however Trammell is just under this with .976.

Ozzie, the Hall of Famer, batted .262 for his career and a .328 OBP. His other offensive statistics are relatively slight for the Hall of Fame. Ironically, Ozzie's best offensive year was 1987, the year Trammell was first overtly shunned by the sportwriters.

Trammell, on the other hand, batted .285 for his career and was infinitely more productive than Ozzie in every offensive category except walks. Trammell also played most of his games on grass, Ozzie on the superturf of Busch Memorial Stadium. Trammell was a right-handed hitter in a lefties' park and was known throughout his career as being one of the toughest outs in the American League. Ozzie used the turf to punch singles through the infield and was always considered as a defensive-only player.

Ozzie has undoubtedly done a much better job of staying in the spotlight since he retired than Trammell has. Ozzie can be seen regularly on CNN-SI while Trammell was a coach for the miserable Tigers and then for the Padres. Clearly, this has had some efect on the HOF voters.

We ask, therefore, that the Hall of Fame executives in Cooperstown, NY, Commissioner Bud Selig, the sportwriters, and any other persons involved in the HOF voting to please consider Alan Trammell for the next induction. It is very much the right and just thing to do.

Thank you and may God Bless Trammell, the Tigers, Baseball, and America