5 put up 54 bWAR (out of 57) and 64 fWAR (out of 68) with the Tigers. In his time in Detroit (which lasted from his start until 1953), he put up 56 bWAR (which, after rounding, is also his career total). Most of that value comes from three good seasons though, and the rest of his career wasn’t particularly notable, so it’s doubtful he’ll get his number retired. As of right now, the players that I think are most likely to get their numbers retired by the Detroit Tigers in the future are, in order: Jack Morris-47 Alan Trammell-3 Let’s start with the players that Detroit has immortalized. Harry Heilmann, Sam Crawford, Hughie Jennings, Heinie Manush, Mickey Cochrane and George Kell are the players in question.
The best place to look for the next honoree would probably be among the numbers they’ve already removed from circulation (i.e. Gehringer accumulated 81 bWAR and 88 fWAR in his career, which lasted from 1924-42. By Craig Calcaterra Aug 27, 2018, 11:00 AM EDT. Since he retired, his number has actually returned to use twice, though. Like the other two, I see no reason his number won’t be retired eventually. 2; Alan Trammell -- No. Cash is probably the most puzzling exclusion I’ve seen. 11 was worth 43.3 bWAR and 53 fWAR, both impressive figures for a catcher (since the position usually comes with less playing time, and as a consequence, lower WAR totals). Like Whitaker, I would imagine Alan Trammell’s number will be retired eventually; it’s only a matter of when.
No. 2, Charlie Gehringer. Good luck! Both are interesting cases, in that neither wore uniform numbers and are already honored by the team in their Hall of Famer section. 6; Sparky Anderson -- … He posted 34.5 bWAR while pitching for the Tigers, and 39.3 bWAR for his full career. Both versions have Norm Cash next. Always free! His number was retired concurrently with Charlie Gehringer’s, back in 1983. After scanning the roster, it looks like there are maybe five players who may end up with various degrees of compelling cases. 3 also played his entire career with the Tigers (from 1977-96), provided a ton of value (66.9 bWAR, 69 fWAR), and got overlooked by Hall voters (though at least Trammell’s managed to hang on for a while, though).
The next best place to look after the partial honorees would be the team’s WAR leaders. He’s played six seasons with the team, and he’s under contract for three more seasons, which will represent his age 29, 30 and 31 seasons. Shortstop Jose Iglesias wore No. The Tigers have stuck mostly to retiring Hall of Famers’ numbers (with one major exception); therefore, there would be a good chance that several Tiger legends are being snubbed as far getting their numbers retired. Hank Aaron, Sparky Anderson, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, Rollie Fingers, Carlton Fisk, Reggie Jackson, Greg Maddux, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, and Casey Stengel have each had their number retired by more than one team!. Tommy Bridges spent his entire 16-year career with Detroit, posting 50.7 bWAR, making six All-Star Games, and keeping a 126 ERA+. 10 to be retired. Now that we’ve looked at former hitters and former pitchers, that leaves just current players. Being young means there’s room to improve, and a lot of time to rack up value. Dizzy Trout is next, with 42.2 bWAR in 14 seasons with the team. Tags: Baseball Quiz, MLB Quiz, Sports Teams Quiz, detroit, Detroit Tigers, Picture Click, Player, Retired, Retired Jerseys, Retired Numbers Top Quizzes Today … No. ; numbers they’ve stopped issuing since a player retired without a formal retirement). In comparing teams’ standards for retiring numbers, I can look at three different factors: I can use bWAR or fWAR; I can compare what the players did in their career or just what they did with the franchise in question; or, I can look at the median or average value provided by the players. Loyal walk off after opposing player allegedly used gay slur, Ty Lue 'early favorite' to become Clippers head coach, Adam Silver: NBA 'can do better' with coaching diversity. No. According to both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference, Harry Heilmann and Sam Crawford are the best hitters we haven’t covered yet (both sites rank Whitaker first among non-retired hitters, while Trammell is ranked second by B-R and third by Fangraphs). Are there, and, if so, who are they? The rest of the honored players are near misses for the title of one-franchise players. So, it is a counting stat, like hits or home runs (with the small difference that bad seasons can actually decrease your WAR, if you are worse than a replacement player). 1 from 2013-18, and second baseman Josh Harrison wore the number in … Al Kaline was the first player to get a number retired, back in 1980. The most likely future honoree on the team is Justin Verlander. Bobby Veach (12 years in Detroit; 42.7 bWAR, 51 fWAR with the team) and Donie Bush (14 years; 37.2 bWAR, 46 fWAR with the team) are both highly rated by both WARs, but neither wore numbers, and they’ve been out of baseball since 1925 and 1923, respectively. Cobb never had a number while playing, but that didn’t stop Detroit from recognizing him: he’s one of six players to be so honored. Some quick notes on the stats: the two most prominent stats I used are similarly named. The Tigers will be hard pressed to improve on their high requirements. They may be waiting for a Hall induction in this case (I won’t get into the ridiculousness of Morris making the Hall before Whitaker of Trammell, although it will likely take the Veterans Committee at this point), but I see no reason the Tigers shouldn’t honor him for his years of service with the team. However, it also means there’s more time for unpredicted things to pop up. I have no idea why Whitaker’s number hasn’t been retired yet, unless they’re waiting for him to make the Hall of Fame or some other honor. Report this user for behavior that violates our Community Guidelines.
Emailed every weekday. Going by the straight averages and medians, the Tigers have some of the highest standards for number retirement.
According to Baseball-Reference, Hal Newhouser and Jack Morris are first and fifth in franchise history in bWAR among pitchers. However, I didn’t include managers in my study, so this is just an extra tidbit.
Right now, the Tigers have three such cases. After Morris, there’s a fall off in value, so we’ll stick to examining the three pitchers in between them for now. Hall induction isn’t a requirement, though, and it seems odd to make him wait just because the BBWAA has snubbed him. LSU's retired numbers: Meet the 13 Tigers to receive the honor Andrew Lopez, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Published May 11, 2018 at 9:45 am | Updated Jul 17, 2019 at 11:47 am Quiz clue: Jersey # (or franchise role). Basically, the Tigers have very high standards for players to clear in order to get a number retired, particularly in making sure that the value came in Detroit. The other candidates are younger, and more based on projections. Like with Cash, I can’t see why Freehan hasn’t already gotten his number retired. As of right now, the players that I think are most likely to get their numbers retired by the Detroit Tigers in the future are, in order: This article is also featured at Hot Corner Harbor. No. They’re even stricter when it comes to requiring that the value come from time with Detroit; they rank second in every category when only accounting for the players’ value specifically for one franchise. Can you name every member of the Detroit Tigers organization to have his number retired? He additionally played primarily in the 1960s, which is possibly the best-represented era in terms of number retirements. 6 won immortality in Detroit when Kaline became the first player in Tigers history to have his number retired. Again, the only reason I’m not sure if Freehan will be honored is because it hasn’t already happened. The earliest among them is Ty Cobb, who played with the team from 1905-26. “When you think about Al Kaline, one thing comes to mind,” said his former teammate Bill Freehan. He’s already been worth 27.2 bWAR (and 32.4 fWAR) for his career, so it’s definitely reasonable that he’ll find himself among the franchise leaders soon (he’s already tenth among franchise pitchers).