Lou Whitaker: Forever Young in Our Memories...and Collections
Can Laser Show bring some focus back to Sweet Lou?
1996 Upper Deck Lou Whitaker (#107) - Card of the Day
Dustin Pedroia is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year, and there are plenty of folks who think he belongs — despite a career cut way short by injuries. It’s not too hard to see the rationale, either.
With a career batting line of .299 with 140 home runs, 725 RBI, 138 stolen bases, 1805 hits, and 394 doubles, plus four Gold Gloves, Pedroia put up 51.9 WAR (Baseball Reference version). Add in four All-Star appearances, Rookie of the Year and MVP awards, and two World Series rings with the Boston Red Sox, and you have a career most players would kill for.
Overall, Baseball Reference ranks Laser Show as the 19th best second baseman in baseball history, by measure of JAWs. Considering that 20 men at the position have already been enshrined, can you really leave Pedroia out?
Well…Lou Whitaker might have some thoughts on that.
The long-time Detroit Tigers standout ranks 13th in those same positional standings, yet he fell off the BBWAA ballot after just one year, receiving only 2.9% of the votes in 2001. He bumped that to 37.5% on his lone Veterans Committee ballot, in 2020, which is still just half of what he needs for enshrinement.
But take a look at Whitaker’s record, and it’s hard to understand how Pedroia and some of the men already elected (Craig Biggio, Bobby Doerr, Nellie Fox, etc.) have a better Hall case.
Starting with his Rookie of the Year award in 1978 and continuing through to the end of his career in 1995, Whitaker was better than league average at the plate every season except 1980. Most years, he was way above average and regularly hit 15-20 home runs, with 70-80 RBI and could go off for double-digit steals any given summer.
The bat was good enough to win four Silver Slugger awards, the leather good enough for three Gold Gloves, and the package good enough for five All-Star berths. And, of course, Whitaker was a cornerstone (keystone!) for that great 1984 Tigers team that romped to a World Series title.
All told, Whitaker put up a batting line of .276 with 2369 hits, 244 HR, 1084 RBI, 1386 runs scored, and 143 steals. The sum total of his efforts adds up to 75.1 WAR by BR’s reckoning, which is seventh among all second basemen. Ahead of him are Rogers Hornsby, Eddie Collins, Nap Lajoie, Joe Morgan, Charlie Gehringer, and Rod Carew. Just behind Whitaker is Frankie Frisch.
The one thing those other seven men have in common? Yeah, they’re all Hall of Famers.
Collectors have always appreciated Whitaker’s talents, and his cardboard, though maybe not quite as much as we should have. He never had the type of flashy seasons that propelled Ryne Sandberg and even Biggio to hobby stardom, and he fell short of some of the career milestones that might have cinched his plaque and more widespread accolades for his cardboard.
Still, Whitacker was a constant in our collections from start to finish, and even after. Because, even though he announced his retirement partway through the 1995 season, several companies released cards of Whitaker in 1996.
That means we have a whole suite of Sweet Lou career-cappers to help us remember his greatness. And for most of us, the Upper Deck card above hits the sweet spot of our memory.
After all, in our minds and hearts, Whitaker and all the rest of our baseball heroes will remain forever young…and Young at Heart.
It makes no sense for Lou Rod not to be in the HOF, especially with Alan Trammell getting in. I do think he gets in at some point, which will also be a nice boost for those 1978 and 1979 sets. Great article!