my retired number collection - 19

this is the 17th 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 number 19 has been retired:

bob feller (retired by the guardians in 1956) 2004 playoff honors

feller was the first player to be honored by the now-guardians franchise by having his number retired. the team retired the number on december 28, 1956 which was the same day feller announced his retirement from the game. his number 19 shows up nicely on this 2004 playoff honors card (a really great set, by the way), and feller was, of course, the last cleveland player to wear the number.

feller's hall of fame career (he was inducted in 1962 on his first ballot) included 18 seasons pitching for the indians during which time he won 266 games and struck out 2,581 batters. had he not missed three seasons due to military service he certainly would have surpassed 300 wins and become the second pitcher all-time to reach 3,000 strikeouts. 

jim gilliam (retired by the dodgers in 1978) 2003 topps tribute world series edition

gilliam's number retirement occurred on october 10, 1978 - two days after the lifelong dodger player and coach passed away during the postseason. the retirement of his number bucked the requisite hall of fame membership that was in place for all numbers retired by the dodgers before and after - up until fernando valenzuela's number was retired in 2023.

gilliam was the 1953 national league rookie of the year, and helped the dodgers to the pennant and his first world series (as noted on his 2003 topps tribute card above). he remained with the club as a player (eventually a player/coach) through 1966, appearing in seven world series and winning four rings.

obviously, gilliam was the last to wear number 19 for the dodgers although the team sported memorial patches with the number for the remainder of their postseason run in '78. i didn't know it at the time, but seeing that patch worn by the team would later inspire me to start an armbands and memorial patches mini-collection.

billy pierce (retired by the white sox in 1987) 1979 tcma 1950's 

we only get one digit of pierce's number on that 1979 tcma card, but it was the best card i could find. the white sox retired his number on july 25, 1987. i am not sure how far in advance it was planned as floyd bannister was wearing the number for at least part of the '87 season according to baseball reference. 

pierce spent 13 seasons with the white sox and won 186 games in that time. he led the league in era in 1955 with a 1.97 mark and followed that season up with a fifth place finish in mvp voting in 1956. he is the franchise's all-time leader in strikeouts with 1,796 and tops several other categories among postwar pitchers. he has a statue outside of the white sox' stadium, and his hall of fame candidacy has received a boost over the last couple of decades, although he has not received the minimum number of votes on the eras ballots he has appeared on to date.

robin yount (retired by the brewers in 1994) 1986 fleer

next to gilliam, yount is probably the first player i think of when i think of number 19, and his number is on prominent display on his 1986 fleer card. yount's career began a couple of years before i was aware of baseball, but i followed his teammate paul molitor pretty closely and so became familiar with yount by association.

unlike molitor, yount spent his entire career with the brewers, capping it with a hall of fame induction in 1999. a first ballot hall of famer, yount surpassed 3,000 hits and won two mvp awards - one as a shortstop and one as an outfielder. he was the fifth and final player in franchise history to wear the number, which was retired by the club on may 29, 1994.

tony gwynn (retired by the padres in 2004) 1998 fleer sports illustrated then & now

the padres retired number 19 for gwynn on september 4, 2004. he had retired following the 2001 season, so i am not sure why they waited. nobody wore the number after gwynn hung it up, as he was an obvious hall of famer (he was inducted on the first ballot in 2007) and number retirement candidate. in fact, gene richards (in 1978) is the only other padre player to have worn the number.

gwynn won eight batting titles during his career, which was spent entirely in san diego. he amassed 3,141 hits over 20 seasons, although i would say only 15 were full seasons. his lifetime batting average is .338 and he was probably the best bet of his era to hit .400, coming the closest in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign with a .394 average. 

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

retired numbers by team (through the 17 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, 18, 19

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

phillies - 1, 14, 15

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19

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

cubs - 10, 14

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6, 19

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies - 17

mariners - 11

nationals - 11

marlins

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)

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

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 90

running total of non-hall of famers: 28