DETROIT — The wait to immortalize Lou Whitaker’s No. 1 jersey will finally end this summer. The Tigers announced Tuesday that Whitaker’s jersey will be retired during a ceremony at Comerica Park on Saturday, Aug. 6, prior to their 6:10 p.m. game. ET against the Rays.
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It’s an event that has required a lot of patience: first, to see if Whitaker would be exalted to the Hall of Fame and then because of the COVID pandemic and subsequent restrictions to allow everyone to gather for a celebration.
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The Tigers originally announced their intention to retire Whitaker’s number on December 17, 2019, a week after the Modern Era Committee – a 16-member group that included several Hall members who played in Whitaker’s era – did not elect him to Cooperstown. It was Whitaker’s first chance on the Modern Era ballot after he went off the ballot a couple of years earlier, when teammates Alan Trammell and Jack Morris were exalted.
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Whitaker’s next chance to enter the Hall will be when the Modern Era is again under consideration in two years. The Tigers, who have publicly endorsed Whitaker, will place his retired number on the Comerica Park brick wall alongside Trammell, Morris, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, Al Kaline, Sparky Anderson, Hal Newhouser, Willie Horton and Jackie Robinson.
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When Whitaker retired after the 1995 campaign, he joined Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby and Joe Morgan as the only middle infielders with at least 1,000 hits, 1,000 runs batted in, 2,000 hits and 200 home runs.
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