Portal:Baseball/Selected player
Alan Trammell (born February 21, 1958, in Garden Grove, California) is an American professional baseball shortstop and manager, best known for having played all of his 20 Major League Baseball seasons with the Detroit Tigers franchise; for having, over his career, been a six-time All-Star Game selection, three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a strong defensive infielder, having, alongside second baseman and double play partner Lou Whitaker, won four Gold Glove Awards, becoming part of one of just nine middle infielder duos of which both members won a Gold Glove in the same season; and for having helped the Tigers to the 1984 World Series championship and the 1987 American League East division championship.
Having been selected by the Tigers in the second round of the 1976 First-Year Entry Draft, Trammell debuted in 1977 with the Montgomery Rebels, the Tigers' class AA minor league Southern League affiliate, teaming with Whitaker, with whom he would eventually play an American League-record 1,918, to lead the Biscuits to the league championship before earning a callup to the Tigers' 40-man roster for 19 games, making his major league debut on September 9 at Fenway Park, playing field pictured at left, against the Boston Red Sox.
Trammell earned a place on the roster after spring training in 1978 and appeared in 139 games, ultimately finishing fifth in voting for the Rookie of the Year Award, garnered by Whitaker. After having played 142 games during the 1979 season, during which he struck six home runs and batted in 50 runs, stole 17 bases, putout 245 baserunners, and registered 388 assists, achieving a .961 fielding percentage, Trammell compiled a breakout 1980 season, posting a .300 batting average and a .980 fielding percentage en route to winning the Gold Glove Award at shortstop, earning selection as a reserve to the American League All-Star team, and finishing fifth in the American League in runs scored.
Trammell would again win the Gold Glove in 1981, despite having played just 105 games, and in 1983, when he struck 15 sacrifice hits to lead the American League and compiled a .385 on-base percentage (eighth in the American League), finishing fifteenth in voting undertaken by the Baseball Writers' Association of America for the Most Valuable Player Award, finishing behind only Whitaker and catcher Lance Parrish amongst Tigers players.
In 1984, Trammell's emergence coincided with that of the Tigers, as the team won 104 regular season games, outscoring opponents by 186 runs over the course of the season, and permitting the Kansas City Royals to score just four runs over three games as the Tigers swept the best-of-five-game American League Championship Series before defeating the San Diego Padres in five games to claim the 1984 World Series title. During the season, Trammell posted a .314 batting average and struck 14 home runs while making just ten errors, winning the Gold Glove Award for his fourth time and All-Star honors for the second time before registering a 1.300 on-base percentage plus slugging average to earn the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.