Awards

Retired Numbers in Major League Baseball

By Patrick Mondout

The Cleveland Indians experimented with uniform numbers for a short time in both 1916 and 1917 on the left and right sleeve, respectively. The 1923 St. Louis Cardinals also tried using numbers of their sleeves, but it was the 1929 Yankees and Indians who first put them on the backs of their uniforms. Uniform numbers were not common among all 16 teams until 1937. 

On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig's #4 became the first uniform number to be "retired." Well over 100 players have had similar honors in the years since and hardly a year goes by without someone joining the list.

On April 15, 1997, Jackie Robinson's #42 was retired by Major League Baseball, which means that no Major League Player will ever wear that number again. Those players who already were wearing 42 were allowed to continue doing so. The seven players who continued to wear Jackie's number were Butch Huskey (Mets), Mike Jackson (Indians), Scott Karl (Brewers), Jose Lima (Astros), Mariano Rivera (Yankees), Mo Vaughn (Red Sox), and Lenny Webster (Orioles). 

A number of uniform retirements had more to do with honoring the victim of a tragedy rather than one of the all-time greats. The Astros honored Jim Umbricht, a borderline major league pitcher who lost his battle with cancer at age 33 in 1964. The Astros later honored Don Wilson, whose suicide attempt was so tragically successful that he managed to take his son with him. He at least pitched a pair of no hitters. 

The Astros lead in another category: most players with retired numbers who never made a single "The Sporting News All-Star" team. Jose Cruz, Jimmy Wynn, and Mike Scott join Wilson and Umbricht for a record five. In fact there are only seven other such honored players in all of baseball and five of them are in the Hall of Fame!

Some teams have made a mockery of the honor by either having executives honor themselves or to retire numbers of players whose accomplishments were achieved elsewhere. Among the ridiculous number retirements are #85 of Cardinals owner Augie Busch, #26 of Angels owner Gene Autry, #5 of Marlins president Carl Barger, and #12 by the Devil Rays of Wade Boggs, who lead the team in only one offensive category in his short time: grounding into double plays in 1999.

Players who received similar "retirement" honors, but who played in the era before uniform numbers include: Ty Cobb (Tigers), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies), Chuck Klein (Phillies), Christy Mathewson (Giants), John McGraw (Giants) and Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals).

Uniform numbers were originally assigned by the player's position within the batting order, which is one reason 1-9 are mostly over-represented. The first number which has not been retired, perhaps not surprisingly given the irrational fear of it, is 13. With Alex Rodriguez now wearing that number for the only team that can afford his salary, that should eventually change. On the opposite side of the superstition is #7, which is oddly well under-represented in the first 10 numbers with only Mickey Mantle managing to get it retired.

The teams that have never retired a number are the Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. (All team pages list any retired numbers.)

Here is a list of retired uniform numbers by number. (We try to update this list during the season. If we miss one from 2006 or later, please use the Contact link at the top right of this page to let us know. We are confident the list is complete through 2005, however.)

References