The retirement of Lou Whitaker’s jersey number was a moment many Tigers fans thought might never come. Historically, the Tigers have been notoriously stingy in terms of number retirement, only giving the special distinction to former players or managers who found their way into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
To date, there were only eight Tigers players whose numbers the team saw fit to retire, and a nine retired number being that of legend Jackie Robinson. Of all those eight numbers, every single player (and manager) has a plaque in Cooperstown: Charlie Gehringer (2); Alan Trammell (3); Hank Greenberg (5); Al Kaline (6); “Sparky” Anderson (11); Hal Newhouser (16); Willie Horton (23); and Jack Morris (47).