Steve Yzerman’s #19 is the best-selling jersey in Red Wing history.
Every kid who plays a sport has to make a choice at some point – what number do you want on your jersey? For some of us there’s no choice at all – we get what the coach or equipment manager gives us. But when we do get to choose the digits, we draw on our heroes for inspiration.
For some reason I always liked #9, and I requested that when I was in little league. Later, I selected #5 in homage to my favorite player George Brett. I can personally attest that just because you might wear your hero’s number, doesn’t mean you inherit their skills.
There are all sorts of reasons for why players have specific numbers on their uniforms. Miguel Cabrera likes #24 because that was the number worn by Willie Mays. Barry Sanders wanted #21 when he was drafted by the Detroit Lions, but the equipment man told him that #20 was legendary for the franchise, having been worn by Lem Barney and Billy Sims, so Sanders agreed to take it. Many players just get whichever number the equipment man assigns them, but once they get it, they grow attached to it in a superstitious way. One of the first things Torii Hunter did after signing a contract with the Tigers this month was to call Rick Porcello and offer him some cash for #48 – the only number Hunter has worn in the big leagues.
Here’s a not-so-comprehensive list of the greatest players to wear certain numbers for the four Detroit pro sports teams. Some players wore more than one uniform number in their careers, but the numbers here are the most common.
0
Olden Polynice
1
Lou Whitaker, Terry Sawchuk, Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter, Billy Martin
2
Charlie Gehringer, Gary Bergman, Jake Wood
3
Alan Trammell, Marcel Pronovost, Mickey Cochrane, Ben Wallace, Joey Harrington, Eddie Murray
4
Joe Dumars, Goose Goslin, Red Kelly, Rudy York, Aurelio Rodriguez, Jason Hanson, Bobby Higginson, Charlie Maxwell
5
Hank Greenberg, Niklas Lidstrom, Jim Northrup
6
Al Kaline, Terry Mills
7
Ted Lindsay, Harvey Kuenn, Dutch Clark, Ivan Rodriguez, Rocky Colavito, Kelly Tripucka, Billy Rogell, Rick Leach, Brandon Knight
8
Igor Larionov, Ray Boone, Eddie Brinkman, Doc Cramer, Ron LeFlore
9
Gordie Howe, Matthew Stafford, Carlos Guillen, Rodney Peete
10
Alex Delvecchio, Dennis Rodman, Tommy Bridges, Rusty Staub, Greg Monroe
11
Isiah Thomas, Sparky Anderson, Bill Freehan, Dizzy Trout, Greg Landry, Earl Whitehill
12
Sid Abel, Ray Scott, George Yardley, Bobo Newsom
13
Lance Parrish, Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Avila
14
Brendan Shanahan, Jim Bunning, Schoolboy Rowe, Austin Jackson, Dave Bergman
15
Vinnie Johnson, Tomas Holmstrom, Brandon Inge
16
Hal Newhouser, Bob Lanier, Gary Danielson, Vladimir Konstantinov, Tom Brookens
17
Denny McLain, Brett Hull, Tony Clark, Frank Lary, Eric Hipple
18
John Hiller, Fred Hutchinson
19
Steve Yzerman, Dave Rozema, Scott Mitchell, Joe Niekro
20
Barry Sanders, Lem Barney, Billy Sims, Mark Fidrych, Martin Lapointe, Allan Houston, Howard Johnson
21
Dave Bing, George Kell, Gene Shue, Willie Hernandez
22
Bobby Layne, Dave DeBusschere, Tayshaun Prince, John Salley
23
Kirk Gibson, Willie Horton, Mark Aguirre, Mel Gray
24
Miguel Cabrera, Jack Christiansen, Chris Chelios, Mickey Stanley, Mel Farr
25
Norm Cash, Darren McCarty, Pat Studstill, Jimmy Walker, John Long
26
Gates Brown, Frank Tanana
27
Jhonny Peralta
28
Yale Lary, Prince Fielder, Curtis Granderson
29
Mickey Lolich, Mike Vernon
30
Magglio Ordonez, Rasheed Wallace, Cory Schlesinger, M.L. Carr
31
Larry Herndon
32
Richard Hamilton
33
Grant Hill, Steve Kemp, Kris Draper
34
Chet Lemon, Bucky Harris
35
Justin Verlander, Virgil Trucks
36
Bennie Blades
37
Doak Walker
38
Jeremy Bonderman
39
Dominik Hasek, Leonard Thompson
40
Bill Laimbeer
41
Darrell Evans, Terry Tyler
42
Chris Ford, Jerry Stackhouse
44
Dick LeBeau, Rick Mahorn
45
Cecil Fielder, Adrian Dantley
47
Jack Morris
53
James Edwards, Kevin Glover
54
Chris Spielman
56
Joe Schmidt
57
Stephen Boyd
60
Bubba Baker
71
Alex Karras
75
Lomas Brown
76
Lou Creekmur
78
Doug English
81
Night Train Lane, Calvin Johnson, David Hill
84
Herman Moore
85
Chuck Hughes
87
Johnnie Martin, Freddie Scott
88
Charlie Sanders
89
Gail Cogdill
91
Sergei Fedorov, Robert Porcher
#30 – Chris Osgood
#39 – Milt Wilcox
#39 – Mike Henneman
#46 – Dan Petry
Here are a few more notables: 24- BobProbert, 27- Frank Mahovlich, 30- Jason Thompson, 36- Rasheed Wallace, 39- Milt Wilcox, Ramon Santiago, 76- Jeff Backus, 85- Petr Klima, 94- Luther Elliss, 96- Tomas Holmstrom
Nice additions, Doug.
#20 Mickey Tettleton, one of my all-time favorites.
#33 Matt Nokes, if nothing more than for 1987.
Agree with Henneman and Probert
If you want to expand to college football, Tom Brady #10.
59 — Todd Jones
#18 Kirk Maltby
#40 Henrik Zetterberg
#44 Todd Bertuzzi
a couple omissions:
FYI – #87 Johnny Morton?, not Martin
#30 – Chris Osgood 2 tours/Cups w/Wings
#18 – Kirk Malby arrived in ’96 super pest
start of Wings 4 Cups run thru 2008.
20 – add Micked Redmond
24 – Bob Probert?
55 – Wayne Walker, Larry Murphy?
40 – Henrik Zetteberg – still active
96 – Tomas Holmstrim, wore 15 briefly,
much better known as 96.
Don’t forget these guys
6- Larry Aurie
40- Henrik Zetterberg
20-Mickey Redmond
#10 Mayo Smith, manager of 1968 World Champs. If you include Sparky you should also have Mayo.
#7 1970 Tiger shortstop Cesar Gutierrez. He is the only American Leaguer ever to go 7 for 7 in a single game.
#16 Earl Wilson- Tiger 22 game winner in 1967.
#8 Don Wert, third baseman and All Star 1968 Tigers.
#3 Dick McAuliffe 2nd base 1968 Tigers. This list has too many obvious holes.
Kevin Fox – thanks for adding more. Awesome.
Kos – I had forgotten about Tettleton. Always liked him.
Joe – Larry Aurie is pulling one out of nowhere!
Dan you got the 0 for Polynice which got me thinking about a 00 linemen who played for the KC Chiefs. I tried to find out who he was, but no luck because I can’t remember his last name. His first name was Otto. Can anyone help with the last name?
Aurie is easily forgotten. His number is basically retired, but for some reason it doesn’t hang from the rafters at The Joe…
I found the answer to my own question. I was off a bit. 00 for the KC Chiefs was Jim Otto. First name wasn’t Otto, the last name was.
The glove or mitt is a fielding tool, made of padded leather with webbing between the fingers. As an aid in catching and holding onto the ball, it takes various shapes to meet the specific needs of different fielding positions…
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