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For comparison sake, lets look at other retired unis
Angels kick us off with 5. 26 for “The Singing Cowboy” in honor of his being the 26th man for Anaheim in 1982. If Autry wanted to honor himself then why the heck not. 29 Rod Carew and 30 Nolan Ryan (while Ryan was still active as a Ranger) were put into mothballs in advance of their HOF enshrinements. Certainly Ryan’s Angel career was probably more important than Carew’s was, Ryan blossomed in California and was the anchor of the staff while Carew brought his legend there and helped lead the way to two AL West crowns.
50 Jimmie Reese in honor of the coach’s 50 years in pro ball. Again its hard to quibble as its not like the Angels have gone overboard with numbers and it is so high up that it is a coach/Spring Training number.
11 Jim Fregosi. Huh? Okay he was a very popular player, and did net a future HOFer and managed the team to their first AL West Crown but I guess I’ll have to know more about Angel history, maybe he was the first genuinely big star in Angel history.
Astros go a bit of an overload with 34 Ryan being the only HOFer of the bunch. Offensive stars like 24 Jimmy Wynn, 25 Jose Cruz and 5 Jeff Bagwell (he’ll probably make the Hall though) and of course Craig Biggio (who defiantly will be in Cooperstown) when he hangs them up. Also pitching standouts like 33 Mike Scott and 49 Larry Dierker (who did lead them to multiple NL Central crowns as skipper) Also two RIP uniform retirements for 32 Jim Umbricht and 40 Don Wilson.
Back to just the Hall of Famers with the Athletics
For reasons unknown no Philadelphia A is so honored (a number of the Oakland honorees played in KC but no genuine KC A really should be honored) but the A’s have 4 numbers retired, all 4 played the majority of their careers or at least built their legacy as A’s. 27 Catfish Hunter, 34 Rollie Fingers, 9 Reggie Jackson and 43 Dennis Eckersley. Also all 4 were retired after gaining entry into Cooperstown. They also have honored the late owner during the 80’s run, Walter Hass.
None for the Blue Jays as they have a “Level Of Honor” as a Hall of Fame for great players and other personnel
Same holds for the Braves’ 5 with the exception of Dale Murphy’s # 3, though all would be retired before they were enshrined. 21 Warren Spahn, 41 Eddie Mathews, 44 Hank Aaron and 35 Phil Niekro (while Knuksie was still active!) Wouldn’t be surprised to see at least 47 for Glavine, 29 for Smoltz and 10 for Larry.
Brewers also honor the Hall of Famers, though one will quibble 44 Aaron as he only played 2 seasons. Ditto with 34 Rollie Fingers, but again the only other two are Brewers in the HOF, 19 Robin Yount and 4 Paul Molitor.
Skipping ahead to the Cubs who also are quite skimpy on the numbers and with the exception of 10 Ron Santo, which was probably done with an eye towards getting him into the Hall, the honorees are all Cubbie HOFers. 14 Ernie Banks, 26 Billy Williams and 23 Ryne Sandberg
Devil Rays’ 12 for Wade Boggs is an absolute joke and a waste of time to even discuss. Their expansion brothers the Diamondbacks have yet to retire a number, though I’d expect 51 for Randy Johnson to be put aside.
Cardinals and Dodgers have 10 each (and one “name” for the Cardinals honoring Rogers Hornsby) but at least the majority are all HOFers who are known for their days in St. Louis and Brooklyn/LA
Cardinals: 6 Stan Musial, 17 Dizzy Dean, 45 Bob Gibson, 20 Lou Brock, 1 Ozzie Smith (all except for ‘Ole Diz done in advance of Cooperstown) as well as 2 Red Schoendienst, who is a long time Cardinal employee, 9 Enos Slaughter and 42 Bruce Sutter. Cards also have honored 14 for an ill Ken Boyer and 85 (hard to quibble with that high of a number) for the 85 year old owner August Busch. Also the Cardinals honor Jack Buck with a microphone.
Dodgers: All except for Alston after their inductions, 32 Sandy Koufax, 39 Roy Campanella, 42 Jackie Robinson, 24 Walt Alston, 4 Duke Snider, 1 Pee Wee Reese, 53 Don Drysdale, 2 Tom Lasorda and 20 Don Sutton. Lone exception is honoring the sudden death of long time player and coach, 19 Jim Gilliam.
The Giants also have a bloated list with 12 honorees, 8 players and 4 names, but all are Hall of Famers though. The names are broadcast legends Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons along with New York legends Christy Mathewson and John McGraw. The players; 11 Carl Hubbell, 4 Mel Ott, 24 Willie Mays, 27 Juan Marichal, 44 Willie McCovey, 3 Bill Terry, 30 Orlando Cepeda and 36 Gaylord Perry. Probably the only quibble is Perry in terms of his Giant career as opposed to his time in Cleveland and San Diego, but hey he is still a HOFer and in as a Giant. All except for Terry, Cepeda, Perry and the names were done before their inductions into Cooperstown.
Cleveland has 7 numbers on the wall, though 6 players as they honored their streak of 455 consecutive sellouts from 95 to 01 with a “retirement.” For the most part they are HOFers, 3 Earl Averill, 5 Lou Boudreau, 19 Bob Feller, 21 Bob Lemon and 14 Larry Doby. The lone exception, 18 Mel Harder who after a fine career was a coach with the Indians for a long time as well.
The Mariners have no retired unis, however 24 has yet to be used since Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Reds prior to the 2000 season.
The Marlins have one uni retired, #5 in honor of the late Carl Barger who was named the Team President in July of 1991, died suddenly before the Fish ever played their first game. The Marlins chose the uniform of Barger’s all time favorite player, Joe DiMaggio.
For what its worth the Expos put 3 numbers, honoring 4 players in mothballs. All three have appeared on the backs of Washington Nationals. 8 for Hall of Famer Gary Carter, 10 for fan favorites Rusty Staub and Andre Dawson, and 30 for fan favorite Tim Raines.
Baltimore with 6 also continues the trend of just the no doubt future HOFers with 20 Frank Robinson, 5 Brooks Robinson, 4 Earl Weaver, 22 Jim Palmer, 33 Eddie Murray and 8 Cal Ripken
Then we have the Padres. While only 4 retired jerseys they do seem to be all over the map. 6 for Steve Garvey and 35 for Randy Jones would indicate some sort of honoring great Padres, but then they have only honored Dave Winfield’s 31 after his induction and Tony Gwynn’s 19 after he retired.
Both Pennsylvania teams have a bunch. Phillies with 5 numbers and 2 names, all HOFers though. 4 were done in advance of their enshrinement, 36 Robin Roberts, 1 Richie Ashburn, 32 Steve Carlton and 20 Mike Schmidt while 14 Jim Bunning was not. Also when Bunning’s was retired it gave the Phillies the opportunity to honor Philly legends before there were numbers. So Grover Alexander and Chuck Klein have their names on the wall.
With Waner’s 11 being retired the Pirates count is 9 numbers. All but two honor HOFers. Both honor popular managers who passed on before hand, 1 Billy Meyer and 40 Danny Murtaugh. The others, 33 Honus Wagner, that was his number as a long time Pirate coach, 20 Pie Traynor, 21 Roberto Clemente, 8 Willie Stargell, 4 Ralph Kiner, and 9 Bill Mazeroski. All but Mazeroski, and Stargell were retired after their inductions.
The Rangers have just two, 34 for Nolan Ryan and 26 for Johnny Oates who managed the team to their postseason appearances.
As we know the Red Sox are even stricter than just Hall of Famers with their 10 year rule which means just 9 Ted Williams, 4 Joe Cronin, 1 Bobby Doerr, 8 Carl Yastrzemski and 27 Carlton Fisk.
The Reds for a lot of years just had 2 retired uniforms, 1 Fred Hutchinson the manager of the 1961 NL Champs who died suddenly in 1964 and 5 for Johnny Bench. Then in 1998 the retired numbers started to balloon. 13 for Davey Concepcion will be the 8th number retired, following 8 Joe Morgan, 18 Ted Kluszewski who was a long time coach after his playing days, 20 Frank Robinson, 24 Tony Perez, and 10 Sparky Anderson. Bench is the only one of the 5 HOFers who the Reds retired the number in advance of their induction into Cooperstown.
None for Colorado.
The Royals only have 3 retired numbers. One is a bit of a Gil Hodges tribute to 10 Dick Howser who died in 1987. 20 Frank White to one of the most popular players in Royals history and of course 5 George Brett.
The Tigers honored 4 Hall of Famers, all years after their inductions with the exception of 6 Al Kaline, as well as a popular player in 23 Willie Horton. The others are 2 Charlie Gehringer, 5 Hank Greenberg and 16 Hal Newhouser. They have also honored the names of HOFers Ty Cobb, Heinie Manush, Hughie Jennings, Sam Crawford, George Kell, Mickey Cochrane and Ernie Harwell.
The Twins are also a team that has both honored popular greats and future HOFers, with their 5 retired unis. 3 Harmon Killebrew, 29 Rod Carew and 34 Kirby Puckett being the HOFers with 6 Tony Oliva and 14 Kent Hrbek being the non-HOFers.
And finally, the White Sox with 8, also a mix of HOFers and non HOFers. 4 Luke Appling, 2 Nellie Fox, 11 Luis Aparicio, 16 Ted Lyons and 72 Carlton Fisk are in the Hall while 9 Minnie Minoso, 19 Billy Pierce and 3 Harold Baines are not.
Looking at the sheer numbers, 157 different men (Jackie Robinson (by the other 29 teams), Ryan (3 times), Reggie, Carew, Fisk, Fingers, Frank Robinson, Aaron, and Stengel are the only multiple honorees) have been honored in this fashion, either with a number or a name alongside the other retired numbers.
Out of that 157 112 are in either the regular HOF or Ford C. Frick winning broadcasters, which leaves 45 who are not in one way or another honored in Cooperstown, of that group.
15 are either memorialized after their passing or the recipients of a tribute before their passing (I’m leaving Roberto Clemente, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig out of this category, as their numbers should be retired by their respective teams anyway despite the circumstances surrounding their number retirements)
Which leaves 30 numbers for either long time owners (Autry and Busch), a tribute to fans in Cleveland and a tribute to long time franchise favorites even if they fell short (or way short) of Cooperstown.
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