Since the 1931 season, the Detroit Tigers uniforms have featured numbers assigned to each player. Our “By The Numbers” series takes a look at the best, or sometimes just the most interesting, player to wear each number. We have reached number 8 in our series, if you would like to catch up on the first seven, click here to find the earlier installments.
As always, when I begin one of these profiles, I go back through the years using Baseball-Almanac and find the players to consider. Off the top of my head, I usually have a good idea about who I will choose, but when it came to no. 8 I had no clue.
Upon scouring the names, I narrowed the list to a few; Ray Boone (3B, 1953-58) was a two time all-star in Detroit and was the first of three generations of Boones to play in the big leagues. Gerald Laird (C, 2009) lead the league in catching base stealers and brought stability to the pitching staff. Deivi Cruz (SS, 1997-2001) actually garnered MVP consideration in 1997 when he finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year balloting.
Ultimately, the choice was easy. Ron LeFlore has had a life so interesting there has been a movie made about it. I suppose it’s best to start from the beginning.
No. 8 Ron LeFlore was born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, though he first told the Tigers he was born in 1952. His parents held steady jobs, and provided a good home for LeFlore and his three siblings. While his parents were able to provide for their family, LeFlore veered away from the straight and narrow.
As a boy, not yet a teenager, LeFlore was running with an older crowd and he wanted the flashy clothes andwomen that came with the criminal lifestyle. “My first street experience came at the local A&P food store,” LeFlore told Ebony Magazine in 1975. ”I got away with $1500.”
According to a 1974 People Magazine feature on LeFlore, by age 15, he was heavily involved in prostitution and shoplifting. “My parents would always tell me that the crowd I was with wasn’t good for me,” LeFlore recalled. “But I was hardheaded like any other kid—I didn’t pay attention. And they weren’t in a position to give me the things I wanted.”
LeFlore was selling drugs and using them himself by 1970 when one day, he and some friends were getting high and decided to hold up a check cashing service. Armed with a .22 caliber rifle, LeFlore and his two buddies took nearly $35,000 in that hold-up.
They were arrested almost immediately.
In the spring of 1970, LeFlore was convicted of the armed robbery and was sentenced to five to 15 years in Jackson State Prison.
After a rough start to his prison term that saw him serve two stints in solitary confinement, LeFlore began playing baseball on the prison grounds. A fellow inmate, Jim Karella, took notice of the speedy LeFlore and told a friend on the outside. That friend also happened to be close friendswith then-Tigers manager Billy Martin.
Martin made a trip to the prison to see LeFlore play in May of 1973. Two months late, LeFlore was granted his parole after serving three years. The Tigers signed him that very same day.
Upon his release, LeFlore vowed to his fellow inmates that he was going to make it. And make it he did. 13 months after being released from prison, the convicted felon was stealing again.
This time, however, he was stealing bases for the Detroit Tigers, and putting his past behind him. “I guess I’m putting my energies in the right place for a change,” he told People. “I used to think that flashy people and big parties and dope were exciting—but not now. I don’t want to rip and roar around on the streets anymore.”
When Tigers center fielder Mickey Stanley broke his hand in 1974, LeFlore got the call to come up to the big leagues. He impressed quickly and played well in 59 games for the Tigers as a 26 year old rookie (though at the time, the Tigers thought he was 22), stealing 23 bases.
By 1975, he had taken over as the everyday center fielder. He swiped 28 bags for the Tigers that season, in fact, LeFlore stole at least 20 bases every season of his nine year career.
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