With Trammell, Morris in, Sweet Lou awaits Hall

DETROIT -- Give Lou Whitaker credit: He's always had a good awareness of the field around him.
As the Tigers great scanned the swarm of reporters crowded into an interview room behind the press box at Comerica Park, Whitaker knew the question that was bound to come up. So while Sunday was Trammell's day and Whitaker talked glowingly about his longtime double-play partner, he also gave a nod to the elephant in the room with a little icebreaker.
• Trammell's No. 3 immortalized at Comerica
"I have no control over it," Whitaker said over the possibility of his own Hall of Fame induction and his number being retired at Comerica Park. "I can go out there and paint my name out there. If you see paint on the wall tonight beside Tram, they'll come looking for Lou. And Lou will be gone."
Whitaker was not hard to find on Sunday. He was among the handful of 1984 World Series champion Tigers sitting near Trammell during the pregame ceremonies, and he spoke briefly along with Kirk Gibson about his longtime teammate.
This summer has been a vindication of sorts for the 1984 team, which until now had been represented in the Hall of Fame only by its manager, Sparky Anderson. While one player after another fell short on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, the Baseball Hall of Fame's Modern Era Committee -- a group of peers from that same era -- took care of that in its first year of voting under the Hall's new format.
The hope for many is that the committee, which voted for induction for Trammell and Jack Morris last December, will come looking for Whitaker when it meets again in two years. After all, Trammell and Whitaker were so naturally intertwined in their playing careers, a double-play combination for 19 seasons from the September night they made their Major League debuts in 1977. No players turned more double plays together in Major League history.

"To me, that's the dream story," Trammell said, "and it's still something that can happen. It might not be exactly the way that I was hoping for initially, but that's a moot point."
As Trammell has received his glory over the past eight months, he has made a point to put in a plug for Whitaker, something he did during his 15 years on the BBWAA ballot as well. He has tried to make this a celebration as a group, and he heaped praise upon his partner Sunday.
Individually, they both have a strong case. Trammell's 70.7 bWAR ranks 93rd all-time, while his defensive WAR of 22.7 ranks 33rd. Whitaker's 75.1 bWAR ranks 78th all-time, and he would have topped the list of finalists on last fall's Modern Era Committee to consider had he made it.
With three Detroit players under consideration, however, someone was likely to miss out. It ended up being Whitaker, who might have suffered from the recency effect. While Morris and Trammell lasted 15 years on the ballot, Whitaker lasted only one year, garnering votes on just 2.9 percent of the ballots in 2001.

"Am I supposed to be mad? Am I supposed to be envious," Whitaker asked aloud. "We were a shortstop/second-base combination. But that's life sometimes. … Jack's in. Tram's in. I'll wait my turn. …
"Patience, patience, patience. What can I say? The thing is to be realistic."
Whitaker has the respect of the player currently wearing his number. As Sunday's ceremony ended and he walked toward the Tigers' dugout, shortstop José Iglesias met him and offered his glove to Whitaker to catch Trammell's ceremonial first pitch. Whitaker tried it on and looked so natural wearing it, he could've passed it off as his own.
Then Iglesias -- who has worn No. 1 since he joined Detroit in 2013 -- posed for a photo on the field with Whitaker and Trammell.
"I'm proud that he's starting to get some recognition a little bit more," Trammell said, "because the love that Lou has not received, it bothers me. And whatever you want to call it, I'm shocked, and hopefully, maybe this will help get a little momentum. I meant what I said, that I hope he's in the Hall of Fame soon and that he also has his number retired here at Comerica Park."
If and when it happens, the next question likely to come up will be whether to honor Trammell and Whitaker together with a statue denoting their double-play history.
"If there was a statue, don't you think it would be appropriate that it would be both of us? I mean, I do," Trammell said. "Now, whether or not it happens, nobody has spoken to me, and I'm not trying to push the issue. But you're asking me a question, and if it ever happened, to me, that would be the way to do it."