Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and Larry Walker. Three players, one amazing double-play combo, one excellent hitter.
Larry Walker was constantly disrespected by sportswriters and assorted idiots because he played the prime of his career in Colorado, along with Dante Bichette, who was a bit of a jerk; Vinny Castilla, who wasn't really all that good until he got to Colorado; and Andres Galarraga, who needed only Coors Field to jump start his career and produce runs, and probably would be a more viable candidate for the Hall of fame were he not attacked by cancer. Todd Helton would come along later and fight his own battle to be recognized as a legit potential great.
Walker had a career line of .313-383-1,311. And of course I bring that up because people will point to that and say 1) those are not hall-of-fame numbers and 2) those are inflated by playing at Coors Field.
So when I bring up Mel Ott and the fact that he played at the Polo Grounds, where it was 258 feet to right field, and the fact that none of his homers, obviously, were to center field, there's a giant outcry: You can't compare Larry Walker to Mel Ott!
Why not? The argument is virtually the same. Ott never had to prove it anywhere but at the Polo Grounds, and he hit 323 of his 511 there. Not to mention Ott played in an offense-oriented era, as did Walker, and this made the exploits of Dizzy Dean all the more remarkable. But more on that some other time.
But if you're going to penalize Walker for playing in the most power-laden era in the history of baseball, steroids or no steroids (which there's no evidence Walker ever did), then you sure as hell have to penalize Ott for playing at the Polo Grounds, Duke Snider for playing at Ebbets Field, etc, etc.
Speaking of Ebbets Field, I think it is absolutely a crime that Gil Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame. Of all the people currently not in Cooperstown, instead of wasting all your energy and ink on Pete Rose and listening to Joe Morgan tell you how good Dave Concepcion is, how about Gil Hodges? If his exploits as a player aren't good enough—and they should be by any real standard, given by someone who doesn't have a severe case of cranial-rectal disease— then how about his performance as a manager?
Now, maybe people are saying Walker never won a ring. True. But, uh, there's this guy that comes up for eligibilty in a few years, a well-known steroid monstrosity who probably will get voted into the Hall of Fame and who got hosed by his manager at the time, a certain Dr. Salvador, the same idiot who believes that OBP is no good unless you can run. Regardless, he still never won a thing. So that argument doesn't work.
Also, Walker was a good player in Montreal, in one of the ugliest "domed" stadiums I've ever seen in my life and hope to never see again. Larry Walker should get into the Hall of Fame. He has the numbers, but...
He won't get voted in. I guarantee it. And that puts things in the hands of the Veterans Committee.
Ah, yes, the Veterans Committee. The same VC headed by...Joe Morgan. Have you figured out that I hate Joe Morgan yet? No? Well, you should have by now.
Here's the thing: in an old Dilbert strip when Dilbert was still good, Ratbert asks Dogbert for advice on how to be successful. Dogbert gives Ratbert ridiculous advice, and then, in a thought bubble, says, "beware the advice of successful people; they do not seek company."
That's what the VC is like. After yet another year of not selecting anyone for the Hall of Fame, it's getting really tiresome.
So let's revise the rules for the last time. Force the VC to select people. A minimum of two per season. Stop with this garbage about not electing people. Because there's plenty of people who deserve to be there, and quite a few who are in who don't belong there.
Now, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance got into the Hall of Fame because of Franklin Pierce Adams. So why not do the same thing for a highly deserving double-play combo, one who hit 244 career homers, drove in 1,084 runs, won three Gold Gloves in what was basically the Frank White invitational, and made five ASGs; and the other, who was one of the 20 best shortstops ever, and these two were together nearly 20 YEARS. They won a World Series, so that takes care of that.
Personally, I think that these two guys should go in together. Who cares where they played? Detroit wasn't exactly a giant pit—well, not when they played—and where you played shouldn't really count against you; just how. Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker belong in the Hall of Fame. Right next to each other. The way it should be.
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