Trammell’s love for Detroit kept him with the Tigers
After 18 seasons with the Detroit Tigers – most of which were spent as the team’s starting shortstop – Alan Trammell didn’t have anything left to prove.
But his love for the game and the Motor City still burned bright.
On April 8, 1995, Trammell re-signed with the Tigers as baseball got back to business following a seven-month work stoppage. The move came simultaneously with another signing as Kirk Gibson also returned to the Tigers.
Both Trammell and Gibson, who were entering what would be their 12th-and-final season as Tigers teammates, agreed to one-year deals worth $1.3 million.
“Once Gibson signed, I knew Tram would be a cinch,” Tigers manager Sparky Anderson told the Detroit Free Press. “They’re pretty close.”
Trammell debuted with the Tigers in 1977 and became the team’s starting shortstop the following year. Gibson joined the Tigers in 1979, and in 1984 the duo was part of a core that led Detroit to the World Series title – with Trammell winning the Most Valuable Player Award.
Gibson, however, left the Tigers via free agency following the 1987 season before returning in 1993. Trammell, meanwhile, remained in Detroit and accumulated six All-Star Game selections, four Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards in his first 13 full seasons.
After playing for a contract worth $3 million in 1994, however, Trammell was asked to take a pay cut. The Tigers’ first offer was one year for $1 million, something Trammell said was “certainly something I didn’t want to sign right away.”
But when the Tigers sweetened the offer, Trammell returned to the only big league team he had known.
“My deal is fair,” said Trammell, who turned 37 years old that February. “Will it be my final year? It could be. Very well could be.”
Chris Gomez had displaced Trammell as Detroit’s starting shortstop in May 1994, but Trammell remained valuable as a bench bat. In 74 games in 1995, Trammell batted .269 with a .345 on-base percentage while hitting 12 doubles and driving home 23 runs.
He returned to the Tigers for one final season in 1996, ending his career with 2,365 hits, a .285 batting average, 412 doubles, 185 home runs and 1,003 RBI.
Trammell’s 70.7 Wins Above Replacement figure ranks seventh all-time among players who appeared in at least 75 percent of their games at shortstop.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
“I don’t know that I was great in any one area, but I was good in a lot of them,” Trammell said after his final big league game. “I knew I could play.”
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
