The 88th round of voting for the Circle of Greats inducts Hall of Famer Charlie Gehringer, winning election in only his second round on the COG ballot. The “Mechanical Man” was a mainstay in the Tiger infield for 16 seasons during which Detroit won three pennants, including a World Series championship in 1935.

More on Gehringer after the jump.

Gehringer continued the tradition of star second basemen in the early years of the AL, following Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins as second sackers to top 80 WAR for their careers (more than 70 years later, they are still the only AL second basemen to reach that WAR level). Following from the example of contemporary Rogers Hornsby in the NL, Gehringer combined batting clout with consistency in reaching base, posting career marks north of .150 ISO and .400 OBP that have since been achieved at second base only by Jackie Robinson. Gehringer’s career counting stats are equally as impressive, exceeding 2500 hits, 1500 runs, 1000 RBI and 1000 walks, marks since matched at his position only by HOFers Joe Morgan, Roberto Alomar and Craig Biggio.

Gehringer’s nickname of “Mechanical Man” was bestowed by Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez who opined that one could just “wind up” Gehringer on opening day and he’d run all season long (in modern vernacular, the “Eveready Man”). That moniker alluded to Gehringer’s consistency and effectiveness, both in the field and at bat. On defense, the limited data available don’t translate into a large quantity of runs saved but, over an 8 year period (1930-37), Gehringer posted at least 0.9 dWAR every season but one (his miss was 1931 when he lost a third of the season to injury) and his fielding percentage (the only defensive stat of his time) over a ten year period (1930-39) was at least 9 points higher (about 8 fewer errors) than league average every season but two. On offense, over a 13-year span (1928-40), Gehringer was below 4.0 oWAR only once, batted under .300 only once, played fewer than 150 games only four times, and posted a .350 OBP every season. That consistency is also reflected in Gehringer’s ranks among second baseman for numbers of seasons at different WAR levels.

• 7 WAR – 5 seasons, T-4th
• 6 WAR – 6 seasons, 4th
• 5 WAR – 8 seasons, 5th
• 4 WAR – 12 seasons, 3rd
• 3 WAR – 13 seasons, 5th

Gehringer is often compared to a more recent Tiger second baseman, fellow COG honoree Lou Whitaker. Both played 19 seasons in Detroit, including 16 as a regular, and both at almost the same ages (21-39 for Gehringer, 20-38 for Whitaker). Here’s the tale of the tape.

That Gehringer is just that little bit better than Whitaker says a lot about both men. Welcome to the COG, Charlie!