Taking the Tram

Tigers legend tries to turn around sorry franchise

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Alan Trammell has his reputation and his beliefs, and all over Detroit the hope is that those are enough to work some magic on the terrible Tigers.

One hundred and six losses last season. Zero winning seasons in the past nine. Yep, those Tigers.

During 20 years as a Tigers shortstop, Trammell was a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover. He was a hero in the Tigers' 1984 World Series win over the San Diego Padres.

So here is Trammell, the new manager of the sorry Tigers, all smiles and optimism while laying out his plan for the future.

It's hard, really hard, not to believe every single word he utters.

"We know it's going to be a process," Trammell is saying, leaning on the dugout railing as he watches his team take infield practice a few minutes before an exhibition game against the Atlanta Braves. "I'm probably doing more teaching, which is good. With this type of ballclub, that's how it has to be."

In a word, the type of team Trammell has is "bad."

The Tigers may not be the worst team in the league, but they did lose those 106 games last year and they did little to get better. In fact, after deciding to not play the arbitration game with Robert Fick, their only All-Star (he signed with the Braves), and parting with lefty Mark Redman and outfielder Randall Simon, the Tigers easily could be worse.

But then there's the Trammell factor. The 45-year-old rookie skipper has hopped into the biggest of baseball challenges and taken along a couple of heavy hitters for the ride. Former Tigers slugger Kirk Gibson is Trammell's bench coach. Former Tigers catcher Lance Parrish is the bullpen coach.

They all preach what they know. Hard work. More hard work. Preparation. Eliminating mistakes. Some more hard work. Playing fundamentally sound. And playing to win.

Already in spring training, Trammell is playing for keeps. He orders an intentional walk. He pulls a reliever who's in danger of giving up a lead. He plays the infield in. He calls for a hit-and-run.

And he offers no apologies.

"My thinking is, we're going to have to do it sooner or later," he says, eyes still on the field. "I'm allowed that. There's not an exact book on how to do this."

Trammell has called his veterans together, guys like Dean Palmer and Bobby Higginson and Dmitri Young, and pushed the rah rah, we are a team, everybody works together speech. For Trammell, though, it's no speech. It's the only way he knows how to do this.

Alan Trammell is taking a hand-on approach as a first-time manager. AP

Because he is so earnest about it, the veterans are buying into it. All the players are, evidently.

"In all honesty, they should be," Trammell says, pointing to last season.

"I was devastated I wasn't going to get to play for Tram and Gibby," Fick says now, even as he stands poised to start for a team that has won every division title it could for more than a decade. "[Tram's] not out there going, 'We're going to play .500.' How they play is more important than how they do.

"He loves Detroit. He played with Detroit. He loves the English 'D.' He's not the kind to yell at you. And he's not going to bury you in a hole. He's going to teach you how, get you to work out of it."

Trammell hasn't managed a game at any level, so there are questions. He hasn't had to deal with the crippling losing that has gone on for the past nine years in Detroit, though the Tigers did lose 109 in Trammell's last year as a player in 1996.

So how will his hard-work mantra fly in the face of another losing season?

"Applying it is the difficult part," Trammell admits.

OK, so what about the simple managing of games?

"I'm a pretty observant guy. I'll figure it out fairly quickly," he says. "I've got a good feeling. I'm a feeling guy. I don't know … it's a sixth sense. I know when to push the right buttons. I'm a baseball guy."

Everybody likes Trammell. Everybody appreciates what he's trying to do. Owner Mike Ilitch talks about the formation of a new Tigers family. The old Tigers are here. The new players believe.

Still, these are the Tigers. They have a nameless pitching staff that is among the worst in the majors and a hitting attack that is not much hit, not much attack.

It's not hard to believe, especially when he gets going on his plans for the Tigers, that Trammell could make a difference this season.

Then again, it's even easier to believe that Trammell could be in for one sadly sobering season.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.

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