One of the top all-around 2nd baseman in baseball history Lou Whitaker was an offensive force while playing 2nd base for 19 years with the Detroit Tigers. Whitaker lined over 2,200 hits, scored over 1,300 runs, hit 243 home runs and drove in 1,084 runs. He teamed with shortstop Alan Trammell to form one of the finest double play combinations in baseball history. In 1983, 'Sweet Lou' Whitaker turned in a sterling season as he and teammate Trammell became the first pair of middle infielders to bat over .300 in the same season in more than 30 years. Whitaker hit a stunning .320 mark, while Trammell trailed by a single point. The last middle infielders to come even close was Luke Appling who hit .308 and Cass Michaels, .301, for the Chicago White Sox in 1949. Whitaker ranks as one of the top all-around American League second baseman in the late 1970's through the early 1990's. |