Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
If history is any gauge, he almost certainly will be enshrined one day. But Whitaker is not much into history. He simply concentrates on what he does best. He plays baseball.
"I don't think about baseball history stuff," says Whitaker, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Martinsville, Va. "I've never been to a library or bought a book on baseball history."
If he did, he would find, for example, that only eight second basemen in history have driven in 1,000 runs and that only four of those played 2,000 or more games at the position. He also would find that all eight are in the Hall of Fame.
The eight are Nap Lajoie (1,599 RBI), Rogers Hornsby (1,584), Charlie Gehringer (1,427), Eddie Collins (1,300), Bobby Doerr (1,247), Frankie Frisch (1,244), Tony Lazzeri (1,191) and Joe Morgan (1,133).
Why should this interest Whitaker? Easy.
Whitaker has 979 career RBI. There is a very good chance he will reach 1,000 before the end of this season. If not, the magic number will come early next season.
Of course, Whitaker isn't worried about that.
"I found out about how many RBI I needed from a guy in Texas, a reporter who was asking me questions," Whitaker says. "Before that, I never knew about it. It's the same way I found about about having 632 extra-base hits. I read it in the papers."
Whitaker doesn't think much about the Hall of Fame these days. He thinks mainly of playing baseball, of trying to help the Detroit Tigers. This is his 17th season in the major leagues. He has never varied. He probably never will.
"If I make the Hall of Fame, I'll treat it like I did graduation from high school," he says. "That was a big thing for me, at the time. If I make the Hall, then that will be big to me."
He doesn't think about driving in runs, either. It just happens. If he thought about it, Whitaker says, it might not happen.
"I don't think about driving in runs," he says. "I try to do what the situation calls for. If I thought about having to drive in a run, I would lose my concentration and couldn't do my job.
"The only time I batted third [in the Tigers' lineup], I took myself out of that spot after 30 or 40 games because I thought too much of the home run. I am the kind of guy that has to get on base for the big guys and score runs."
When they finally do enshrine Whitaker at Cooperstown, maybe they should put an asterisk beside his name. That's because he never wanted to be a second baseman. He began his career, as a youngster in Martinsville, playing third base.
"I thought of myself as a vacuum cleaner, like Brooks Robinson," Whitaker says. "Where I grew up, all we got were Cincinnati and Baltimore games. My idol was Brooks Robinson, and I always played third base. Whenever we played, I was always Brooks Robinson.
"The only time I played second base as a kid was when there was an All-Star game, and the coach's son was a third baseman."
He is a second baseman now. And it will be as a second baseman that he travels to Cooperstown. The only real question is when.
A player can't be voted into the Hall of Fame until five years after he stops playing. With Whitaker, it's hard to tell how much longer that might be. He just signed a three-year contract. Even though he is 36, he shows no sign of getting ready to quit.
"I don't think about that now," he says. "I just play the game, try to have fun and help the team. I try to do the best I can."
by CNB