manny ramirez is in my hall of famer collection

he won't be voted in by the baseball writer's, but manny ramirez is a hall of famer to me. he has the numbers, and because he also has been a big part of my fandom and collecting experience, i've added him to my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 2024 topps five star autograph. here's the back:

ramirez put up hall of fame numbers over the course of his career. 555 home runs, 1,831 rbi, 2,574 hits plus 1,329 walks for a .411 obp and a .996 ops. those are big numbers for sure. of course, with manny, it's the performance enhancing drugs and failed tests that have kept him out of cooperstown. he was incredibly consistent between his 8 seasons in cleveland and 8 seasons in boston, and his second half in 2008 after joining the dodgers was absolutely incredible. he never won a regular season mvp award (was in the top six seven times) but he did win the 2004 world series mvp award.

i saw ramirez play once when he was still with cleveland (he went 0 for 4), but i most recall seeing him with my own two eyes during a series in boston in 2004. the dodgers were visiting for the first time since the 1916 world series and me and my siblings agreed to meet up in beantown. in the first game, ramirez made an error with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to allow the dodgers to score the game tying run. he was running in to make a catch and just botched it. no worries, as david ortiz delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the frame. the next day, ramirez hit a two-run bomb over the monster in left. it was a true fenway moment for me.

i am sad to report that i did not see manny while he was with the dodgers, even though his arrival in 2008 rejuvenated the fan base and the success of that club with manny in the lineup directly led to me starting a blog on this date in 2008. yes, you can blame manny for all of my posts over the last 17 years.

as for the national baseball hall of fame, ramirez has one year left on the ballot, and he has never come close to being elected by the writers. he maxed out at 34.3% in his first appearance on the ballot and has been in the low 20% range the last couple of years. i hope that at some point, the eras committees acknowledge that the steroid era was a part of baseball's history and add the standouts of that era, like ramirez, to the hall. put a note on the plaque if you must, but to keep him and others out while some suspects are in is dumb.

here's another recent manny addition to my collection - his 2009 topps tribute black parallel

it's numbered to 99 on the back:

i still get a kick out of adding manny cards to my dodger collection, and i think i am pretty much down to parallels like this one.

as a reminder, you can see manny and the others enshrined in my hall of famer collection here.

my retired number collection - 32

this is the 32nd post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the five people for whom number 32 has been retired:

jim umbricht (retired by the astros in 1965) 1964 topps

umbricht was the first non-hall of fame player to have his number retired by a franchise, as the astros (then colt .45s) retired 32 for him posthumously on april 12, 1965. umbricht had been selected by the team in the 1961 expansion draft, and he pitched well in his two seasons with the club. in 1962, he was 4-0 with a 2.01 era, and he followed that up in 1963 with a 4-3 record and 2.61 era despite battling melanoma and receiving treatment during the season. 

umbricht had been diagnosed with melanoma during spring training prior to the 1963 season, but he managed to stay with the team for the entire campaign. the club released him in december of 1963 so that he could focus on his treatment, but he passed away on april 8, 1964. even though it does not show his number, i thought that his 1964 card would be the appropriate one to use for this collection. unlike ken hubbs' card in the set, umbricht's does not reflect his passing as it occurred after the cards were printed. umbricht is the first and only member of the franchise to ever wear number 32.

sandy koufax (retired by the dodgers in 1972) 2018 topps museum collection

i love the fact that the dodgers' jersey numbers on the front are in red, and cards like koufax's 2018 topps museum collection show why. the number just pops. as for koufax's number, the dodgers retired it along with jackie robinson's 42 and roy campanella's 39 on june 4, 1972 during an old-timer's day celebration. this occurred a couple of months before koufax was inducted into the national baseball hall of fame, and i am thinking it is likely that his election by the writers on his first ballot was the impetus for the dodgers to retire numbers for the first time in their history.

koufax was a 3-time cy young award winner, 4-time world series champion, 2-time world series mvp, and he won the 1963 national league mvp award during the regular season as well. simply one of the all-time greats, and he is the last dodger, and only los angeles dodger, to ever wear number 32.

elston howard (retired by the yankees in 1984) 1964 topps

the yankees retired number 32 for howard, who had passed away in 1980, on july 21, 1984. he had spent 12-plus seasons with the franchise from 1955 through the middle of the 1967 season, serving primarily as their catcher during most of the 1960's. his 1964 card shows most of his number on the home pinstripes beneath the yankee stadium facade that appears on so many cards from those early topps sets. 

howard won the mvp award in 1963, and finished third in the voting the following year. he was a part of four yankee world championship teams during his playing days, and when he returned to the club as a coach in the 1970's, he won two more rings when they beat the dodgers in 1977 and 1978. the yankees had not recirculated his number they dealt him to the red sox in 1967, so he would have been the last yankee to wear the number even if he hadn't returned to coach first base for the club.

steve carlton (retired by the phillies in 1989) 1983 fleer

steve carlton retired in may of 1988, and on july 29, 1989 the phillies recognized him by retiring his number as they added him to their wall of fame. a few years later, in 1994, carlton was voted into the national baseball hall of fame. carlton pitched for a few different franchises in his career, but had his greatest success as a phillie.

he was a four-time cy young award winner in philly, and had two other seasons where he finished in the top 4 in the voting. he won the pitching triple crown in 1972, and was 2-0 in the 1980 world series, helping the phillies to their first world series title. 3,031 of his 4,136 career strikeouts came while wearing number 32 for the phillies, and he recorded many of those while wearing the baby blue zip up jersey shown on his 1983 fleer card. 

he remains the all-time franchise leader in starts, wins, and strikeouts, and even though the phillies released carlton during the 1986 season, they did not reissue his number, ensuring that no other phillie would ever take the field with 32 on their back.

roy halladay (retired by the blue jays in 2018) 2009 topps tribute

like umbricht and howard, roy halladay's number retirement by the blue jays was made posthumously. halladay passed away in a plane accident in november of 2017, and the blue jays retired his number on march 29, 2018. canadian scott diamond then became the last blue jay to wear the number, having done so in his lone appearance as a blue jay that occurred during the 2016 season. halladay's 2009 topps tribute card is a great one for this collection, showing his number 32 prominently. with the blue jays rescinding roberto alomar's number from retirement, halladay is currently the only blue jay player to be so honored.

halladay won 148 games for the blue jays in what was really 11 seasons (plus a start in a 12th season). he was a modern day workhorse, leading the league in complete games six times with the blue jays, including in 2003 when he won the american league cy young award. halladay, who had a different number retired by the phillies (more on that in a couple of weeks) was elected to the hall of fame on his first ballot in 2019.

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the 32 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 42

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 42

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 42, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 42

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 42

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 42

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 16, 23, 42

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 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 9 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

42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)

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): 132

running total of non-hall of famers: 46

my retired number collection - 15 and 16

this is the 15th post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the people for whom the numbers 15 and 16 have been retired:

thurman munson (retired by the yankees in 1979) 1975 topps

munson died in a plane crash on august 2, 1979 and the yankees retired his number 15 the following day, ensuring that no other yankee would ever wear the number after munson. in fact, they kept his locker exactly as munson had left it after playing in his final game on august 1. his 1975 topps card gives a good look at the number, and also features a tarp which doesn't show up on cards too often.

munson's career lasted almost exactly 10 years to the day, and in that time he established himself as one of the best catchers in the game. he was the 1970 american league rookie of the year, won three gold gloves, was a 7 time all-star, and was voted as the mvp of the league in 1976. add to that his .357 lifetime postseason average and many wonder why he isn't in the hall of fame.

dick allen (retired by the phillies in 2020) 2020 topps update decades' best

i believe this 2020 decades' best insert is the only card in this mini-collection that isn't technically a card of the player it represents, but it was one of the best i could find that shows allen's number 15 and it is giving heavy 1976 vibes so it makes the cut. allen is widely considered to be one of the best, if not the best, eligible players from his era not in the hall of fame. he just missed a couple of years ago with one of the eras committees, but i have high hopes the next time around.

like munson, allen was a seven time all-star, rookie of the year (1964) and league mvp (1972). he had two stints with the phillies, as he spent the first seven years of his career in philadelphia and then returned to the club in 1975 for a two-year stay. he was a part of the team's rise in the national league east in the latter part of the '70's and made his lone postseason appearance with them in 1976.

as a phillie, allen hit 204 home runs and held a .290 average. while the team did not hold his number out of rotation (andrew knapp in 2020 was the last to wear it), they did see fit to retire it on september 3, 2020 - just three months before allen passed away. 

i have been remiss in previous posts in not speculating or pointing out potential future number retirements, but i will mention here that the angels have never reissued tim salmon's number 15 since he retired after the 2006 season, nor have the giants handed out their number 15 which was last worn by bruce bochy in 2019. i would expect bochy's number to eventually be formally retired by the club.

whitey ford (retired by the yankees in 1974) 2004 donruss team heroes

i haven't done extensive research, but i think it was the 1999 upper deck century legends set that first normalized black and white photographs of "oldtimer" players on cards issued by one of the major manufacturers. i know that conlon really brought black and white to the hobby en masse in the early 1990's, and before that there were tcma and cramer/pacific releases, but nothing that i recall from the big companies. anyway, the use of black and white photos allows us to get cards that show whitey ford's number 16 as evidenced by his 2004 donruss team heroes card.

the yankees retired ford's number on august 3, 1974 to honor the newly inducted hall of famer. ford spent his entire career with the yankees, winning 236 games and six world series titles between 1950 and 1967. he won the american league cy young award in 1961 and the world series mvp award that same year. he was such an obvious hall of famer to the yankees, that they held his number out of rotation so that he would be the last to wear it.

ted lyons (retired by the white sox in 1987) 2005 upper deck classics

ted lyons was inducted into the hall of fame as a player in 1955. the white sox, however, did not retire his number until july 25, 1987. in addition to his exploits on the field (which included 21 seasons with the white sox, 260 career wins, and 356 career complete games), lyons also managed the white sox for two-plus seasons. he was a player-manager for the latter part of the 1946 season and then focused solely on his managerial duties for the next two seasons. 

his 2005 upper deck classics card doesn't show his number, but he is wearing a glove so i figure the photo is from his playing days. fun fact alert - in lyons' last full season (1942), the 41 year old led the american league with a 2.10 era. he also made 20 starts and threw 20 complete games!  he spent three years after that in military service before returing in 1946. he likely would not have reached 300 wins had he pitched from 1943-45 but would have been close! 

with the gap between lyons' retirement and the retirement of his number, 21 different players wore 16 for the white sox before it was retired, the last of whom was ken williams in 1986.

hal newhouser (retired by the tigers in 1997) 2003 fleer flair greats

hal newhouser won back-to-back mvp awards for the tigers in 1944 and 1945 and finished second in the voting in 1946. in all three years he led the league in wins, and in two of the three he led in era and strikeouts culminating in the pitching triple crown in 1945 - the same year he led the team to a world series championship. in all, newhouser won an even 200 games as a tiger

i'm not fully sold on newhouser's 2003 fleer flair greats card, but it does show a sliver of his number. speaking of which, david wells was the last tiger player to wear number 16 before it was permanently retired on july 27, 1997 - five years after newhouser was inducted into the hall of fame. 

dwight gooden (to be retired by the mets in 2024) 2009 topps tribute

even though the mets have not yet held the ceremony to retire number 16 in honor of dwight gooden (it is scheduled to occur on april 14, 2024), i decided to include him in the collection using his 2009 topps tribute card. while gooden is not a hall of famer, he hit the big league scene with a hall of fame-esque first impression as he was the 1984 rookie of the year as a 19-year old, finishing second in the cy young voting. he topped that performance in 1985 by winning the cy young award and the pitching triple crown with 24 wins, a 1.53 era, and 268 strikeouts.

gooden led the mets to the world series in 1986, and although he lost both games he started in the fall classic, the mets came away with the championship, cementing the legacies of many members of that team in mets lore. gooden was suspended for the 1995 season which essentially ended his tenure with the mets. he wound up with the yankees when 1996 came around, and hideo nomo eventually took number 16 when he joined the mets in 1998. since then, 15 players have worn the number, with travis jankowski in 2022 being the most recent. 

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the 15 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16

giants - 3, 4, 11

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11

guardians - 3, 5, 14

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14

phillies - 1, 14, 15

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets - 14, 16

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 16

cubs - 10, 14

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners - 11

nationals - 11

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 9 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 (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 85

running total of non-hall of famers: 22

my retired number collection - crazy 8s

this is the ninth post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the seven people for whom the number 8 has been retired:

yogi berra (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2021 topps stadium club chrome

and bill dickey (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts

the yankees retired number 8 on july 22, 1972, and honored both berra and dickey at the same time. this is the first, but not last, instance of a franchise retiring a number for two players.  dickey was the second yankee to wear the number, and berra was the last, and if it weren't for dickey's two years of military service in 1945 and 1946, there would have only been three yankees total to ever wear the number.

i was happy to find the card for berra showing the number as i could not find any dickey cards showing his back. both players are in the hall of fame, with dickey being voted in in 1954, and berra joining him in 1972 - his induction was a couple of weeks after the number retirement ceremony. yogi, of course, was managing the mets at the time.

dickey was a lifelong yankee and catcher - he never moved to a different position - and had three seasons where he was in the top-five for mvp votes to go along with his eight world series rings. berra on the other hand played one season for the mets after 18 with the yankees, and he played a bit of left field towards the end of his career. he had three mvp awards and ten world series rings as a player.

willie stargell (retired by the pirates in 1982) 1982 topps

here we have some sleeve number representation thanks to pops' 1982 topps card! stargell had his number retired by the pirates on september 6, 1982 which was about a month before his career came to an end. he was obviously the last pirate to wear the number as a result.

stargell's career accomplishments included an mvp award, two world series titles, 475 home runs and 1,540 rbi. he was voted in to the hall of fame in 1988 on his first ballot.

carl yastrzemski (retired by the red sox in 1989) 2009 topps tribute

the red sox retired number 8 for yaz on august 6, 1989; a couple of weeks after he was inducted in to the hall of fame. yaz was the last person to wear the number for boston, and it was the only number he wore over the course of his 23 year career.

yaz was the 1967 american league mvp thanks to his triple crown win, but he had two other batting titles to boot. he finished his career with 3,419 hits and 452 home runs. only pete rose played in more major league baseball games than yaz, who made 3,308 appearances for the red sox.

gary carter (retired by the expos in 1993) 1984 fleer

i really liked the expos uniform with the rare right side front number! carter's number 8 was the first number to be retired by the expo franchise. it was retired on july 31, 1993, the summer after carter retired as a player. he began and finished his career in montreal, where he was a 7-time all-star in his 11-plus seasons with the club. carter led the expos to their first and only postseason berth in 1981, and hit well over .400 in both the nlds against the phillies and the nlcs against the dodgers.

carter, who went in to the hall of fame in 2003, was the last expo to wear the number 8, but the washington nationals put it in to circulation in their second season. since then, seven players have worn the number (most recently carter kieboom). i am keeping carter (and the other expo retired numbers) in this collection even though the nationals don't recognize them as being retired. this is a different case than, say, the marlins retiring number 5 for executive carl barger and then putting it in to circulation a few years later.

joe morgan (retired by the reds in 1998) 2003 fleer flair

sporting the more traditional left side front number, joe morgan's 2003 fleer flair card gives us a good look at his number 8 which was retired by the reds on june 6, 1998. i am not sure why it took the club so long to retire the number, as morgan entered the hall of fame in 1990. maybe because morgan left the reds and played his last few seasons elsewhere had something to do with it? the reds did redistribute his number, and it was last worn by damon berryhill in 1995.

as a player, morgan led the reds to back-to-back titles in 1975 and 1976 as one of the key cogs in the big red machine. he won the national league mvp award both of those seasons as well. between his 2,517 hits and 1,865 walks, morgan was on base over 4,200 times in his career. he scored 1,650 runs and also stole 689 bases. these days, he may be best remembered as a broadcaster whose takes inspired the great website "fire joe morgan". one of the guys behind that website went on to work on "the office" and co-create "parks and recreation". i believe he was "ken tremendous", and somewhere i have an email from him about a comment i made on the site. good times.

cal ripken jr. (retired by the orioles in 2001) 1984 topps

one more front jersey number! the iron man had his number retired by the orioles on october 6, 2001 which was also the final day of ripken's playing career. it was fitting that the lifelong oriole be the last to wear the number, and that the retirement not be delayed.

ripken's career was remarkable for his durability, but he was also a rookie of the year and two-time american league mvp. he led the orioles to the 1983 pennant and won his only ring as they beat the phillies that year. he tallied 3,184 hits and 431 home runs during his career, and was one of the most popular players of his era as evidenced by his 19 all-star game appearances. 

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the five posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4, 8

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6

reds - 1, 5, 8

braves - 3, 6

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs

royals - 5

padres - 6

athletics

angels

expos - 8

rangers - 7

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

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)

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 59

running total of non-hall of famers: 7

my retired number collection - these are the unnumbered

this is the second post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. here's the first post if you wish to catch up and read a bit about the background for this endeavor. also keep in mind that there's a full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

if you're ready, let's take a look at the folks honored by a handful of franchises even though there is no specific jersey number associated with them.

"ny" christy mathewson (honored by the giants in 1986) - 2010 topps vintage legends collection

the giants added a placard with "ny" under mathewson's name to their outfield wall on august 17, 1986. mathewson is a first class hall of famer whose 373 wins are still the third most in history.

"ny" john mcgraw (honored by the giants in 1986) - 2004 topps tribute

the giants honored mcgraw in the same way as mathewson on the same day. he was the club's manager for over 30 years, winning 10 pennants and three world series. he was, of course, the reason that there was no world series in 1904 (the year he won his first pennant) but was convinced to play in 1905 and captured his first world series title as a result. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1937.

"sl" rogers hornsby (honored by the cardinals in 1997) - 1999 upper deck century legends

according to baseball reference, rogers hornsby wore numbers 4 and 6 for the cardinals during his career, but the team recognized him sans number in 1997. he was inducted in to the hall of fame in 1942 after a playing career that included six batting titles and two triple crowns. both triple crowns and five of those batting titles came as a cardinal.

"p" grover cleveland alexander (honored by the phillies in 2001) - 1999 upper deck century legends

the phillies used the 1915 style "p" to honor alexander who is tied with mathewson for third place all-time in wins with 373. 190 of those wins came while alexander was a phillie, for whom he led the league in wins 5 times and achieved the pitching triple crown three times. alexander was elected to the hall of fame in1938.

 

"p" chuck klein (honored by the phillies in 2001) - 2002 topps tribute

klein wore a variety of numbers late in his career, but the phillies chose to honor him with an old english style "p" instead of a number in 2001. you can see a number on his back on the above card - it would be either 26 or 29, neither of which he wore in 1933 when he achieved the triple crown with 28 homers, 120 rbi, and a .368 batting average. that marked his sixth and final season as a phillie to start his career, although he returned to the club twice later in his career. klein was the national league mvp in 1932, but finished second to carl hubbell in 1933. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1980.

"cobb" ty cobb (honored by the tigers) - 2009 topps tribute blue

when comerica park opened, ty cobb's last name was displayed on the brick wall beyond left-centerfield next to the retired numbers of hank greenbert, charlie gehringer, hal newhouser, and al kaline. since he played before numbers were used, this makes sense that he would be honored by the franchise in this manner. cobb retired as the all-time leader in hits and stolen bases, won 12 batting titles, a triple crown, and has the highest career batting average in history at .366. he was a first class hall of famer and considered by many to be the greatest hitter of all-time.

"crawford" sam crawford (honored by the tigers) - 2002 topps tribute

crawford's last name showed up on the brick wall beyond right-centerfield at comerica park, along with the players below (and announcer ernie harwell). crawford began his career with three seasons in cincinnati but spent the next 15 years with the tigers. he is the all-time leader in triples with 309, and he led the league in that category six times, four as a tiger. he is the only player in history to have more than 300 triples. he was inducted in the hall of fame in 1957.

"cochrane" mickey cochrane (honored by the tigers) - 2003 fleer flair greats

cochrane played for the tigers the final four years of his career, winning the american league mvp in 1934, his first year with the club. he was also the team's manager during that time, and guided the club to pennants in '34 and 1935, taking home the world series title in '35 for the franchise's first championship. he was the first catcher elected to the hall of fame when he made it in 1947, and he was also the person that mickey mantle was named after even though cochrane himself was not named mickey. he did wear number 3 for the tigers once they adopted numbers, but only his name appears on the comerica park wall.

"heilmann" harry heilmann (honored by the tigers) - 2002 topps tribute

heilmann won four batting titles in the 1920's for the tigers, with his .403 average in 1923 marking a career best. following his retirement, he became a broadcaster for the tigers and stayed in that role for 17 years up until his death in july of 1951. he was voted in to the hall of fame the following year, but ty cobb told him on his deathbed that he had been voted in, so even though cobb was a year early in his prediction, heilmann passed away knowing he was a hall of famer.

 

"jennings" hughie jennings (honored by the tigers) - 1993 conlon tsn

jennings managed the tigers for 14 seasons, from 1907 through 1920. he won pennants in each of his first three seasons with the club, but no more after that. he was elected to the hall of fame as a player in 1945, and although he inserted himself in to the lineup a handful of times while with the tigers as their manager, his hall of fame status as a player is not based on what he did in detroit. i wonder if his managerial record was taken in to account by the veteran's committee when they cast their votes that year.

 

"kell" george kell (honored by the tigers) - 2003 fleer flair greats

kell played in the 1940's and 1950's but wore a couple of different numbers as a tiger, so they chose to honor him by name only - perhaps because his affiliation with the team extended beyond his playing career. he spent just seven of his 15 seasons as a tiger, winning the american league batting title in 1949 with a .343 average that just narrowly surpassed ted williams' average that year. after he retired following the 1957 season, kell went in to broadcasting and announced tiger games until he retired for good in 1997.

"manush" heinie manush (honored by the tigers) - 2003 topps gallery hall of fame edition artist proof

manush began his career with the tigers in 1923. he played for them through the 1927 season, winning a batting title in 1926 by hitting .378 giving the tigers an outfield (manush, cobb, and heilmann) replete with batting titles. he finished his career with a .320 average, over 2,500 hits, and a hall of fame induction in 1964. most of his post-career cards show him with the senators which makes sense as he was a part of their 1933 world series team, so i was glad to have this tiger card in my collection even though it appears to show a number on his back - something that he didn't have as a tiger.

honoring pre-number players is something that i've always thought that the dodgers should have done for zach wheat. i think a "b" medallion would look great with the retired numbers and microphones on the left field club level facade at dodger stadium.

i am going to track a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (shown in chronological order of their first number retirement):

yankees - 4

giants - 4

pirates - 4

guardians 

red sox - 4

phillies

cardinals

reds

braves

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 4

twins

white sox - 4

brewers - 4

tigers

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

4 - retired by 8 teams

unnumbered players - honored by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 20

running total of non-hall of famers (including those without numbers):