Comments on: Way more than you wanted on retired numbers!

By: tommy in CT

tommy in CT — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:48:01 +0000

Saberhagen better than Guidry? What have you guys been smoking?

And as for those who can’t understand Guidry’s number being retired by the Yankees, Guidry was the ace on three different World Series teams, almost single-handedly put the Yankees in the post-season with brilliant stretch performances in ‘77 and ‘78, won two ERA titles, won 20 games three times, and won 26 of 30 decisions over five Septembers in which the Yankees were in tight division races (‘77, ‘78, ‘80, ‘83 and ‘85) and had four top-5 Cy Young finishes.

And then consider that he had a 3-1 record in four WS starts with a 1.69 ERA. Consider that he pitched BACK-TO-BACK shutouts against the Red Sox in the heat of the great ‘78 September pennant race.

One more thing: Ron Guidry didn’t compile records of 7-12, 5-9, 3-5 and 7-7 during the peak period of his career, like Saberhagen.

By: hdarvick

hdarvick — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:36:19 +0000

You write: “The first retired jersey in baseball history was, of course. No. 4 for the Iron Horse, New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig. That was in 1939, and of course Gehrig certainly was one of the great players in baseball history. But, it was the EMOTION of the moment that created the entire concept of retired jerseys, and so there are many emotional retired numbers around baseball.” You are wrong. It was not the EMOTION of the moment. Sure, there was emotion at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939…but Gehrig’s number was not retired on July 4, 1939. On Saturday, January 6, 1940, six months later, Yankee President Ed Barrow announced that the Yankees were retiring Gehrig’s Number 4. The story made the sports pages across the country on Sunday, January 7, 1940, including the front page of Sports Section 5 of “The New York Times.” Even the Yankees have it wrong. They are perpetuating the myth of retiring #4 on the day Gehrig considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth by putting “July 4, 1939″ beneath his retired number in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium. Hopefully they’ll get it right in Yankee Stadium 2 in 2009.

By: Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:31:48 +0000

Stubborness in the face of obviously not knowing anything about Danny Murtaugh taints the article.

By: dodgers retired numbers Trendy Here!

dodgers retired numbers Trendy Here! — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:01:31 +0000

[...] But through that, Iâ€™ve come believe there are three kinds of retired jerseys in baseball. … credit : [...]

By: Mark P

Mark P — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:02:13 +0000

The Jays also have number 4306 in their ‘Level of Excellence’ in honor of Tom Cheek, their great radio broadcaster who called literally every game in Toronto history until June of 2004. Cheek called 4306 straight games, so that’s the number that went up on the Level. Don’t get me started on how Cheek has been snubbed for the Frick award, btw.

My jaw literally dropped at the top of the comment section when people were railing on Alomar’s defense. Seriously? It’s ROBERTO ALOMAR. To compare him to brick-glove Jeter is an insult.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:13:55 +0000

Under the Reds that wore #5, Vada Pinson wore it when he first game up in 1958. Great stuff though

By: Jacko

Jacko — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:44:48 +0000

You say that most people don’t believe Mazeroski should be in the Hall of Fame and at the same time say he’s the greatest defensive second baseman of all time. I suppose you talked to “most people” and sought out their opinion on the matter?

By: Brent

Brent — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:01:06 +0000

I think retired numbers are coming close to being a thing of the past. With few exceptions, players move around so much to ever have enough of an affiliation with any one team to get their number retired (see the Oakland A’s retired jersey’s for exhibit A).

Todd Helton will likely get his number retired once he retires. Other than him, Jeter, and a handful of other guys, there really aren’t that many marquee players that have longevity with a team to justify their numbers being retired.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:16:48 +0000

In re: the Mariners

“Comment: Will they retire Juniorâ€™s number someday? What about A-Rod? What about Unit?.”

Yes. No. No.

They’ll retire Edgar’s 11, and Ichiro’s 51 over the Unit’s.

By: gogiggs

gogiggs — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:43:52 +0000

Chuck, assuming your comment was directed to me, I am well aware that expressing my opinion about the retiring of Randy Jones number doesn’t do any good. On the other hand, I was not aware that “doing any good” was the goal here. In fact, I seriously doubt that most of what’s posted here on any topic does any good anywhere. It’s just interested people posting their opinions to pass the time.

Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps you could explain to me exactly what good is being accomplished by arguing whether George Brett or Mike Schmidt was better.

The topic of retired numbers was raised. I offered my opinion. That’s what we do here. I pretty explicitly acknowledged that my opinion was irrelevant when I wrote “the Padres decided to retire his number and the Padres fans here seem happy with the decision, which is what counts, I guess. ”

Still, I have to say, that was one of the most subtle and polite ways that I’ve ever been told. “nobody cares what you think, so why don’t you shut the fuck up”.

So, thanks for that, I guess.