User:Dodiad/Sandbox/List of Major League Baseball retired numbers

Major League Baseball and its participating clubs have retired various uniform numbers over the course of time, ensuring that those numbers will always be associated with particular players or managers of note. The use of numbers on uniforms to better identify one player from another, and hence to boost sales of scorecards, was tried briefly by the Cleveland Indians of 1916, and the St. Louis Cardinals of 1923. The first team to permanently adopt the practice was the New York Yankees of 1929. By 1932, all sixteen major league clubs were issuing numbers, and by 1937, the leagues passed rules requiring it.

The Yankees' original approach was to simply assign the numbers 1 through 8 to the regular starting lineup in their normal batting order. Hence, Babe Ruth wore number 3 and Lou Gehrig number 4. The first major leaguer whose number was retired was Gehrig, in January, 1940, following his retirement due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which became known popularly as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Since then, over 150 other people have had their numbers retired. This includes managers and coaches, as Major League Baseball is the only one of the major North American professional leagues in which the coaching staff wear the same uniforms as players. Four numbers have been retired in honor of people not directly involved on the playing field—three for team executives, and one for a team's fans. Some of the game's early stars, such as Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson, retired before numbers came into usage. Teams often celebrate their retired numbers and other honored people by hanging banners with the numbers and names. Early stars, as well as honored non-players, will often have numberless banners hanging along with the retired numbers. Because fewer and fewer players stay with one team long enough to warrant their number being retired, some players believe that getting their number retired is a greater honor than going into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ron Santo, upon his number 10 being retired on the last day of the 2003 regular season, enthusiastically told the Wrigley Field crowd as his #10 flag was hoisted, "This is my Hall of Fame!"

Alternative methods of recognition
Some teams do not retire jersey numbers, and instead celebrate their stars in other ways. The Toronto Blue Jays have a 'Level of Excellence,' where notable individuals in club history have their names and numbers posted under the fifth deck of the Rogers Centre.

Some teams have not formally retired certain numbers, but nonetheless kept them out of circulation. For example, the Cincinnati Reds have only assigned Pete Rose's #14 to one other player after his retirement: his own son. #14 cannot be retired in honor of the older Rose at present, due to his lifetime ban from baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies ensured that Rose, a former Phillie who served with the team during their 1980 World Series win, could not have #14 retired in his honor by instead retiring it in favor of Hall of Fame pitcher (and later U.S. Senator) Jim Bunning, who also wore that number.

Also, after Darryl Kile's untimely death in 2002, the teams he played for (Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, and St. Louis Cardinals) took his #57 out of circulation, but have yet to formally retire the number.

Numbers retired by Major League Baseball
Normally the individual clubs are responsible for retiring numbers. On April 15, 1997, Major League Baseball took the unusual move of retiring a number for all teams. On the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking the major league color barrier, his number 42 was retired throughout the majors, at the order of Commissioner Bud Selig. This meant that no future player on any major league team could wear number 42, although players wearing #42 at the time were allowed to continue with it (see below).

There has also been advocacy for giving Roberto Clemente's number 21 a similar treatment. They feel that Clemente's impact on the Hispanic community is equal to that of Robinson's on the black community. The target goal for the retirement was in time for the 2006 MLB All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, where Clemente played. RetireClemente21.com collected over 70,000 signatures for the effort. So far, MLB has taken no decisive action on this request.

Retired in honor of multiple players
The following numbers have been retired in honor of multiple players:
 * Chicago Cubs, #31: retired in 2009 for Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux
 * Cincinnati Reds, #5: retired in 1940 for Willard Hershberger who had committed suicide during the season; returned to service in 1942; retired in 1984 for Johnny Bench
 * Montreal Expos, #10: retired for Rusty Staub in 1993; ceremony to honor #10 for Andre Dawson was held in 1997
 * New York Yankees, #8: retired in 1972 for Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra
 * St. Louis Cardinals, #42: retired in 1997 by all teams in MLB for Jackie Robinson; ceremony to honor #42 for Bruce Sutter was held in 2006

Announced but not yet honored
On January 22, 2011, the Detroit Tigers announced that they will formally retire #11 in honor of the late Sparky Anderson at a future date during the 2011 season.

On January 27, 2011, the Minnesota Twins announced that they will formally retire #28 in honor of Bert Blyleven on July 16.

On March 22, 2011, the Atlanta Braves announced that they will formally retire #6 in honor of Bobby Cox on August 12.

Players who pre-date uniform numbers
Six players played before the advent of uniform numbers and have had their uniforms retired:
 * Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers
 * Grover Cleveland Alexander, Philadelphia Phillies
 * Chuck Klein, Phillies (Klein had various numbers in the later years of his career, but never wore one consistently)
 * Christy Mathewson, and John McGraw, New York Giants; both are denoted with "NY" and their names at AT&T Park
 * Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals, denoted with a "STL" and his name at Busch Stadium

Broadcasters

 * Jack Buck - St. Louis Cardinals; honored with a drawing of a microphone on the wall with the retired numbers.
 * Lon Simmons and Russ Hodges – San Francisco Giants; honored with stylised old-style radio microphone displayed in place of a number.
 * Marty Brennaman, Waite Hoyt, and Joe Nuxhall – Cincinnati Reds; honored with microphones by the broadcast booth.
 * Jerry Coleman – San Diego Padres; a "star on the wall" in reference to his trademark phrase "You can hang a star on that one!" The star is painted in gold on the front of the pressbox down the right field line, accompanied by Coleman's name in white.
 * Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn – Philadelphia Phillies; At Citizens Bank Park, the restaurant built into the base of the main scoreboard is named "Harry the K's" in Kalas's honor. After Kalas's death, the Phillies' TV-broadcast booth was renamed "The Harry Kalas Broadcast Booth". It is directly next to the radio-broadcast booth, which is named "The Richie 'Whitey' Ashburn Broadcast Booth".
 * Ernie Harwell - Detroit Tigers; honored with his name alongside the retired players on the Left-Centerfield Brick wall in Comerica Park and a statue & portrait at the stadium's front entrance.
 * Bob Uecker - "50 Years in Baseball" along with Uecker's name is next to the Brewers retired numbers at Miller Park.
 * Tom Cheek - Toronto Blue Jays; honored with a banner on the Rogers Centre's "Level of Excellence" bearing his name and, in place of a jersey number, 4,306 - his streak of consecutive regular-season broadcasts.
 * Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse - Chicago Cubs: Caray is remembered inside and outside of Wrigley Field. A statue of him leading the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is near the bleacher entrance (originally at the corner of Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue), and a caricature of him adorns his former WGN-TV broadcast booth. Brickhouse's catch phrase, "Hey hey!" is memorialized in large red letters on each foul pole. (Brickhouse also has a statue on Michigan Avenue.)
 * Dave Niehaus - Seattle Mariners; the press box at Safeco Field was renamed the "Dave Niehaus Media Center" on April 8, 2011 prior to the Mariners' home opener against the Cleveland Indians. In addition, a part of First Aveue NW outside the stadium was renamed Dave Niehaus Way.

Owners and contributors

 * The initials of former San Diego Padres owner Ray Kroc are painted in gold on the front of the pressbox down the right field line, accompanied by his name in white.
 * Charles Bronfman was inducted into the Expos Hall of Fame as its inaugural member in 1993, and a circular patch placed on the right field wall with his name, the number 83, which he used to wear during spring training, and the words "FONDATEUR / FOUNDER".
 * On April 8, 2008, the final opening day at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets unveiled a "Shea" logo which was displayed on the left-field fence next to the team's other retired numbers. The stadium was named for William Shea, a prominent lawyer who was responsible for the return of National League baseball to New York.
 * Walter A. Haas Jr., honorary jersey retired (with stylized Old English "A" in place of a number) in 1995, located in right field. Owner of the Oakland Athletics from 1980 until 1995. Haas purchased the team from Charles O. Finley in 1980, saving the team from potentially moving out of the area.

Major League players and managers with numbers retired from multiple teams
To date, only eight players have had their uniform number retired by more than one Major League Baseball team. In addition, Casey Stengel is the only manager to have had his number retired by more than one team. Stengel played for five teams, two of which he also managed, but he served solely as a manager for the two teams that retired his number. When the Tigers retire Sparky Anderson's #11 in 2011, he will join Stengel on this list. The Cincinnati Reds retired Anderson's #10 in 2005. Nolan Ryan is the only person to have a number retired by three different teams. Ryan, Carlton Fisk, and Reggie Jackson are the only people to have had two different numbers retired, with Anderson set to join this list as well.



Additional reading

 * Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, Marc Okkonen, 1991, Sterling Publishing.