no teams have retired numbers 54 or 55. goose gossage probably would have had his number (54) retired by someone if he had stayed with a single franchise for a longer period of time. as for 55, the dodgers could make a case for the number given it was worn by orel hershiser, but he is already a member of the "legends of dodger baseball" and so isn't likely to be considered for number retirement. of course, albert pujols wore the number in la for half a season, but i don't see that changing the equation at all.
so, without further ado, here is the one person for whom number 56 has been retired:
mark buehrle (retired by the white sox in 2017) 2008 topps
while not a member of the hall of fame, buehrle has managed to stay on the ballot through four appearances with over 5% of the vote each time. the lefty spent the first 13 years of his career with the white sox, and was good for more than 200 innings in all but his rookie year. he won 161 games with the team, and struck out 1,396 batters. his numbers are similar to what wilbur wood did with the chisox, but wood's number 28 is still in use today.
wood, of course, did not help the white sox to a world series title, so there is that. in the 2005 world series, buehrle was a big part of one of the most efficient pitching staffs in world series history this side of the 1966 orioles. he started one game and got the save in another as the white sox swept the astros. of course, buehrle is probably best known for the perfect game he threw as a member of the white sox (with help from dewayne wise) in 2009.
buehrle's number is on full display on that 2008 topps card thanks to the team's uniform design that, unlike the dodgers, puts the number on the right side of the jersey instead of the left. after he left chicago following the 2011 season, the club kept the number out of rotation before retiring it formally on june 24, 2017.
because we've already tackled the "high numbers", this is the final post of this series - until someone gets their number retired in the future. i've enjoyed sharing this collection through these posts!
i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.
retired numbers by team (through the 49 posts so far):
yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46, 49, 51
giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 36, 42
pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 44
guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 42, 455
red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 34, 42, 45
phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42
cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 85
reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42
braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42, 44, 47
astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42, 49
mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 36, 37, 41, 42
orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 33, 42
dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, 39, 42, 53
twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42
white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 56, 72
brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44
tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42, 47
cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42
royals - 5, 10, 20, 42
padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42, 51
athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43
angels - 11, 26, 30, 42, 50
expos - 8, 10, 30, 42
rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42
major league baseball - 42
rays - 12, 42, 66
diamondbacks - 20, 42, 51
blue jays - 32, 42
rockies - 17, 33, 42
mariners - 11, 24, 42
nationals - 11, 42
marlins - 42
retired number frequency:
1 - retired by 9 teams
2 - retired by 5 teams
3 - retired by 7 teams
4 - retired by 8 teams
5 - retired by 7 teams
6 - retired by 7 teams
7 - retired by 4 teams
8 - retired by 6 teams (retired by yankees for two players)
9 - retired by 6 teams
10 - retired by 10 teams (retired by expos for two players)
11 - retired by 8 teams
12 - retired by 1 team
13 - retired by 1 team
14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)
15 - retired by 2 teams
16 - retired by 4 teams
17 - retired by 3 teams
18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)
19 - retired by 5 teams
20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)
21 - retired by 4 teams
22 - retired by 2 teams
23 - retired by 4 teams
24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)
25 - retired by 4 teams
26 - retired by 4 teams
27 - retired by 3 teams
28 - retired by 1 team
29 - retired by 4 teams (retired by twins and angels for same person)
30 - retired by 3 teams
31 - retired by 4 teams (retired by cubs and braves for same person; retired by cubs for two players)
32 - retired by 5 teams
33 - retired by 4 teams
34 - retired by 8 teams (retired by astros and rangers for same person; retired by brewers and a's for same person; retired by a's for two players)
35 - retired by 3 teams
36 - retired by 4 teams
37 - retired by 2 teams (retired by mets and yankees for same person)
39 - retired by 1 team
40 - retired by 2 teams
41 - retired by 2 teams
42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)
43 - retired by 1 team
44 - retired by 4 teams (retired by brewers and braves for same person)
45 - retired by 2 teams
46 - retired by 1 team
47 - retired by 2 teams
49 - retired by 2 teams
50 - retired by 1 team
51 - retired by 3 teams
53 - retired by 1 team
56 - retired by 1 team
66 - retired by 1 team
72 - retired by 1 team
85 - retired by 1 team
455 - retired by 1 team
unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams
running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 161
running total of non-hall of famers: 59
Fun series of posts.
ReplyDeleteMight have to get cards of some of these guys next time I hit up COMC.