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'Overwhelmed' Alan Trammell honored to represent Tigers in Cooperstown

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“I really suspect that for Tiger fans all around the country, it meant a lot to them for one of us to get in,” he said. “Now they have two.”
ORLANDO, Fla. — Alan Trammell’s flight was due to land here at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, about 10 minutes before the Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled the results of the Modern Era Committee ballot.
Even a slight delay would mean that Trammell might be the last to know.
But the plane was on time, taxied to the terminal and passengers were beginning to disembark when Trammell got the phone call.
“What a phone call,” he said.
Trammell and Detroit Tigers teammate Jack Morris were selected to the Hall of Fame Sunday after years of falling short — sometimes just short — on the traditional writers’ ballot.
When they’re enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y., on July 29, Trammell and Morris will become the first members of the 1984 World Series champions to make the Hall and the first players to go in as Tigers since Al Kaline was inducted in 1980.
“I am still overwhelmed,” said Trammell, who said he had to rein in his emotions while surrounded by people on the airplane Sunday. “I know that word has been used a lot in these circumstances, but I don’t know anyway other to describe this.”
When Trammell failed to make the Hall in 2016 after his 15th and final year on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, he resigned himself to the fact that he would probably not get in.
“I came to the realization that it might not happen. And I was OK with that. I really was,” he said. “I know that I could play. If people felt that (my career) was just a tad short, I could live with that.”
Thirteen voters on the 16-person Modern Era committee decided otherwise.
“Now I can turn that page,” Trammell said. “If I’m a utility infielder on a Hall of Fame All-Star team, I’m OK with that.”
Morris received 14 votes, also reaching the 75 percent threshold. Detroit native Ted Simmons, who was born in Highland Park and grew up in Southfield, received 11 votes, falling just short.
Lou Whitaker, Trammell’s longtime double-play partner, was not on the 10-man ballot.
“We’re hoping that at some point in time, Lou Whitaker will be with us (in Cooperstown),” said Trammell, who shared a congratulatory phone call with Morris shortly after the news was announced.
Even without Whitaker, the 1984 Tigers will now go from zero to two representatives in the Hall.
“I really suspect that for Tiger fans all around the country, it meant a lot to them for one of us to get in,” he said. “Now they have two.”
Morris played for three different teams after his tenure with the Tigers ended, most notably as an important part of the 1991 World Series-winning Minnesota Twins.
Trammell spent 20 years in baseball, all with the Tigers. He later coached and managed in Detroit and is now a special assistant with the team.
“I’m proud to have been a Tiger for my entire career,” he said. “There’s not many guys who can look on the back of their baseball card and see one team. That might not mean a lot to some people, but it means a heck of a lot to me.”

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