By: Kurt Snyder & Holly Horning
With the Winter Meetings done and free agency burning bright in the Hot Stove League, there still has been little going on with the Tigers. Except for that little number retirement thing.
The Tigers have finally come to the party in promoting their own. In celebrating their own. And Lou Whitaker has finally benefitted. His #1 will be retired next summer, thanks to Chris Ilitch.
There has to be a question to address in there somewhere, right?
Yep, Kurt and Holly have not shared their answers to the following question for the purpose of offering a wider range of perspectives.
So let’s get to it and see what our writers have to say.
This week, Chris Ilitch, announced that the Tigers would retire Lou Whitaker’s number. What do you believe was his motivation considering that his family has owned the team for 28 years before making this move?
KURT
With no championship anniversaries to celebrate and promote in 2020, the Ilitchs had a problem. They’ve got a lousy team which stands to have another miserable season and fewer and fewer fans are expected to make the trip to Comerica Park as a result.
It’s time to break the Tiger rules, I guess. Enter Lou Whitaker and the endless fan chatter about a number retirement. It’s time to break our Hall of Fame qualification. Because, how else are we going to get fans downtown?
That’s my reaction to Chris Ilitch’s announcement of Sweet Lou’s number retirement. Yes, he listened but his intentions are primarily about business. And since the fans want it so badly, it’s a win-win.
Chris didn’t suddenly make like the Grinch and grow a heart, he just got desperate and took advantage of an opportunity that fell in his lap. Over the years, the Ilitch family just hasn’t had the sense of urgency thrust on them until now.
HOLLY
Lou Whitaker actually played for 4 years under the Ilitchs and had his first and only year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2001 after a decade of Mike’s ownership so it’s not like the family didn’t know him personally. Yet Mike Ilitch was known for removing a retired Red Wings jersey when he bought that team because the player was not in hockey’s Hall which indicated that Mr. I was a stickler for rules.
It’s the timing of Chris Ilitch’s gesture that makes me “wanna go hmmmmm” given that he’s had a handful of years running the team and had the ability to retire Lou’s jersey on several timely occasions.
If you’re going to retire #1, why not have done it back in 2018 when Trammell and Morris got nominated and then elected to the Hall so both Tram’s and Lou’s jerseys retired at the same time? Why not have done it when Whitaker made the ballot earlier this year as a statement of his validity and also to give him a boost in voting?
It’s really all about the timing.
The recent hiring of a public relations professional to help Ilitch Holdings overcome and neutralize the increasing scrutiny and bad press they are receiving would appear to be a factor in this move. Especially given another last place finish/100+ losses for the Tigers, little to no progress seen in the “rebuilding” effort, attendance dropping like a rock and a ticket selling season that needs a boost.
The Tigers need all the good press and feelings they can get and this was a very smart and appreciative move. I just wish it had happened earlier, in advance of the latest vote, as a sign that the team was being proactive, not reactive – but most of all, authentic.
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