Tigers not in Hall

[tsperti]

I came across an interesting book by Rob Neyer in Barnes and Noble the other day regarding best players for each team he included and interesting footnote about Detroit Tigers. Namely that Detroit has had some good/great player who have been ignored by the BBWA and VC. The two most obvious are Tram and Lou who were dominant players at their position for at least a decade, yet are either no longer on the ballot or soon to disappear.

Thoughts/arguments/other players who have been ignored?

[Gee Walker]

Bill Freehan was the best catcher in the American League during the 1960's. He was the best catcher in baseball between the decline of Elston Howard and the rise of Johnny Bench, around 1965-68. He played on 11 All-Star teams and was second in one MVP voting, third in another. And his name is less recognizable today than Paul LoDuca...

Freehan is second on my list of neglected Tigers due for the Hall of Fame, after Tram and before Lou. You could make a weaker case for guys like Lance Parrish, Jack Morris, and going back a long time, Tommy Bridges and Bobby Veach.

If you drop the Hall of Fame entry to the level of its bottom players and pitchers, then lots of Tigers would qualify, among them Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, Harvey Kuenn, Norm Cash, Bill Donovan, and probably some others that I can't remember. But I definitely don't want to go there, because then there'd be around 1000 players in the Hall of Fame.

[Sooperdon]

The Rodney Dangerfields of baseball.

It doesn't suprise me that Tigers are being ignored by the powers that be. I remember in 1984 I watched This Week In Baseball religiously every week and the Tigers were almost completely ignored the whole season. Mell Allen would rave endlessly about his beloved Yankees and then very quickly say,"In second place right behind the red hot Detroit Tigers."

[Captain Cold Nose]

It doesn't suprise me that Tigers are being ignored by the powers that be. I remember in 1984 I watched This Week In Baseball religiously every week and the Tigers were almost completely ignored the whole season. Mell Allen would rave endlessly about his beloved Yankees and then very quickly say,"In second place right behind the red hot Detroit Tigers."

I thought the Blue Jays were in second most of the year.

We didn't have cable yet, so I don't really remember how ESPN covered the Tigers that year. They didn't have their baseball contract at the time, so it probably wasn't that much fir anyone. I don't recall much on TWIB, either, though. And no Tiger certainly appeared on the Baseball Bunch. But they did show the WKRP episode with Sparky Anderson on it a bit. He was the Reds manager when the episode was made, though.

The one thing I don't remember is much HOF talk for any Tiger during the 80's. As much talk as there is now with the likes of Neyer and the saber ilk, at the time, the Tigers were acknowledged as being loaded with good players but not superstars. That's how the 80's were, in general, which is getting reflected in the voting.