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"They could have given me any number. They could have given me number one-hundred one. The number is nothing. I could have played my whole career without a number
on my back, and it still wouldn’t have changed the person.” Source: The Detroit News (Tom Gage, 02/20/2004)
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"Lou Whitaker enjoyed his share of individual glory. His 2,308 games as Tigers second baseman was 102 more than Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer, who, like Whitaker, spent his entire 19-year career in Detroit. He joined the Hall of Famer Joe Morgan as only the second player to log 2,000 games at second with 2,000 hits and 200 home runs. Nevertheless, Whitaker will best be remembered for teaming up with shortstop Alan Trammell for an American League record 1,918 games." - The Biographical Encyclopedia of Baseball (2000)
"Lou Whitaker was a gold glove second baseman who performed near the top of his
position for nearly two decades, and teamed with Alan Trammell to form the
longest running double play combination in history. Whitaker was a leadoff man
with power, decent speed, and good pitch-selection at the plate. His arm was
considered one of the best in the game and he was adept at making the pivot.
'Sweet Lou' made plays look so easy he was often accused of being lackadaisical." - theBASEBALLpage.com (website)
"Most of your readers (on ESPN.com), I suspect, have some idea how I think, because we often
reason along the same lines. Are people surprised that Bobby Grich and Lou
Whitaker rate ahead of Billy Herman and Nellie Fox? I suppose some people are,
yes. I rated Stan Hack ahead of Pie Traynor; that's certainly not a consensus
pick. I rated Alan Trammell ahead of Pee Wee Reese, Jim Fregosi ahead of Maury
Wills." - Historian / Author Bill James (An Interview with Bill James, 11/15/2003)
"With Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker formed a keystone combination of longevity
unsurpassed in baseball history. Yet, Whitaker was in sharp contrast to
Trammell. Whitaker's seemingly effortless play left him open to criticism." - BaseballLibrary.com (website)
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