The Tigers' hot start to the season got me thinking that it was time to present this inevitable hero from the pantheon. I have a minor shrine to the man in my home, with an autographed 8x10, a replica jersey, Sports Illustrated back issues with Trammell on the cover, a slew of his baseball cards, and even two Trammell action figures!
Here's why he's so enshrined:
He batted .300 or better in seven different seasons.
He was a six-time American League All-Star.
He won the Gold Glove at shortstop four different times.
He was awarded the World Series MVP award in 1984, when the Tigers won their only championship of my lifetime.
He should have won the regular season MVP award when he carried the Tigers over the Blue Jays in the American League East pennant race. (If you want my full, vitriolic tirade about the absolute cosmic wrongness of George Bell's winning the award that year, email me and I'll fill you in...)
And he hit a bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam home run to beat the Yankees at a game I attended with my father, when I was 14 years old.
And he was always a gentleman, graceful and kind on and off the field.
Why is this man not in the baseball Hall of Fame?
1 comment:
Hey - thanks for the comment left on my blog a while back. Since that tenure letter came in, I have for the most part, begun to relax a bit and pay attention to the rest of life! All the best with your 'pursuit'. What worked for me was to just do my best and let the results fall wherever the fell. I know it sounds rediculously simple minded - but I never once was really very anxious about "getting tenured" and just tried to stay out in front of it all. Go Tigers!
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