American baseball player, coach and manager (born 1958)
Baseball player
Alan Trammell
|
---|
Trammell with the Chicago Cubs in 2010
|
Shortstop
/
Manager
|
Born:
(
1958-02-21
)
February 21, 1958
(age 66)
Garden Grove, California
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
September 9, 1977, for the Detroit Tigers
|
|
September 29, 1996, for the Detroit Tigers
|
|
Batting average
| .285
|
---|
Hits
| 2,365
|
---|
Home runs
| 185
|
---|
Runs batted in
| 1,003
|
---|
Managerial record
| 187?302
|
---|
Winning %
| .382
|
---|
|
---|
|
As player
As manager
As coach
|
|
- 6×
All-Star
(
1980
,
1984
,
1985
,
1987
,
1988
,
1990
)
- World Series
champion (
1984
)
- World Series MVP
(1984)
- 4×
Gold Glove Award
(1980, 1981, 1983, 1984)
- 3×
Silver Slugger Award
(1987, 1988, 1990)
- Detroit Tigers No. 3
retired
|
|
Induction
| 2018
|
---|
Vote
| 81.3%
|
---|
Election method
| Modern Baseball Era Committee
|
---|
|
---|
|
Alan Stuart Trammell
(
TRAM
-el
;
[1]
born February 21, 1958) is an American former professional
baseball
shortstop
,
manager
and
coach
and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player. His entire 20-year playing career in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) was with the
Detroit Tigers
. Trammell has served as a special assistant to the General Manager of the Detroit Tigers since the 2014 season.
Trammell won a
World Series
championship in
1984
over his hometown
San Diego Padres
, earning Series MVP honors, and an
American League East
division championship in 1987. Although his arm was not overpowering, he had a quick release and made accurate throws, ultimately winning four Gold Glove awards. Trammell's defense perfectly complemented his double-play partner,
Lou Whitaker
. The two formed the longest continuous double-play combination in major league history, playing 19 seasons together. At the plate, Trammell was one of the best-hitting shortstops of his era and won three Silver Slugger awards.
Trammell later served as the Tigers'
manager
from
2003
through
2005
. He also served as the interim manager for the
Arizona Diamondbacks
during the final three games of the
2014 season
. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Early years
[
edit
]
Trammell attended
Kearny High School
in
San Diego
,
California
, and played
American Legion Baseball
. He was named the 1989 American Legion Graduate of the Year.
[2]
The
Detroit Tigers
selected him in the second round of the
1976 MLB draft
.
[3]
While playing for the Tigers' farm team in Montgomery of the
Southern League
, Trammell played his first game with teammate Lou Whitaker before the two infielders were promoted, making their major league debut at
Fenway Park
together, during the second game of a double-header on
September 9, 1977
, the first of nineteen seasons together. Both players became regulars at their positions the following season.
Trammell
batted
.300 in 1980 as he made the
All-Star
team for the first time. In 1983, he batted .319 with 14
home runs
, 66
runs batted in
and 30
stolen bases
.
[4]
Having hit .258 in both 1981 and 1982, Trammell won the 1983
MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award
in the
American League
.
Trammell and Whitaker made a cameo appearance on the television show
Magnum, P.I.
, starring
Tom Selleck
, during the 1983 season.
[5]
[6]
Selleck's character, Thomas Magnum, was a Tigers fan (as is Selleck himself).
[7]
1984
[
edit
]
The Tigers enjoyed a championship-winning season in 1984, when they started the season 35?5 and led the American League wire-to-wire en route to winning the World Series.
[8]
Despite a season-long battle with
tendinitis
in his shoulder which caused him to miss 23 regular season games, he finished fifth in the AL batting race with a .314 mark and ranked eighth in
on-base percentage
(.382). In the
1984 American League Championship Series
against the
Kansas City Royals
, Trammell hit .364 with one home run and three RBI. Finally, in the
World Series
, he hit .450 (9-for-20) against the
San Diego Padres
, including a pair of two-run home runs that accounted for all of the Tigers' scoring in a Game 4 victory. Detroit won the series 4?1 and Trammell was named
World Series MVP
.
[9]
[10]
1985?1988
[
edit
]
In 1985, after two consecutive years of batting not lower than .314, Trammell was hampered by injuries and posted only a .258 batting average. He underwent postseason surgery on his left knee and right shoulder. The following season, a fully healthy Trammell hit 21 homers and stole 25 bases, becoming only the second player in Detroit history to hit 20+ home runs and steal 20+ bases in the same season. (
Kirk Gibson
was the other, while
Curtis Granderson
and
Robbie Grossman
later joined the club.) Trammell also set a career-high with 75 RBI.
In 1987, asked by manager
Sparky Anderson
to replace the departed
Lance Parrish
as
cleanup hitter
, Trammell responded with his best major league season, hitting a career-high 28 home runs to go with a career-high .343 batting average (ranking third in the AL). In addition, Trammell appeared among the league leaders in most other AL offensive categories: third in hits (205), tenth in RBI (105), tied for fifth in
runs
(109), fourth in
total bases
(329), fifth in on-base percentage (.402), eighth in
slugging average
(.551), sixth in
on-base plus slugging
(.953), fifth in
OPS+
(155), and tied for fifth in game-winning RBI (16). In September, he batted .416 with six homers and 17 RBI and put together an 18-game hitting streak in which he hit .457. On the penultimate day of the regular season, he hit a walk-off single against the
Toronto Blue Jays
to help his team take the
AL East
division lead, which they clinched the next day. He became the first Tiger to collect 200
hits
and 100 RBI in the same season since
Al Kaline
did it in 1955. Trammell also became the first shortstop to hit at least .340 with 20+ home runs and 100+ RBI in a season in big league history. Despite his efforts, Trammell finished second to Toronto's
George Bell
in the MVP voting (332?311).
[11]
After the season finale, Whitaker gave him second base, on which he had written:
To Alan Trammell, 1987 Most Valuable Player, from your friend Lou Whitaker.
[12]
Trammell followed up with a .311 season in 1988, though a stint on the disabled list limited him to 128 games that year.
Later years, injuries and retirement
[
edit
]
Following the 1990 season, in which he hit .304 with 89 RBI in 146 games, Trammell suffered a long string of injuries that reduced his production over his final years. In 1991, knee and ankle injuries limited Trammell to 101 games. During the following season, he played in 29 games before breaking his right ankle and missing the remainder of the 1992 season. He hit .329 in a resurgent 1993 season but was ineligible to be ranked among the AL batting leaders because he only had 447 plate appearances. In his final five seasons, Trammell averaged 76 games played after averaging 140 games played the first 13 seasons of his career. From 1993 to 1996, Trammell saw less time at shortstop in favor of
Travis Fryman
and eventually
Chris Gomez
and
Andujar Cedeno
.
[13]
He instead saw playing time at
multiple defensive positions
, including shortstop, third base, second base, left field, center field, and designated hitter.
[14]
Trammell retired following the 1996 season.
In his 20-year career, Trammell batted over .300 seven times, ending with a career average of .285 and 185 home runs with 1,003 RBI, 1,231 runs, 2,365 hits, 412
doubles
, 55
triples
, 236 stolen bases and 850 walks in 2,293 games.
[4]
He compiled a .977
fielding percentage
at shortstop, his primary position.
After his retirement, Trammell coached for Detroit (1999,
hitting coach
), the San Diego Padres (2000?2002,
first base coach
), and managed the Tigers (2003?2005).
[15]
He served as the
bench coach
for the
Arizona Diamondbacks
under former teammate
Kirk Gibson
[16]
until returning to the Tigers in late 2014 as a special assistant to the general manager.
Hall of Fame consideration and induction
[
edit
]
In 2001, Trammell was rated as the ninth-best shortstop of all time in "
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
", placing him higher than fourteen Hall of Fame shortstops. In subsequent years, Trammell's candidacy for the Hall of Fame picked up increasing support from the sabermetric community. In his first 12 years of eligibility, he received the following percentage of votes: 15.7% (2002), 14.1% (2003), 13.8% (2004), 16.9% (2005), 17.7% (2006), 13.4% (2007), 18.2% (2008), 17.4% (2009), 22.4% (2010), 24.3% (2011), 36.8% (2012), 33.6% (2013), and 20.8% (2014).
[4]
His boost in later years was likely due to voters being more receptive to advanced metrics, such as WAR (
Wins above replacement
).
[17]
Trammell was on his 15th and final
Baseball Writers' Association of America
ballot in 2016, failing to earn enough for induction. Trammell was one of the last candidates to be allowed on the ballot for 15 years after the BBWAA reduced eligibility to ten years, and would next be considered for the
Veterans Committee
Expansion starting from 2017. On December 10, 2017, he was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Modern Baseball Committee alongside his teammate
Jack Morris
. They were inducted in July 2018.
[18]
In 1998, Trammell was elected into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
[19]
Jersey number retirement
[
edit
]
Alan Trammell's jersey number 3 was retired by the Tigers in a ceremony on August 26, 2018.
[20]
His name and number were added to the brick wall in left-center field at
Comerica Park
, alongside
Charlie Gehringer
(#2),
Hank Greenberg
(#5),
Al Kaline
(#6),
Hal Newhouser
(#16),
Willie Horton
(#23),
Ty Cobb
(no number) and recent honoree
Jack Morris
(#47). Following Trammell's retirement in 1996, the number 3 had been worn by two other players:
Gary Sheffield
and
Ian Kinsler
.
Managerial and coaching career
[
edit
]
Detroit Tigers
[
edit
]
Alan Trammell was named the manager of a struggling Tigers team on October 9, 2002.
[21]
The team lost 119 games in his first season in 2003, an American League record, before posting a 72?90 record in 2004. In the 2005 season, however, the team's record regressed slightly, finishing 71?91. During Trammell's three years as manager, the Tigers compiled a record of 186?300.
[15]
[22]
During the 2003 season, Detroit nearly matched the modern MLB record of 120 losses, set by the expansion
New York Mets
(40?120) in 1962. The Tigers won five of their last six games to avoid the distinction.
On October 3, 2005, the Tigers released Trammell after three seasons in which the organization failed to post a winning record.
[15]
Trammell was replaced by
Jim Leyland
on October 4, 2005. Leyland led Detroit to a 24-game improvement in the regular season, an AL pennant, and a
World Series
appearance in 2006. While there was some media criticism regarding Trammell's managerial strategies and "nice" demeanor,
[23]
others contend that he was a rookie manager put in charge of a team that was severely lacking in talent, and believe his managerial stint played an integral role in re-instilling professionalism and pride throughout the Detroit organization. Leyland himself attributed a degree of the success that the Tigers saw in the 2006 postseason to Trammell's efforts in the three years prior.
[24]
In October 2006, Trammell returned to Comerica Park for the first time since his firing to participate, along with Sparky Anderson, in pregame festivities prior to Game 2 of the World Series.
[25]
Trammell was showered with a lengthy standing ovation from Detroit baseball fans upon taking the field.
Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks
[
edit
]
After being replaced by Leyland, Trammell turned down an offer to stay with the Tigers as a special assistant, instead opting to sit out 2006. In October 2006, he agreed to join the
Chicago Cubs
as a bench coach for the 2007 season,
[25]
a possible precursor to an eventual return to managing a major league club.
During the four-game suspension of
Lou Piniella
in 2007, Trammell was acting manager of the Chicago Cubs.
Trammell was passed over for the Cubs' managerial position when
Lou Piniella
retired midway through the 2010 season.
[26]
Trammell was named
bench coach
of the Arizona Diamondbacks in October 2010 joining his former teammate
Kirk Gibson
who had earlier been named manager. Gibson had previously been Trammell's bench and hitting coach with the Tigers.
[16]
He and Gibson were fired on September 26, 2014, though Trammell stayed on for the final three games of the season to serve as the interim manager.
[27]
He had a record of one win and two losses in those three games.
[22]
Return to Detroit Tigers
[
edit
]
On November 3, 2014, it was announced that Trammell would return to Detroit as a special assistant to Tigers' general manager
Dave Dombrowski
.
[28]
[29]
During the 2015 season Trammell served as interim first-base coach when
Omar Vizquel
temporarily left the team on bereavement leave. He wore #4 during this time as Ian Kinsler was wearing Trammell's familiar #3.
[30]
Trammell continued to serve as a special assistant to Tigers' GM
Al Avila
until Avila was dismissed in August 2022, and Avila was replaced as GM by
Jeff Greenberg
in September 2023, with Trammell continuing to serve.
[31]
[32]
[33]
Managerial record
[
edit
]
- As of 18 December 2014
Career highlights
[
edit
]
- 1984 World Series MVP
- 1984 World Series Champion
- 6-time All-Star (1980, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990)
- 4-time Gold Glove (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984)
- 3-time Top 10 MVP (1984, 1987, 1988)
- 3-time Tiger of the Year by the BBWAA-Detroit Chapter (1980, 1987, 1988)
- Collected both 200th hit of the season and 1,500th career in same
at bat
(October 1, 1987)
- Had a 21-game hit streak during the 1987 season.
- Had a 20-game hit streak during the 1984 season.
- Comeback Player of the Year (1983)
- Sporting News AL Silver Slugger Team (1987, 1988, 1990)
- Along with teammate
Lou Whitaker
holds AL record playing together (1,918 games). They also set the major league record by turning more double plays than any other shortstop-second baseman combination in the long history of professional baseball.
- The Trammell?Whitaker duo twice won Gold Gloves together, joining a list of eight shortstop-second baseman duos who have won the honor in the same season while playing together (1983, 1984).
- Inducted into the
National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame
in 1998
[19]
- Inducted into the
San Diego Hall of Champions
in 1998
[34]
- Inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame
in 2018
[35]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Detroit Tigers 1980 Press-TV-Radio Guide (pronunciations on page 38).
Archived
April 14, 2021, at the
Wayback Machine
Retrieved April 14, 2021
- ^
"Graduate of the Year | the American Legion"
.
- ^
"Tigers great Alan Trammell puts San Diego investment property up for sale"
.
Los Angeles Times
. October 16, 2015.
- ^
a
b
c
"Alan Trammell"
.
Baseball-Reference
.
Archived
from the original on December 22, 2010
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
"Magnum, P.I.: A Sense of Debt episode on TV.com"
. Archived from
the original
on January 19, 2010
. Retrieved
February 2,
2008
.
- ^
Video
on
YouTube
- ^
"Selleck Strikes Out For Tigers"
.
Chicago Tribune
. April 4, 1991. Archived from
the original
on December 8, 2014
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
"Bless You Boys: A Celebration of the '84 Tigers"
. Detroit Tigers. Archived from
the original
on June 15, 2011
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
Kappler, Brian (October 15, 1984).
"Bad knee didn't halt Trammell"
.
The Montreal Gazette
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
Atkins, Harry (October 16, 1984).
"Trammell picks up car"
.
Gettysburg Times
. Associated Press
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
Donaghy, Jim (November 18, 1987).
"Bell edges Trammell"
.
The Hour
. Associated Press
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
Holmes, Dan (September 5, 2014).
"Whitaker's nice gesture remains one of Trammell's prized possessions"
. DetroitAthletic.com. Archived from
the original
on September 19, 2018
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
"Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search"
.
- ^
"Alan Trammell Fielding Stats"
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Tigers fire Trammell after 71?91 season"
. ESPN. October 4, 2005
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
"Gibson reunites with Trammell in Arizona"
.
USA Today
. Associated Press. October 26, 2010. Archived from
the original
on November 3, 2012
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
Eye On Baseball
Retrieved December 27, 2013
- ^
"Morris, Trammell get long awaited call to Hall"
(Press release). MLB. December 10, 2017
. Retrieved
December 10,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"Alan Trammell"
. polishsportshof.com. Archived from
the original
on January 10, 2015
. Retrieved
January 4,
2015
.
- ^
"Alan Trammell sees Tigers No.3 jersey retired, lobbies for DP partner Lou Whitaker"
.
ESPN.com
. August 27, 2018
. Retrieved
September 19,
2018
.
- ^
Lage, Larry (October 9, 2002).
"Trammell takes Tigers' managerial reins"
.
USA Today
. Associated Press. Archived from
the original
on November 3, 2012
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Alan Trammell"
.
Baseball Reference
. Sports Reference LLC
. Retrieved
December 5,
2014
.
- ^
Crasnick, Jerry (October 20, 2006).
"Trammell: 'I'll always be a Tiger'
"
. ESPN
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
"A Tiger Who Won, and Then Couldn't, Manages to Smile"
.
The New York Times
. Associated Press. October 22, 2006
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
Muskat, Carrie (October 24, 2006).
"Trammell raring to go with Cubs"
. Major League Baseball. Archived from
the original
on November 6, 2012
. Retrieved
December 17,
2023
.
- ^
"Mike Quade prepared for hot seat"
. ESPN. Associated Press. August 23, 2010
. Retrieved
January 13,
2011
.
- ^
"Diamondbacks fire Kirk Gibson"
.
ESPN.com
. September 27, 2014
. Retrieved
September 28,
2014
.
- ^
"Alan Trammell returning to Tigers as assistant to GM"
.
The Detroit News
. November 3, 2014
. Retrieved
November 3,
2014
.
- ^
"Trammell returns to Tigers as special assistant"
. Major League Baseball. November 3, 2014. Archived from
the original
on November 3, 2014
. Retrieved
November 3,
2014
.
- ^
"Trammell fills in as Tigers' first-base coach"
.
MLB.com
. July 25, 2015
. Retrieved
August 18,
2018
.
- ^
"Trammell still unsettled by finally getting Hall call"
.
The Detroit News
. December 11, 2017.
- ^
Petzold, Evan (August 10, 2022).
"Detroit Tigers fire general manager Al Avila after 7 seasons"
.
Detroit Free Press
. Retrieved
August 11,
2022
.
- ^
Beck, Jason (September 29, 2023).
"Miggy to join Tigers' front office as special assistant"
.
MLB.com
. Retrieved
October 14,
2023
.
- ^
"San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum ≫ Alan Trammell"
. Archived from
the original
on October 1, 2009
. Retrieved
June 18,
2009
.
- ^
"Evaluating the Inevitable Hall of Fame Election of Jack Morris, the Pleasant Surprise of Alan Trammell and More"
. December 10, 2017.
External links
[
edit
]
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Pitchers
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Catchers
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First basemen
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Second basemen
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Third basemen
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Shortstops
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Left fielders
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Center fielders
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Right fielders
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Designated hitters
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Managers
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Executives
and pioneers
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Umpires
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Italics
denote members who have been elected, but not yet inducted.
|