Gordie Howe, Barry Sanders, Isiah Thomas, and Justin Verlander are some of the most popular uniform numbers fans request for their Detroit jerseys.
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, that 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. In 2012 one of the first things Torii Hunter did after signing a contract with the Tigers was to call Rick Porcello and offer him some cash for #48 – the only number Hunter ever wore in the big leagues.
Here’s a not-so-comprehensive list of the best 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. Names in italics had their uniform numbers retired by a Detroit team.
0
Andre Drummond, Orlando Woolridge, Olden Polynice
1
Lou Whitaker, Terry Sawchuk, Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter, Billy Martin, Jose Iglesias, Reggie Jackson
2
Charlie Gehringer, Viacheslav Fetisov, Gary Bergman, Jake Wood
3
Alan Trammell, Marcel Pronovost, Mickey Cochrane, Ben Wallace, Dick McAuliffe, Joey Harrington, Eddie Murray, Ian Kinsler, Gary Sheffield
4
Joe Dumars, Goose Goslin, Red Kelly, Rudy York, Mark Howe, Aurelio Rodriguez, Jason Hanson, Bobby Higginson, Charlie Maxwell
5
Hank Greenberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, Jim Northrup, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
6
Al Kaline, Larry Aurie, Terry Mills
7
Ted Lindsay, Dutch Clark, Harvey Kuenn, Ivan Rodriguez, Rocky Colavito, Kelly Tripucka, Billy Rogell, Gary Unger, Rick Leach, Dan Maloney, Brandon Jennings, Brandon Knight
8
Igor Larionov, Ray Boone, Justin Abdelkader, Eddie Brinkman, Doc Cramer, Ron LeFlore, Don Wert
9
Gordie Howe, Matthew Stafford, Carlos Guillen, Rodney Peete, Nick Castellanos
10
Alex Delvecchio, Dennis Rodman, Tommy Bridges, Mayo Smith, Jim Leyland, Dale McCourt, Rusty Staub, Greg Monroe, Charlie Batch, Joe Murphy
11
Isiah Thomas, Sparky Anderson, Bill Freehan, Dizzy Trout, Greg Landry, Earl Whitehill, Mathieu Dandenault, Roy Williams
12
Sid Abel, Ray Scott, George Yardley, Bobo Newsom, Erik Kramer, Adam Oates, Jim Price
13
Lance Parrish, Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Avila, Vyacheslav Kozlov
14
Brendan Shanahan, Jim Bunning, Schoolboy Rowe, Dutch Reibel, Austin Jackson, Dave Bergman, Gustav Nyquist, David Price
15
Vinnie Johnson, Tomas Holmstrom, Jim Ninowski, Brandon Inge, Pat Verbeek, Paul Woods, Golden Tate
16
Hal Newhouser, Bob Lanier, Gary Danielson, Vladimir Konstantinov, Milt Plum, Larry Foust, Tom Brookens, Austin Jackson, Earl Wilson, Chuck Long
17
Denny McLain, Brett Hull, Tony Clark, Frank Lary, Eric Hipple, Dallas Drake
18
John Hiller, Kirk Maltby, Tobin Rote, Fred Hutchinson
19
Steve Yzerman, Dave Rozema, Scott Mitchell, Anibal Sanchez, Bill Munson, Joe Niekro
20
Barry Sanders, Lem Barney, Billy Sims, Mark Fidrych, Mickey Redmond, Martin Lapointe, Allan Houston, Howard Johnson, Mickey Tettleton
21
Dave Bing, George Kell, Gene Shue, Willie Hernandez, Tomas Tatar, Reggie Bush, Ameer Abdullah
22
Bobby Layne, Dave DeBusschere, Tayshaun Prince, John Salley
23
Willie Horton, Kirk Gibson, Mark Aguirre, Mel Gray
24
Miguel Cabrera, Jack Christiansen, Chris Chelios, Mickey Stanley, Bob Probert, Mel Farr, Dexter Bussey
25
Norm Cash, Darren McCarty, John Ogrodnick, Pat Studstill, Jimmy Walker, John Long
26
Gates Brown, Frank Tanana
27
Frank Mahovlich, Jhonny Peralta
28
Yale Lary, Curtis Granderson, Prince Fielder, J.D. Martinez
29
Mickey Lolich, Mike Vernon, Aurelio Lopez
30
Chris Osgood, Magglio Ordonez, Rasheed Wallace, Jason Thompson, Cory Schlesinger, James Jones, M.L. Carr
31
Larry Herndon
32
Richard Hamilton
33
Grant Hill, Steve Kemp, Kris Draper, Nick Pietrosante, Matt Nokes
34
Chet Lemon, Bucky Harris, Petr Mrazek, James Stewart, James McCann
35
Justin Verlander, Virgil Trucks, Jimmy Howard
36
Bennie Blades
37
Doak Walker, Max Scherzer
38
Jeremy Bonderman
39
Dominik Hasek, Leonard Thompson, Milt Wilcox, Mike Henneman, Jon Warden, Ramon Santiago
40
Bill Laimbeer, Henrik Zetterberg, Phil Coke
41
Darrell Evans, Victor Martinez, Terry Barr, Terry Tyler
42
Chris Ford, Jerry Stackhouse
44
Dick LeBeau, Rick Mahorn, Todd Bertuzzi, Rob Deer
45
Cecil Fielder, Adrian Dantley, Ray Jarvis
46
Dan Petry
47
Jack Morris
53
James Edwards, Kevin Glover
54
Chris Spielman
55
Larry Murphy, Niklas Kronwall, Wayne Walker
56
Joe Schmidt
57
Stephen Boyd
58
Doug Fister
59
Todd Jones
60
Bubba Baker
91
Danny DeKeyser
71
Alex Karras, Dylan Larkin
75
Lomas Brown
76
Lou Creekmur, Jeff Backus
78
Doug English
80
Brett Perriman
81
Night Train Lane, Calvin Johnson, David Hill
84
Herman Moore
85
Petr Klima, Chuck Hughes
87
Johnnie Morton, Freddie Scott, Brandon Pettigrew
88
Charlie Sanders
89
Gail Cogdill
90
Ndamukong Suh
91
Sergei Fedorov, Robert Porcher
93
Johan Franzen
94
Ziggy Ansah, Luther Elliss
96
Tomas Holmström
98
Nick Fairley
Doug
#30 – Chris Osgood
#39 – Milt Wilcox
#39 – Mike Henneman
#46 – Dan Petry
Michael
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
Dan Holmes
Nice additions, Doug.
Kostandinos
#20 Mickey Tettleton, one of my all-time favorites.
#33 Matt Nokes, if nothing more than for 1987.
Agree with Henneman and Probert
John B
If you want to expand to college football, Tom Brady #10.
Spirit of Mayo
59 — Todd Jones
Linea1983
#18 Kirk Maltby
#40 Henrik Zetterberg
#44 Todd Bertuzzi
Kevin Fox
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.
Joe
Don’t forget these guys
6- Larry Aurie
40- Henrik Zetterberg
20-Mickey Redmond
Tom
#10 Mayo Smith, manager of 1968 World Champs. If you include Sparky you should also have Mayo.
Tom
#7 1970 Tiger shortstop Cesar Gutierrez. He is the only American Leaguer ever to go 7 for 7 in a single game.
Tom
#16 Earl Wilson- Tiger 22 game winner in 1967.
Tom
#8 Don Wert, third baseman and All Star 1968 Tigers.
Tom
#3 Dick McAuliffe 2nd base 1968 Tigers. This list has too many obvious holes.
Dan Holmes
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!
Gary Steinke
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?
Joe
Aurie is easily forgotten. His number is basically retired, but for some reason it doesn’t hang from the rafters at The Joe…
Gary Steinke
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.
Giovanni Tashman
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Murddock Voorhees
Wow… Cant believe yall forgot #40 Zetterberg…
also #0 Orlando Woolridge & Now #0 Andre Drummond.
Jim
#4 Tom Tresh
Gary Mooneyham
You missed a few Lions from the time they actually won and had a great defense:
Darris McCord DT #78
Roger Brown DT #76
Sam Williams DE #88
Bill Glass DE #53
Gary Mooneyham
Also, Les Bingaman, #65. At one time (early 50’s) the heaviest man in professional football (around 350 lbs) and a “middle guard” on a 5-man defensive line.
Yyty
#24 Jimmy Walker Detroit Pistons