1/21/01-
Detroit Tiger Lou Whitaker Punished Last week the results of the Hall of Fame (HOF) voting were released. No Detroit Tigers got the requisite amount of votes for election to the Hall of Fame. In fact three Tigers (Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker) received so few votes that they will be dropped form future consideration. Among these players, the fact that Lou Whitaker received so few votes is a crime. During his career, Whitaker did not have the best relationship with sports writers. He wasn't an easy interview and didn't enjoy dealing with reporters. Apparently this lack of media accessibility has cost Whitaker any chance of entering the Hall of Fame. He received so few votes from sportswriters that he can't even be considered by the veteran's committee, which has the power to elect players overlooked by the media. Many will say that Whitaker didn't have the stats to enter the hall. Well consider these statistics:
These are the average season statistics for four second baseman. Three are in the Hall of Fame and one isn't. Can you pick the loser? The loser had the highest fielding percentage, the highest batting average, and averaged more home runs and RBI's per season.
Among these players, Morgan had the good fortune of playing for the Cincinnati Reds, one of the premier teams of the 1970's. But the hall of the fame is for individual statistics not for team achievements. Morgan did win two MVP awards but if you look at his statistics for those season they are good years but not great. More importantly Morgan is considered a great guy and went into broadcasting after his career. It must has been easy for the baseball media to elect one of the their own. Evers had the good fortune to be elected for his defensive fame. He was part of the famous double play combination Tinkers-Evers to Chance immortalized in the early 1900's. Schoendienst had the best batting average among the four and was elected to the hall by the veteran's committee. Which leaves Whitaker, who played great defensive baseball and swung a potent bat, out of Cooperstown. Baseball is a game of numbers and statistics. There's no doubt some players have entered the Hall with less than stellar credentials, but when standards of admission are influenced by the personality of the player that's just wrong. With similar statistics Morgan was elected with 81% of the vote while Whitaker only received 5% of the vote. What were the sports writers thinking? The biggest disgrace is how Detroit Sportswriters are failing to support Whitaker. It's clear that they are punishing him for being a tough interview. Here are the final career statistics Evers, Morgan, Whitaker, and Schoendienst. If you ever visit Cooperstown think of Lou Whitaker...
Go Blue! |
