Guardians History: The day the Guardians honored Bob Lemon’s fantastic career 

Bob Lemon did a lot for the Cleveland Indians over the course of his baseball life. After being called up to work as a utility infielder at the beginning of his career, he spent three years serving in the Navy before returning to author a fantastic 13-year career that included a no-hitter, World Series win and eventual enshrinement in the Hall of Fame. 

And he received some worthwhile recognition of those achievements 28 years ago today when the Indians retired his number with a ceremony at Jacobs Field prior to their game against the Yankees. 

Bob Lemon’s fantastic Indians career was honored 28 years ago 

Although Lemon had a lot of accomplishments through his career, his performance in the 1948 World Series (Cleveland’s last World Series win) still stands out to this day. 

After posting a 2.82 ERA in 293 2/3 innings that regular season (sheesh), Lemon had a 1.65 ERA in 16 1/3 innings in the World Series while picking up the wins in Games 2 and 6 (making him the only pitcher to win multiple games in that series). 

In total, Lemon finished his Cleveland career with 207 wins while also recording seven seasons with 20+ wins despite not starting his career as a pitcher. 

That transition to pitcher didn’t stop him at the plate either, as he finished his career with a .674 OPS across 615 at-bats. He was also an accomplished fielder who once had a double play in the outfielder that helped Bob Feller throw his no-hitter in 1946. 

Upon retiring, Lemon managed for eight seasons across stints with the Royals, White Sox and Yankees. He took over as the Yankees’ manager midway through the 1978 season after Billy Martin left the team, and he ended up guiding the Yankees back from a 10 game deficit in the American League East to win the division title after a one game playoff.  

They ended up beating the Dodgers in the World Series, making Lemon the first manager in American League History to win the World Series after taking over a team mid-season. 

The Indians honored that legacy by choosing to retire Lemon’s No. 21 in a game against the Yankees so both franchises could take part in the festivities. Lemon’s son Jim threw out the first pitch in the game. 

Lemon became the sixth Indian to have their number retired alongside Bob Feller, Larry Doby, Lou Boudreau, Earl Averill and Mel Harder. He passed away on Jan. 11, 2000 in Long Beach, California. 

While the Guardians weren’t a charter member of the American League, they’ve been playing baseball since 1901 and have a rich, illustrious history that’s featured plenty of impact pitchers. 

But you can’t bring up any of those lists without talking about Lemon, and his jersey retirement  28 years ago today was a tangible example of just how important he was.

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