For as fondly as the 1984 Tigers are remembered around here, one might think they'd get a little more love at Comerica Park.
Sure, Alan Trammell and Jack Morris have their numbers retired on the brick wall in left center field, but how about a big, shiny statue or two?
Six Tigers have been immortalized in this fashion -- Willie Horton, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Al Kaline, Hal Newhouser and Ty Cobb -- each deservedly so. But not a single one comes from the club's most recent World Series winner.
Now that Trammell and Morris are in the Hall of Fame, they're likely next in line. That said, Trammell and his longtime double-play partner Lou Whitaker would look pretty good in bronze themselves. And they know it.
"I’m hoping that Jack has his own. This is just my dream, but if they do a statue, that it would obviously be of Lou and I," Trammell told 97.1 The Ticket's podcast The Time That. "I mean, that’s the way it should be, because we are known and we’re linked forever. That would be my dream. Again, I’m willing to wait a little bit, but hopefully someday that’ll happen."
At that, Whitaker chimed in.
"The thing is, Tramm, my thing is, get what you deserve now. Why wait for anything? Just like the Hall of Fame. You deserve to be there, you go. Don’t wait for others to say something. Put some glue to it," said Whitaker.
"To this point, Lou has been close. The first thing is, we need to get him on the ballot. But I still believe that in my heart, in a short period of time, Lou Whitaker will be part of the Hall of Fame as well," Trammell said.
Whitaker, who according to Baseball-Reference has a higher career WAR (75.1) than such Hall of Fame second basemen as Ryne Sandberg (68), Roberto Alomar (67.1) and Craig Biggio (65.5), not to mention Trammell (70.7), probably belongs there. But on this matter, Whitaker won't campaign for himself.
"It's just like sometimes when I heard little kids playing baseball and everybody has to have a trophy. Well, that doesn’t really teach people how to work to be No. 1," Whitaker said. "That means you can be a loser and still be rewarded. That’s not the way I play baseball. The game is played to win. Winners receive the honors, you know what I mean? ...
"My love was to play the game. I never walked around and said, 'One day I’m going to be a Hall of Famer.' I never said that. That’s for others to decide. They always say, 'Let others brag about your accomplishments.' You don’t have to toot your own horn."
Other highlights from Trammell's and Whitaker's interview:
"My thing," said Whitaker, "was going into the clubhouse, going into the trainer’s room with my bottle of champagne. I had my second daughter that morning, so it always relates. If I see this particular daughter, Sarah, she was born the day we won the World Series. I mean, what an honor. Same day. That goes good together, like biscuits and gravy."
"I go by there as often as I can, to be honest with you," Trammell said."Even though it’s not there, the memories are still very vivid, and hopefully those I’ll never forget. It's a very, very special place. But most people’s reaction when they see it, is, 'Wow, that place is small.' When you think about the way ballparks were built back then, it was straight up, not back, so obviously it was smaller as far as the acreage that it took up. But it was a beautiful ballpark. I loved playing there. It felt like baseball to me, when you played at Tiger Stadium."