Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

8-26-90 Sunday. Two Detroit Tigers are doing well enough to warrant a comment. Cecil Fielder, who played last year [sic; should be “a year ago”] in Japan before signing a contract with the Tigers, has hit forty-one home runs and driven in 108 runs already this season. At the rate he’s going, and he’s been consistent all season, he’ll hit more than fifty home runs and drive in 130. [He hit 51 home runs and drove in 132.] Needless to say, both figures lead all of baseball. Alan Trammell, one of my favorite players because of his grittiness and love of the game, is third in the American League in hitting percentage at .318. He’s well within reach of the leader (Rickey Henderson) with over a month to play. I still think Alan was robbed in 1987 when George Bell was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player. A batting title would go part of the way to rectifying that injustice. I hate to say it, but Alan hasn’t many years left in baseball. He’s had a bad back for the past few years and plays a difficult and demanding position (shortstop). But if he keeps hitting like this, the Tigers will find a place for him somewhere—perhaps first base (which Fielder currently occupies) or right field. [Trammell played through the 1996 season.] The bad news is that Detroit has slipped further behind Boston [the Red Sox] and Toronto [the Blue Jays]. While the team’s batting has been good all year, its pitching has bordered on the atrocious.