Lou Whitaker is closing in on the third of three major accomplishments. Taken together, they will always identify him as one of the best Detroit Tigers in history.
Last month, he played in his 2,000th game for Detroit. Just recently, he got his 2,000th career hit. Before long-perhaps this weekend against the White Sox in Comiskey Park-he`ll hit his 200th homer. Entering the weekend, he had 199.
The only Tiger to achieve all three of these plateaus is Al Kaline.
Joe Morgan is the only second baseman in history to reach all three.
Whitaker will be only the 26th player in history to play in 2,000 games, get 2,000 hits and hit 200 homers for one franchise.
The other 25 are all famous names, inseparably identified with their franchises. They include Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks and George Brett.
”That`s some serious company to be coming to your house,” Whitaker said.
All these games, hits and homers, all while remaining a foundation player for the same team-Whitaker possesses the game`s hallmark traits, productivity and durability.
He was rookie of the year in 1978-when he and double-play partner Alan Trammell came to the big leagues together-and has been a prominent Tiger since. Recently, he discussed how he has climbed toward his trio of milestones.
Whitaker seemed fulfilled by what he he has accomplished. He spoke eagerly, answering questions at length, laughing at times and smiling often.
His eyes glowed.
Of the three milestones, Whitaker is proudest of the games played.
”That`s how all these numbers have piled up,” he said. ”They just didn`t pile up by playing a day, missing a day, playing a day, missing a day. They piled up by being able to be there.
”You see how the game is today with injuries and stuff like that. I can only find two words to sum up how I feel about being healthy enough to play so many games: I`m thankful.”
Whitaker has been on the disabled list once in his 15 years-in 1979, for two weeks.
The disabled list isn`t used in September because of the expanded rosters, so it didn`t record that Whitaker missed the final four weeks of the 1988 pennant race because of his one memorable injury: a damaged knee, suffered on the dance floor.
His approximate minimum for a season is usually 140 games of the 162-game schedule. He doesn`t play much against left-handers now. But his continual availability is staggering, considering the potential collisions he`s always avoiding while turning double plays. He never remembers missing a game because he got hurt on a play at second base.
”I`ve had quite a few close calls,” he said. ”I just try to stand my ground. If I can get rid of the ball, I don`t worry about anything else, because I use my hands to brace the person trying to slide.
”If I can keep them back just a little bit, that pretty much stops them. If I`m up in the air, there`s not much I can do except try to get out of the way.
”I`ve always been ready to play. I was able to be here and be on the field when needed. There have been many different situations where I`ve come into games if I wasn`t starting.”
Whitaker has no unusual formula for avoiding injuries. He cites motherly advice: Eat right and get plenty of sleep.
He has never found how to be at a peak for every game amid the mix of travel, day games and night games. Yet some of his best performances came when he felt sluggish.
”When I was young, I never thought about how long I`d last in the majors,” he said. ”No one knows.”
Whitaker has been two different hitters. Into his fifth season, he tried to hit the ball on the ground to the opposite field or up the middle. His goal at the plate was to fight the ball off; he didn`t think about homers because he didn`t think about pulling the ball or hitting it in the air.
Then Gates Brown, the batting coach, encouraged him to pull more. Whitaker remembers taking to the new approach instantly. He climbed into double figures in homers for the first time in `82 and has been there every year since.
He gradually has become that most dangerous kind of hitter, a situation hitter. If a single is required, he`ll try for that. If a homer will dramatically alter the game, he`ll try to clear the right-field wall.
It`s no mistake that most of his homers come with the game close.
”Homers don`t mean anything if we`re winning or losing by five or six runs late in the game and nobody is on,” he said.
”There have been a lot of times where I`ve up come up with two out and hit the home run, because that`s what it really took.
”If I went for the single with two out, you never know what might happen next. The single keeps things going.
”But things only keep going for so long.”
Whitaker accepts that going for homers keeps his batting average lower than it could be. Swinging for a home run means trying to pull the ball in the air, depriving the hitter of the opposite field and, to some extent, the ground-ball single. This is why few hitters seldom contend for both the home run title and the batting title.
Whitaker hit a career-high .320 in `83; the next season he hit .289. He hasn`t matched that mark since, but he has had his four 20-homer seasons and has become someone who can beat you.
”The name of the game is to try to score runs,” Whitaker said.
”Singles work for some people. They work for me sometimes, too, because my thing is to get on base.
”Then there are other times when I`ve got to reach back and try to do a little bit more and go for broke.
”That`s hard. It takes a lot of concentration.”
Many players couldn`t be this versatile, but Whitaker appears to be getting better at it. He reached base in 50 straight games last season, yet hit several clutch homers.
Last month, he participated in two ninth-inning rallies by doing precisely what the situation required. He capped a comeback in Seattle with a three-run homer, and he started one against Milwaukee with a single off Chris Bosio.
Whitaker didn`t think about the long ball as a young hitter. He figured that if he attained 100 homers, he would need 20 seasons of hitting five per year.
In his first full four years combined, Whitaker hit 12 homers. In every year since, he has hit at least 12.
His two highest totals have come in the last three seasons: 28 in `89 and 23 in `91.
”I learned how to use my strength,” he said. ”I used to see the ball and swing. Now I`ve learned to stay back, use more top hand, and look for different pitches in different areas.
”I`m very proud of all the home runs. They haven`t been home runs just to be hit. They`ve been home runs that have put us in games and late-inning homers to win games.”
He shows little emotion on the field after a homer, even a ninth-inning game-winner. But don`t be mistaken about his desire for victory. He has been intense about winning since he was a kid; he used to get upset when other kids made mistakes he thought preventable.
”My great satisfaction is how many victories I`ve been part of here,”
he said. ”I think that maybe overrides all the rest. That`s why you come to the park-to win.”
