Happy Birthday & Anniversary Alan Trammell

On Thursday February 21st Alan Trammell celebrates his 60th birthday. His first as a Hall of Famer.

1981 Topps #709 Alan Trammell (pix swiped from Topps Baseball Card Database)

In this photo on his 1981 Topps card the Tigers Shortstop has a "You have Got To be Kidding Me" expression. An expression that many a SABRmetrician had each year when Alan Trammell was rejected for Hall of Fame induction.

This past December after a long wait Alan Trammell was selected for Hall of Fame induction by the latest incarnation of the Veteran's Committees.

Fifteen tallies and Trammell never got more than 50% of the vote. That is an awful lot of NO votes.

Trammell's HOF case is complicated. His career numbers are a tick below the traditional "Hall of Fame Thresholds". Hits = 2365, HR = 185, RBI = 1003. He checked the box on a World Champions and has some All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger hardware. Unfortunately he did not come up with the MVP, However....

Two years ago in my HOF ballot discussion of Trammell I examined the 1987 MVP award which I felt he deserved over George Bell. While I felt that two candidates were pretty even overall for me one big factor pushed Trammell past Bell. He performed better down the stretch when the players two teams were vying for the same division title.

For my complete Alan Trammell HOF Analysis click here.

1981 Topps
In general I like the 1981T design. I think the use of a cap as the palate for the Team & Position info is unique in the Topps canon. In fact I am not sure baseball cap icons have been used on many sets Topps or otherwise. However, I am not fond of the color combo given the Tigers by Topps. Purple & Black just appear to go together in this format, Works for Rockies Pinstripes but not 1981 Topps.


Flip
Check the Title of this posting. First we mentioned a Birthday, which we covered in the first sentence. But we also specify an Anniversary well...


 
1981 Topps #709 Alan Trammell (b-side)

Check out the first -toon. Yep In addition to being Alan Trammell's 60th Birthday, it is also his Wedding Anniversary. Since the Trammell's Wed on Alan's 20th Birthday it is also a Milestone Wedding Anniversary as well #40.  If Alan is reading this, the gift for the 40th Anniversary is the Ruby.

June 12 1979
The latter cartoon notes a Steal of Home by Trammell during a 9-2 Tigers victory over the Oakland A's. I am not sure, but this steal may be a borderline violation of an unwritten rule. The Tigers had an 8-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning.

The steal was so insignificant that it did not even make the Sporting News Write up for the game.

Although the write up does mention that the game was one of two led by Dick Tracewski who was holding the post on an interim basis until Sparky Anderson could take over. Perhaps Tracewski was trying to get the team in a more aggressive mode prior to Sparky showing up. 

Alan Trammell Index
1980 Topps - 1987 MVP aWARd / 2016 HOF credentials

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards
Polish Sports Hall of Fame
Sports Illustrated Jay Jaffe 
Baseball-Ref
Topps Baseball Card Database
AnniversaryGift.Org 

2016 HoF Ballot: Alan Trammell & aWARds 1987 MVP

In a couple of days the Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the members of the 2016 class. One of the most debated of the candidates is Detroit Tigers Alum Alan Trammell.

1980 Topps Alan Trammell

It is my opinion that Trammell's performance during the final week of the 1987 regular season should have put him in the Hall.

Well in reality his overall career accomplishments should be good enough but more on that later now back to 1987.

The 1987 AL MVP award went to Toronto Blue Jays Left Fielder George Bell. Here I present an argument that today with the emphasis on advanced metrics (notably WAR) the Award would go to Alan Trammell.  

The difference between Bell and Trammell in 1987 was 12 points, which is less than a single first place ballot (14 pts are awarded for a 1st). Both players had very good years. Bell's standout numbers were his league leading 134 RBIs and 369 Total Bases. His 47 Homers were second only to Rookie of the Year Mark McGwire, whom we covered for 2016 HoF Candidates recently. Trammel batted .343 (3rd AL), with a .402 OBP (5th) .953 OPS (6th) and 329 TBs (4th). All good numbers and when coupled with the demand of playing a middle infield position I submit that they are comparable to Bell's.

Voters didn't have the advantage of consulting WAR numbers in 1987, but we do now. The results are not even close. Trammell wins easily 8.2 - 5.0. Baseball-ref has stated that a differences of 1 or 2 wins is not "definitive" - the +3.2 advantage of Trammell beyond this +2.0 margin.

My third argument for Trammel's 1987 MVP award is The Tigers won the AL East while George Bell's Blue Jays finished 2nd. Furthermore Alan Trammell was critical to Detroit overtaking Toronto during the final week of the Season. Following play on September 26th the Blue Jays held a +3.5 Game lead on the Tigers. Detroit had 8 games to play, Toronto 7.

For the balance of the season the Tigers went 6-2 while the Blue Jays failed to win a game.

During the stretch Alan Trammell batted .313/.405/.500 with a Homer, 3 RBI and 4 Runs Scored while George Bell went .111/.250/.111 with no XBH and 1 RBI.

There it is - nearly comparable traditional numbers, WAR numbers that favor Trammell as well as a convincing edge in team accomplishment.

It should be noted that Alan Trammell finished 3rd in AL WAR in 1987. The two players who finished above him were Roger Clemens (+9.4) and Wade Boggs (+8.3) both of the Boston Red Sox  who finished 20 games back of the Tigers. Trammell did pace Boggs in oWAR +8.2 to +7.6

Phungo HoF Verdict - HOF
The missed MVP award may not even matter if one guides their HoF vote via WAR. For his career Alan Trammell had a +70.4 WAR this ranks 11th all time among Shortstops, just below Derek Jeter (+71.8) There are 21 HoF Shortstops with an average WAR of 66.7. Trammell has a +62.4 oWAR ranking 81st among ALL position players. Notables that rank below Trammell include Ernie Banks (+61.8), Eddie Murray (+61.2), and Ryne Sandberg (+59.5).

In additon Alan Trammell checked the Box on a World Championship in 1984 when he was named as the Series MVP.

If he had the Regular Season MVP on his shelf I believe that his Hall of Fame candidacy would not even be in doubt. It is a shame that we didn't have advanced metrics in WAR in 1987, but the BBWAA has the opportunity to right that wrong this week.

Sources and Links
Alan Trammell HOF Index
2016 HoF Candidates
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref