What idiot is Retiring that clowns number?

[gingi79]

I truly believe the retirement of a players number is both the most overused and underused tribute to a players career a team does. Some team will retire every great player. Others have some mystical chart that a player needs to fulfill subjective personal qualities as well as their performance on the field. Yet still others won't retire a number unless the player is an Ali, Gretzky, Ruth, Jordan type player.

So my collector friends, wax poetic an how you feel. Who is a glaring omission? Who the heck green lighted that doofus? How did the MLB/NBA/NHL/NCAA/NFL NOT retire that number?

What should the credentials be? I'll start:

My team is still the Vancouver Canucks as I am getting over their SCF loss. The retired players:

#12 Stan Smyl. Captained the 1982 SCF team and was the soul of the franchise in late 70's and the 80's. Never made an All Star game. 30 goals/40 assists average for a decade. 13 years coaching as an assistant in Vancouver and then head coach with their AHL affiliate. The face of the franchise for 20 years. Very much the face of the franchise and left hold many team record. His work off the ice with kids a big contributing factor.

#16 Trevor Linden, Pretty much a copy paste of above. Captain of the best season in Canucks history 1994. Exceeded Smyl's accomplishments and records and was and is the most giving pro athlete I know about. Good player, never became what we expected both he and Mike Modano would do. Did make the ALL Star game 2 times. A strong rational voice that was met with respect during his time running the Players Union. Trevor is considered the heart of the Canucks.

#19 Markus Naslund 5 time all star. Took a 20/20/40 few seasons to a 40g/50a/90pts seasons. and ended with 4 seasons averaging 25/35/60 Most notable star post Bure/Messier and got to work with Mogilny. leading to the drafting of the Sedins. and Kesler. Also very giving of time off the field on the down low.

Bottom live, they were the best player on the franchise for reasons outside athletic accomplishments. All three are heart, soul and guts.
Notice however, they didn't lead the league in squat, never were mistaken for HOF players

Now is this how Number retirement ceremonies should be, or simply for the Michael jordans who in his acceptance speech told us we are useless goobers, he was responsible for everything a player did right and they were responsible for every time Jordan missed. People only care about him because he is rich and we are just so much better because we got to see his majesty play.

Who got slighted?? Who got in because they had nude pics of the judges daughter?

Speak my people, a great debate awaits for those who articulate, pronunciate and then pontificate leading to rebuttal, rebuke and a rap lyric by Snoop. Learnen from the GUU gonna get our listening ears on like it chuch up in here!

[earlywynnfan]

World B. Free totally deserves his number retired by the Cavs. If he didn't come to Cleveland, the team would have been gone before Price/Nance/Daugherty or LeBron ever had a chance.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[metsmetsmets]

There is no criteria. A team owner can do whatever the hell he wants to do. It's his team. He paid for it. And that's that. As fans, we can only hope that the owner(s) honor and respect the team's history in a way that we believe is fitting. I think that when we fans get into these discussions about which player deserves or doesn't deserve to have his number retired, what we are really indicating is what we would do if we owned the team in question.

[sox83cubs84]

There is no criteria. A team owner can do whatever the hell he wants to do. It's his team. He paid for it. And that's that. As fans, we can only hope that the owner(s) honor and respect the team's history in a way that we believe is fitting. I think that when we fans get into these discussions about which player deserves or doesn't deserve to have his number retired, what we are really indicating is what we would do if we owned the team in question.

On the Cubs, a retired number must be for a player who is in the Hall of Fame and went in as a Cub. That said, the team made exceptions for both Ron Santo (probable future HoFer) and Greg Maddux (definite future HoFer). At the other end of the spectrum, the Cubs will not retire #8 for Andre Dawson,
as he went in as a Montreal Expo, despite the fact that he wanted to be enshrined as a Cub, but was overruled by MLB and the HoF, who declared that he would be wearing an Expos cap on his plaque.

Dave Miedema

[Mark17]

On the Cubs, a retired number must be for a player who is in the Hall of Fame and went in as a Cub. That said, the team made exceptions for both Ron Santo (probable future HoFer) and Greg Maddux (definite future HoFer). ... Dave Miedema

Dave, are they sure Maddux will go in as a Cub? He had his best years, and more of them, with Atlanta.

[Mark17]

To answer the question, it kills me to see Eric Chavez with the A's, wearing Jimmie Foxx's #3. Anybody with 500 career homers, especially with a career batting average of .325 deserves to have their number retired. The Red Sox didn't retire Foxx's number either.

[xpress34]

Colorado Rockies:

Two of the ORIGINAL 1993 Rockies and Fan Favorites:

Dante Bichette

Andres Galaragga

Their numbers have been worn by a number of players of the years since they left the Rockies:

Bichette (#10) worn by Jeff Baker and now Chris Nelson and a number of other's in between...

Galaragga (#14) worn by Greg Norton and now Mark Ellis and at one point in time - his 2006 call-up - by Troy Tulowitzki...

So no 'Retirement' of those numbers on the horizon, but since Larry Walker left the team, no one else has ever worn #33, but the Rockies have not retired it either...

The general consensus is that the Rox are waiting for Helton to retire and his #17 will be the 1st Uniform number retired by the Rockies with Walker's #33 following right behind.

[sox83cubs84]

Dave, are they sure Maddux will go in as a Cub? He had his best years, and more of them, with Atlanta.

A worthwhile point...given that the Cubs management is so half-ass backwards on so many of their decisions and policies, they may have it blow up in their face. And, if Maddux CHOOSES to enter Cooperstown as a Brave, then there's no valid reason to keep Dawson out when his own decision was overruled.

Dave Miedema

[Shipp_96]

To answer the question, it kills me to see Eric Chavez with the A's, wearing Jimmie Foxx's #3. Anybody with 500 career homers, especially with a career batting average of .325 deserves to have their number retired. The Red Sox didn't retire Foxx's number either.

Not saying Foxx does not deserve the honor, but Chavez did have a solid career at least with Oakland (6 straight Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger).

The Steelers are @ss backwards too, they will NOT retire a players number after #70 Ernie Stautner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Stautner), but will "take them out of circulation", and apparently it is a selective process. No one ever wore #32 after Franco, or #12 after Bradshaw. I question if we will ever see another #63 after Dirt Dawson or #36 after Jerome Bettis.

However, nothing like watching the "great" Deshea Townsend sully Rod Woodson's #26. Or Yancy Thigpen wearing John Stallworth's #82 in Super Bowl XXX, or Antwaan Randel-El in Super Bowl XL. It has been also been worn by Henry Bailey and Bobby Shaw (WHO??). The list of no names that wore Lynn Swann's #88 after him is laughable, you just need to know that Andre Hastings was the best of the bunch (LOL).

[1929tudor]

The same goes for the White Sox retiring Harold Baines number. Out of all the White Sox history and players retiring harold baines who in my opionin was an average everyday player and not worthy of his number retired. He's not even in the HOF or close to it. If that is the case surely Paul Konerko will have his number on the wall also. Reindorf likes Baines so he retired his number.

[sox83cubs84]

The same goes for the White Sox retiring Harold Baines number. Out of all the White Sox history and players retiring harold baines who in my opionin was an average everyday player and not worthy of his number retired. He's not even in the HOF or close to it. If that is the case surely Paul Konerko will have his number on the wall also. Reindorf likes Baines so he retired his number.

Baines was a very good player, but I agree not number retirement worthy. Keep in mind two things: 1) Baines' #3 was retired while he was still active (after his trade to Texas in 1989), and 2) I think Reinsdorf's motives were for more than just honoring Baines. At that time, Reinsdorf, unlike now, was
extremely unpopular in Chicago, part of which was because the general belief was that he dissed Bill Veeck, who was always well-loved in Chicago. Veeck was still alive, and made no secret about disliking Reinsdorf, and he was the one who brought Baines to the organization. The number retirement was probably an olive branch offered by Reinsdorf to Veeck in the form of honoring "his" guy.

Dave Miedema

[Skizzick]

Since the original post was about hockey, please allow me to address the Flyers retired numbers. They retired Barry Ashbee as their first number in 1975, though he never went to an all-star game in his short career. Many believe his number was retired and he received his coaching job out of sympathy, and his untimely death in 1977 seemed to add to fans' admiration of him.

Bernie Parent, Bill Barber, and Bobby Clarke are all no-brainers.

Pelle Lindbergh's number has never been officially retired, but never given out again. They should just retire the damn number because nobody is ever going to wear 31 again.

There are certainly other players who should have their numbers retired by the Flyers, but at the very least, they should retire Ron Hextall's number. The man was one of the best goalie's that ever played the game, and played them all with the Flyers.

[emann]

The Red Sox seem very political when it comes to retiring numbers. Wade Boggs should have had his retired a long time ago (he meets their policy of being a HOFer and 10 years spent in the organization). It seems pretty obvious that his time spent with the Yankees/Devil Rays is what is keeping that from happening.

That policy is too strict also: Dwight Evans probably deserves consideration and down the line Clemens (HOF or not) and maybe someone from the '04/07 era (like Pedro Martinez).

I also think having Jackie Robinson's number included in the actual listing of retired numbers for each team is odd. It should have simply been that out of respect for him nobody ever wears it again in MLB, except on JR Day. When I see the circles of retired numbers at Fenway now, it just looks like they retired Mo Vaughn's number. :eek:

[coxfan]

I prefer the custom of honoring a player by displaying his jersey with name on it; but allowing the number itself to be re-used. Otherwise, the system becomes "front-loaded": earlier players have a better shot at having their numbers retired, because there are more available numbers left. I know of one major college coach who asked players with retired numbers to give permission to re-use their numbers, as he was already running a little short.

This reminds me of Roman history. After the months of July and August were re-named for Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus, the Senate of course had to offer the same honor to the next emperor. But Tiberius refused, saying that they would run out of months before they ran out of emperors! So the re-naming stopped there.

[otismalibu]

The man was one of the best goalie's that ever played the game, and played them all with the Flyers.

He was great in the SCF against the Oilers, but did he ever play at the level again? Between then and now, the Flyers would have surely grabbed a Cup or two if they could only find a goalie that was clutch and didn't allow soft goals.

I could see Pelle, but not Hextall.

[frikativ54]

This reminds me of Roman history. After the months of July and August were re-named for Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus, the Senate of course had to offer the same honor to the next emperor. But Tiberius refused, saying that they would run out of months before they ran out of emperors! So the re-naming stopped there.

+1 for the Roman history mention.

[mbrieve]

As a fan of the Detroit Tigers, I often get frustrated by their number retirements. I believe all of the retired numbers are justified, but I feel they are a bit too stingy with the honor.

They waited until after Sparky Anderson passed away to honor him (Ilitch showing his lack of class). They have yet to retire Alan Trammell's number 3, even allowing Gary Sheffield to wear it during his brief stint with the team (again, stupid). I would understand that decision if they were only honoring HOFers, but they retired Willie Horton's number 23 even after it was issued on several occasions after his departure (fans didn't even vote him as one of the top 3 outfielders in team history in 1999).

In my opinion, a case can be made for the Tigers to retire the following numbers: Alan Trammell (#3), Lou Whitaker (#1), Jack Morris (#47), Mickey Lolich (#29) and Bill Freehan (although #11 has already been retired for Sparky).