Lou Whitaker 2.0 with Cody Stavenhagen

Pod of Fame

In May of 2021, Jim was joined by Cody Stavenhagen, Detriot Tigers beat writer for The Athletic, to breakdown the hall of fame candidacy of former Detroit Tigers second baseman Lou Whitaker. As Lou celebrated his 67th birthday yesterday, a rerelease of that episode, along with some new commentary from Jim at the top, was warranted. For the Lou Whitaker 2.0 episode, Jim looks more closely at the 20 second baseman in the HOF today and how Whitaker compares. Then, Jim and John discuss hard it is to talk about Whitaker without bringing up his double-play partner Alan Trammell, who recently was voted into Cooperstown in 2018 (17:52). Next, they talk about the 1984 World Series, similarities between Whitaker and current HOF candidate Scott Rolen, and Whitaker's eye-popping WAR (22:10). Finally, they discuss why Whitaker only won three gold gloves despite being one of the better defensive second basemen in history and how that impacts his candidacy (44:49), before coming to a conclusion on whether or not Whitaker deserves a plaque in Cooperstown (51:19)