Between the Cavaliers, the Indians, and the Browns many athletes have come and gone in Cleveland but who deserves the highest of honors?
Let’s settle a debate, the biggest honor a sports team can give you is the retirement of your jersey number. Yes, there’s a debate for a statue in your honor, but those aren’t always well-received, often leading to debates that defeat the purpose. The retirement of a jersey number is usually met with widespread acceptance and admiration from fans. So we’re looking at which of the five most deserving players from the Cavaliers, Indians, and Browns since the ’80s and on deserve to have their jersey number retired.
The reason for the focus on teams from the ’80s and ’90s is down to the fact that this was when a lot of fans found Cleveland sports teams, and when a lot of the teams started to achieve sustained and steady success. You know, not including the Browns. So we’re going to look at which members since then deserve their numbers hung with honor.
A quick caveat, this list will not include Joe Thomas of the Cleveland Browns. It’s not because Thomas doesn’t deserve the honor, but because that very idea is what inspired this one. Having already written about that very topic, there’s no need to rehash the talking points. Thomas deserves the honor more than any other Browns player since the ’80s (save for one). It’s redundant to include him on this list again, after already arguing for him.
Also, this won’t be in order of most or least deserving. Instead, this will just be the five who most deserve it. That way when you see LeBron James’ name you won’t roll your eyes at his inclusion. Not because you don’t think his number should be but we all know it should be. Even if you’re not a fan of his.
#23 – LeBron James (Cavs)
This is obvious. I’m not even a LeBron James guy and I think his number should be retired with the likes of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mark Price, Larry Nance, Austin Carr, and Brad Daughtery. His numbers with the Cavaliers alone would warrant induction. James is number one in games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goals attempted, two-point shots and three-point shots made and attempted, field goals missed, free throws attempted, free throws made, and total rebounds.
That’s just some of them, by the way.
He’s also the man many claims are responsible for the team’s best two seasons in 2007 and 2016, where the Cavs went to their first NBA championship series, and finally won their first NBA championship respectively. He certainly didn’t do those things alone, mind you, but he does deserve the praise for helping lead the team to those landmark franchise moments. As good as some of those guys were that played with James, none of them had ever found success on their own for one reason or another.
Whether it’s Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Larry Hughes, or even Ilgauskas himself, they all needed to have James to help get them over the hump. While James only led the team to one title, taking the Cavs to five championship games since 2007 is impressive. Though, they’re more the Buffalo Bills of the NBA than they are the Patriots.
Some mismanagement and shortsighted planning hindered the team in 2010 and 2018 after James left, but the team at least has a few years in NBA history where they were seen in a wholly different light.
#13 – Omar Vizquel
From his arrival in the spring of 1994 to his departure 11 seasons later in 2004, no other player was as dominant a defensive player in the league as Omar Vizquel. For nine straight seasons (eight in Cleveland), Vizquel was a Gold Glover winner and was by far the best defensive player since Ozzie Smith. To be honest, Vizquel was better.
He would win another two Gold Gloves in San Francisco in 2005 and 2006 at the ages of 38 and 39 leaving him with 11 total Gold Glove awards. The sad thing is, it should’ve been 14. For three years from 2002 to 2004, Vizquel was punished for playing on a rebuilding club as less talented defensive players in Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez took home three total Gold Gloves. Now, Jeter maybe would’ve deserved his, yet Rodriguez was an average defender at best. He only won those awards because of his production at the plate and his MVP-caliber performances during his Texas Rangers days.
Had Vizquel been given a fair shake, and those with say over such things hadn’t favored super-star players instead of deserving players, then maybe Vizquel gets his 14 straight Gold Glove awards like he earned.
As far as club records go, Vizquel is 10th in games played (1478), seventh in hits (1616), eighth in doubles (288), and sixth in runs scored (906). So he wasn’t just really good on defense, he also was a better hitter than people remember. He wasn’t always, but as he crept into his 30’s, he started to improve at the plate to the point he was a viable second hitter in the lineup.
Vizquel and Jim Thome were the two most era-defining Indians of the ’90s. They’re both Mr. Indian as far as I’m concerned.
#57 – Clay Matthews
Clay Matthews played linebacker for the Cleveland Browns in the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s. His brother Bruce was an iconic center for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans during the same span and then some. The two men were legends and spawned children who’d go on to pave their own way in the NFL winning awards, earning Pro Bowl selections and becoming the types of guys that teams fought to draft.
Clay Matthews, however, was ours. He was a Cleveland Brown through and through. He was arguably not just the best defensive player during the height of the ’80s Browns squads, but maybe the best player period on those teams.
The former first-round pick played in parts of three different decades for the Browns. During that time Matthews became the all-time leader in total tackles for the organization with 1,430 a near unattainable record. Since 1999, only one player, D’Qwell Jackson (3rd all-time), has even come close to his record and he only amassed 826.
(*For context, before 1994 all tackles were considered as one stat. In 1994 total, solo, and combined tackles became different stats. For the sake of the conversation, we’re only counting total tackles.)
Matthews is also the club’s all-time leader in stats with 68.5 but that number is low because he played five seasons without ‘sacks’ being a recorded stat. He easily could have another 30 or 40 sacks for all we know but since the NFL won’t ever recognize pre-1982 tackles on quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage as sacs, Matthews is stuck with only 68.5.
It’s a number that’ll soon fall, assuming current Browns player Myles Garrett can stay on the field and be productive. Garrett sits at seventh all time, with 30.5 career sacks through only three seasons.
Matthews was inducted into the Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor just last year, which seems a bit delayed for the impact of his legacy but yet, here we are. It’s time they honor him fully and retire his No. 57.
It’s time to honor arguably the greatest Brownie of all time.
#28 Corey Kluber
This one will come with plenty of detractors and that’s too be expected. That’s the price of greatness, after all. Corey Kluber, despite what anyone else may want to say, is arguably the greatest pitcher in Indians history. Full stop.
Again, those that control the Major League’s image cost Kluber not one, but two potential Cy Young awards. Had he even won one more than the two he already has, it wouldn’t be out of line at all to assume Kluber was heading to Cooperstown at the end of his career.
He only pitched six full seasons with the Indians, won two Cy Youngs, finished in the top 15 of MVP voting twice, and went to three straight All-Star games. Over that stretch, he was the best pitcher in all of baseball, at the very least the AL from 2013 to 2018. He ended up winning a whopping 98 games over that time, which s is a partial testament to his dominance.
His .628% win/loss percentage is eighth all-time in club history. He’s also second all-time in walks/hits per inning pitch (1.086), third all-time for strikeouts per nine innings (9.8), third all-time in total strikeouts (1,461), number one all-time in strikeouts to walks with an average of 5.003 strikeouts per walk.
Sure, he got traded after an injury-plagued season but if C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee are any metric to grade Kluber against, he’ll probably regain his old form and torture more teams now that he’s in Texas.
The only knock against him was that he got called up full time at 27. Who knows if that’s his fault for not putting it all together yet, or if the Indians just didn’t know what they had. If he was ready four or five years earlier, it’s entirely possible he has five Cy Youngs, eight All-Star selections, 200 wins, and Bob Feller’s strikeout record. That’s a big “what if” though, admittedly.