Alan Trammell

Alan Stuart Trammell (/ˈtræmɛl/ TRAM-el; born February 21, 1958) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, manager, and coach. He is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for the Detroit Tigers for the entirety of his 20-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB). Trammell has served as a special assistant to the general manager of the Detroit Tigers since the 2014 season.

Trammell won the 1984 World Series championship over his hometown San Diego Padres, earning Series MVP honors. His team also won an American League East division championship in 1987. Although his arm was not overpowering, he had a quick release and made accurate throws, ultimately winning four Gold Glove awards. Trammell's defense perfectly complemented his double-play partner, Lou Whitaker. The two formed the longest continuous double-play combination in major league history, playing 19 seasons together. At the plate, Trammell was one of the best-hitting shortstops of his era and won three Silver Slugger awards.

Trammell later served as the Tigers' manager from 2003 through 2005. He also served as the interim manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks during the final three games of the 2014 season. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Trammell attended Kearny High School in San Diego, California and played American Legion Baseball. He was named the 1989 American Legion Graduate of the Year.

The Detroit Tigers selected him in the second round of the 1976 MLB draft. While playing for the Tigers' farm team in Montgomery of the Southern League, Trammell played his first game with teammate Lou Whitaker before the two infielders were promoted, making their major league debut at Fenway Park together, during the second game of a double-header on September 9, 1977, the first of nineteen seasons together. Both players became regulars at their positions the following season.

Trammell batted .300 in 1980 as he made the All-Star team for the first time. In 1983, he batted .319 with 14 home runs, 66 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases. Having hit .258 in both 1981 and 1982, Trammell won the 1983 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award in the American League (AL).

Trammell and Whitaker made a cameo appearance on the television show Magnum, P.I., starring Tom Selleck, during the 1983 season. Selleck's character was a Tigers fan, as is Selleck himself.

The Tigers enjoyed a championship-winning season in 1984, when they started the season 35–5 and led the AL wire-to-wire en route to winning the World Series. Despite a season-long battle with tendinitis in his shoulder that caused him to miss 23 regular season games, Trammell finished fifth in the AL batting race with a .314 mark and ranked eighth in on-base percentage (.382). In the AL Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals, he hit .364 with one home run and three RBI. Finally, in the World Series, he hit .450 (9-for-20) against the San Diego Padres, including a pair of two-run home runs that accounted for all of the Tigers' scoring in a Game 4 victory. Detroit won the series 4–1, and Trammell was named World Series MVP.