Cleveland Indians: Who deserves to have their number retired next?

With Frank Robinson getting his number retired, what former Cleveland Indians great could be next in line to have his number retired by the club?

This past weekend the Cleveland Indians honored former player and manager Frank Robinson with a statue at Heritage Park. The club also retired his No. 20 as part of the ceremony for the man who was the first black manager in Major League Baseball history.

It was the ninth number retired by the Cleveland Indians, though only the seventh by a man who wore the number for Cleveland as Jackie Robinson‘s No. 42 is retired across all of baseball and the No. 455 is for “the fans”.

For comparison, the New York Yankees retired the 21st number of a former player the previous weekend when they retired Derek Jeter‘s No. 2. In fact, among franchises that have not relocated and have been around since at least 1960, the Indians have only retired more numbers than the Chicago Cubs who have only retired six numbers.

The Indians have a bit of an unwritten rule that being a member of the Hall of Fame is a requirement for having one’s number retired, which is one reason for the limited number of retired numbers.

Of the seven who have had theirs retired, only Mel Harder is not in the baseball Hall of Fame and he likely had his number retired not just for his playing career but also his coaching career (he’s credited with converting Bob Lemon to a pitcher, for example).

Keeping all that in mind, we are going to take a look at a few former Cleveland Indians who could deserve having their numbers retired and included is how likely it is that they could have it retired.