The Detroit Tigers announced on Tuesday that Lou Whitaker’s uniform number 1 finally will be retired. It will be retired before the Saturday, August 6, game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park.
No. 1️⃣ will be retired. Forever. pic.twitter.com/w37p5xKlWr
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) February 8, 2022
Whitaker’s number was going to be retired in 2020, but the ceremony was postponed with fans not allowed in the park because of COVID-19. With full capacity in most stadiums not happening until the season was well underway, the Tigers decided to postpone the ceremony until 2022.
Lou Whitaker’s number 1 will finally be retired by the Detroit Tigers
With the retirement of Lou Whitaker’s number 1, the Detroit Tigers will retire the 11th number in their history, including Jackie Robinson’s number 42, which is retired throughout all of professional baseball.
The last number that the Tigers retired was in late August 2018, when the Tigers retired number 2 for Hall of Fame shortstop Alan Trammell. A few weeks prior to that, the Tigers retired number 47 for their teammate, Hall of Fame pitcher Jack Morris. Both Morris and Trammell were inducted into the Hall as part of the Class of 2018.
Whitaker and Trammell were full-time double play partners from 1978 through 1995. Both of them made their MLB debuts in September 1977, but the nearly two decades that they played next to each other makes them the longest-lasting double play duo in baseball history. Trammell played one more season than Whitaker as he retired after the 1996 season, whereas Whitaker retired after the 1995 season.
Whitaker was first-eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 but he, inexplicably, didn’t even get the requisite 5 percent to remain on the ballot for another year. He got 2.9 percent of the vote.
Of all players that made their MLB debut in 1901 or after (the “Modern Era” of baseball) that has been on a Hall of Fame ballot before and without a “character” clause issue (suspected PED users, Pete Rose, Curt Schilling), Whitaker’s 75.1 rWAR is the highest among any non-Hall of Famer.
Whitaker was a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger winner, three-time Gold Glove winner, and the 1978 AL Rookie of the Year winner. From 1982 through 1995, Whitaker hit .279/.365/.447 with an OPS+ of 123 and an average of 17 homers and 64 RBI per season. He had 10 seasons with an rWAR of at least 4.0 and another five seasons of 3.5 or better.
Since Whitaker’s retirement, only two players wore the number 1, as from 2013-18, infielder Jose Iglesias wore it, and in 2018, Josh Harrison wore it. Both, however, sought and received the blessing of Whitaker to wear the number.