Alan Trammell

At 66 years old, Alan Trammell has this physical status:

Alan Stuart Trammell (born February 21, 1958) is an American professional baseball shortstop, manager, and mentor.

He spent his entire 20-years in Major League Baseball with the Detroit Tigers.

He currently serves as a special assistant to the Detroit Tigers' General Manager. Trammell claimed a World Series championship in 1984 over his hometown San Diego Padres and an American League East division championship in 1987.

Despite the fact that his arm was not strong, he had a quick release and made accurate throws, ultimately winning four Gold Glove awards.

Trammell's defense perfectly complimented his double-play partner, Lou Whitaker.

When the two teams combined for 19 seasons, they became the longest running double-play team in major league history.

Trammell was one of the best-hitting shortstops of his time and received three Silver Slugger awards. Trammell served as Detroit's boss from 2003 to 2005.

During the 2014 season's final three games, he served as interim manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In 2018, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Playing career

Trammell played American Legion Baseball at Kearny High School in San Diego, California. He was named the 1989 American Legion Graduate of the Year.

In the second round of the 1976 MLB draft, the Detroit Tigers selected him.

Trammell appeared with teammate Lou Whitaker in Montgomery of the Southern League in the first game of a double-header on September 9, 1977, the first of nineteen seasons together.

Trammell made the All-Star squad for the first time in 1980 when he batted.300. He batted.319 with 14 home runs, 66 runs batted in, and 30 stolen bases. Trammell won the 1983 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award in the American League, despite being ranked at.258 in both 1981 and 1982.

During the 1983 season, Trammell and Whitaker appeared on a cameo on television show Magnum, P.I., starring Tom Selleck. Thomas Magnum, Selleck's character, was a Bulls fan (as is Selleck himself).

Trammell, along with his Tiger teammates, enjoyed a championship-winning season in 1984, when the team began the season 35–5 and led the American League wire-to-wire to win the World Series. Despite a season-long battle with tendinitis in his shoulder, which forced him to miss 23 regular season games, he finished fifth in the AL batting championship with a.314 average and eighth in on-base percentage (.382). Trammell hit.364 with one home run and three RBI in the 1984 American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals. He then 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 Game 4's victory. Trammell was named World Series MVP for the Detroit group 4–1.

Trammell was limited by injuries in 1985, when his two years of batting not lower than.344 were interrupted, and he only had a.258batting average. He underwent right knee and right shoulder surgery during offseason. Trammell was 100% healthy in the 2012 season, winning 21 home runs and taking 25 bases in the same season, becoming the second player in Detroit history to reach 20+ home runs and 20+ bases. (Kirk Gibson was the other, while Curtis Granderson and Robbie Grossman later joined the club.) Trammell set a career-high of 75 RBIs.

Trammell hit his best major league season in 1987 when manager Sparky Anderson asked him to substitute Lance Parrish as a cleanup hitter, posting a career-high 28 home runs to go with a career-high.343 batting average (ranking third in the AL). In addition, Trammell was one of the top players in several other AL offensive categories: third in hits (205), fifth in total bases (329), fifth in first-base percentage (.551), and tied for fifth in game-winning RBI (16). He batted.416 with six home runs and 17 RBI in September, putting up an 18-game hitting streak in which he reached.457, and his team took the AL East division lead against the Toronto Blue Jays on the penultimate day of the season. He was the first Tiger to hit 100 runs and 100 RBI in the same season since Al Kaline did it in 1955. Trammell made history by becoming the first shortstop to reach at least.340 with 20+ home runs and 100+ RBI in a season in big league history. Despite his efforts, Trammell came in second place in the MVP poll (332–311). Whitaker's second base, on which he had written: 1988 Most Valuable Player, Alan Trammell, 1987.

Trammell made a.311 season in 1988, but a stint on the disabled list limited him to 128 games.

Trammell suffered a lengthy series of injuries during his last year, his lowest output in 146 games was reduced. Trammell was limited to 101 games in 1991 due to knee and ankle injuries. He appeared in 29 games before breaking his right ankle and missing the remainder of the 1992 season. He was.329 in a resurgent 1993 season, but he was ineligible to be ranked among the AL batting champions because he had only had 447 plate appearances. Trammell played 76 games in his first five seasons in his first 13 seasons as the first 13 seasons of his career, averaging 140 games. Trammell was used at shortstop from 1993 to 1996, but eventually Chris Gomez and Andr Cedeo saw less time at shortstop. He now saw time at various defensive positions, including shortstop, third base, second base, left field, and designated hitter. Trammell retired in 1996 after a successful run.

Trammell batted over.300 seven times in his 20-year career, ending with a career average of.285 and 185 runs, 412 stolen bases, and 885 walks in 2,293 games. He had a 97 percent fielding percentage at shortstop, his primary position. Trammell played for Detroit (1999, hitting coach), the San Diego Padres (2000–2002, first base coach), and the Tigers (1995–2005). Under former teammate Kirk Gibson, he served as the bench coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks before returning to the Tigers in late 2014 as a special assistant to the general manager.

In 2001, Trammell was ranked as the ninth-best shortstop of all time in "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract," putting him higher than fourteen Hall of Fame shortstops. Trammell's bid for the Hall of Fame in subsequent years received increasing support from the sabermetric community. He received the following percentage of votes in his first 12 years of eligibility: 15.7% (2005), 16.9% (2004), 15.6 (2009), and 20.8% (2014). His rise in later years was likely due to voters being more open to advanced metrics, such as WAR (Wins over replacement).

Trammell was on his 15th and final ballot in 2016, but he was unable to earn enough money to warrant induction. Trammell was one of the last candidates to vote on the ballot for 15 years after the BBWAA limited eligibility to ten years, and the Veterans Committee Expansion will be considered beginning in 2017. He and his colleague Jack Morris were elected to the Modern Baseball Committee on December 10, 2017, together with his colleague Jack Morris. They were inducted in July 2018.

Trammell was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

Alan Trammell's jersey number 3 was retired by the Tigers in a ball on August 26, 2018. In left-center field at Comerica Park, his name and number were included, as well as Charlie Gehringer (#2), Hank Greenberg (#5), Al Kaline (#6), Willie Horton (#23), Ty Cobb (no number), and new 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

Alan Trammell was appointed as the head of a struggling Tigers team on October 9, 2002. In his first season in 2003, the team lost 119 games, an American League record, before winning a record of 72–90 in 2004. The team's record fell just a little during the 2005 season, finishing 71-91. The Tigers compiled a record of 186–300 during Trammell's three years as boss.

Detroit close to beating the current MLB record of 120 losses set by the expansion New York Mets (1962–120) in 1962. To prevent the comparison, the Tigers have won five of their last six games.

Trammell was fired by the Tigers on October 3, 2005, after three seasons in which the team failed to post a winning record. On October 4, 2005, Jim Leyland replaced Trammell. Leyland led Detroit to a 24-game improvement in the regular season, an AL pennant, and a World Series appearance in 2006. Although some media critiques of Trammell's leadership style and "nice" demeanor, others claim he was a rookie manager in charge of a team that was severely lacking in personnel, and that his managerial stint played a vital role in re-instilling confidence and pride in the Detroit organization. Leyland attributed a measure of the Tigers' 2006 postseason triumph to Trammell's efforts three years ago.

Trammell appeared in Comerica Park for the first time since his firing to participate, as well as Sparky Anderson in pregame festivities leading up to Game 2 of the World Series in October 2006. Trammell was greeted by Detroit baseball fans after taking the field.

Trammell, who had been promoted to Leyland, turned down a bid to remain with the Tigers as a special assistant, opting to wait out 2006. In October 2006, he decided to work with the Chicago Cubs as a bench coach for the 2007 season, possibly a precursor to a major league team's return to management.

Trammell was the Chicago Cubs' acting manager during Lou Piniella's four-game suspension in 2007.

When Lou Piniella retired midway through the 2010 season, Trammell was passed over for the Cubs' managerial position.

In October 2010, Trammell was named bench coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks, replacing his former teammate Kirk Gibson, who had earlier been named coach. Gibson had previously been Trammell's bench and hitting coach with the Tigers. Gibson and Dodge were fired on September 26, 2014, but Trammell stayed on for the final three games of the season to serve as the interim boss. In those three games, he had a record of one win and two losses.

Trammell would return to Detroit as a special assistant to Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski on November 3, 2014. Trammell will continue to work as a special assistant to Al Avila, the incoming Tigers' general manager. Trammell served as interim first-base coach during the 2015 season when Omar Vizquel briefly left the team on bereavement leave. At this time, Ian Kinsler was wearing Trammell's familiar #3.

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