Awesome Al, Birthday Pal
Hey baseball fans!
I know all of you have heard about the great shortstops in baseball history such as Ozzie Smith and Ernie Banks, but how about a certain shortstop who played his entire career with the Tigers and who was an excellent fielder and hitter, but isn't well known among the best? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Alan Trammell.
Trammell played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers from 1977-1996. He made it to six All-Star Games and also won seven gold gloves. A contact hitting shortstop, Alan hit for a career batting average of .285 and had an average of 80 runs in a season. He won a championship with Detroit in 1984 as they beat the Padres four games to one, and was named MVP of the Series, hitting .450, with two homers and six RBIs.
The sad part about his career though, is that he has not been elected into the Hall of Fame yet. However, if the trend of votes for his election doesn't change, and it keeps increasing at its current pace, he will be in the Hall by 2017! The reason I'm so excited about him getting elected is because we share a birthday. Honestly, wouldn't it be awesome to have a Hall of Famer share a birthday with you?
Send me a comment and tell me your baseball birthday buddy. Thanks for reading!
Matthew Minthorn
8:32 am on Sunday, December 9, 2012
I share a birthday with the former owner of the Yankees George M. Stinebrenner. How cool is that???
Shooter
8:47 am on Sunday, December 9, 2012
that's cool
BART FRAENKEL
11:01 am on Sunday, December 9, 2012
Another good article, Matt. I share a birthday with Jim Rice, Jim Bouton, and Richie (Dick) Allen, who was my favorite ballplayer while I was growing up. And other then him being an extremely good ballplayer it was because we shared a birthday.
John McHale
10:19 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
I share a birthday with Sparky Anderson and Charlie O Finley
Matt Nadel's Baseball with Matt (a kid blogger's baseball history blog)
8:00 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Finley was a pretty surly manager, while Sparky was really fun to play for. Just ask Kirk Gibson. Remember when Anderson was the manager of Gibson and the Tigers in the '84 Fall Classic against San Diego? Well when Kirk hit that Series-clinching homer, Sparky gave him ten dollars because before the at-bat, they bet that Kirk would hit a homer. It was pretty amazing for Tigers fans to watch.
paul smith
9:09 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
WILLIE HORTON
Pete Heinbaugh
10:36 pm on Sunday, January 6, 2013
Through fortunate happenstance, I had the pleasure of attending Trammell's final game as a player.....
In September 1996, I was in Detroit on a business trip that included a stay over the weekend. I was alone with nothing to do on that Sunday, so I decided that I would take in a Tiger's game. It was the final game of the season. The new Comerica Park was under construction and would open in a couple of years, so I went because I knew it was my last chance to visit grand old, elegant Tiger Stadium.
As it happened, Trammell surprisingly, unexpectedly announced his retirement on that Sunday morning. Apparently, he planned it that way but didn't tell anyone. He was such an unassuming gentleman, he just didn't want a big deal made out of it. It was so sudden and last-minute that only a couple thousand additional tickets were sold, despite the fact that he was probably the most beloved athlete in the city at the time.
The Tiger's conducted a hastily-arranged pre-game ceremony in his honor, everyone cheered wildly, they played the game, Alan got two hits, the Tigers lost, I soaked in the stadium, and I took away a cool memory.
Matt Nadel's Baseball with Matt (a kid blogger's baseball history blog)
10:22 pm on Sunday, January 20, 2013
Based on what Pete says, Trammell was a class act.