Baseball Hall of Fame Has No Excuse to Keep Lou Whitaker Out Again This Year

At long last, Detroit Tigers great Lou Whitaker celebrated his double play partner Alan Trammell's induction into Cooperstown via the Veterans Committee in 2018.

Now, it's his time to get a chance (though...wasn't it his time a decade ago?).

Lou Whitaker is back on the Hall of Fame's Modern Era ballot. He should have been elected years ago. https://t.co/TMAYAQH90v via @freep
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 4, 2019

The 2020 Veterans Committee ballot was released, and by all metrics, Whitaker headlines the group. He played 19 seasons, all with the Tigers, and over the course of his career he was the 1978 AL Rookie of the Year, a five-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover and four-time Silver Slugger.

We're talking about one of the greatest second baseman that ever played, and yet he lasted just one year on the ballot in 2001, receiving just 2.9% of the vote.

If there's anyone on the ballot that advanced metrics were especially kind to, it's the underrated Whitaker.

Lou Whitaker had a higher career WAR than Craig Biggio, more HRs than Roberto Alomar, and a better OPS+ than Ryne Sandberg. Despite that, he received just 2.9% of the vote in his only year on the ballot https://t.co/TY8OwTeEoh
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) November 4, 2019

His short tenure in the eligible voting ranks is a crime, and with all due respect to Harold Baines, who was voted in by the Today's Game committee last year, there's no doubt that Whitaker should get into Cooperstown if that's the bar he has to clear.

The Hall of Fame is about telling the history of the game, and you can't do that without mentioning arguably one of the greatest double play combos we've ever seen, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. We're halfway there, and completing the honor is past due