my retired number collection - plenty of twenty

this is the 19th 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 number 20 has been retired:

frank robinson (retired by the orioles in 1972) 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts

the orioles retired number 20 for frank robinson on march 10, 1972 when he was still an active player. of course, he had been traded to the dodgers about three months prior to that date, bringing an end to his six-year tenure with the o's. it was a pretty good run, as he won the triple crown in 1966, his first year in baltimore. that same year, he was voted the most valuable player in the american league (becoming the first player to win the award in each league) as well as the world series mvp as he led the orioles to a world series title over the dodgers.

overall for the orioles, robinson hit .300 and hit 179 homers with 545 rbi in his six seasons. the 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts card i chose shows him during his playing days, but robinson also wore number 20 when he managed the orioles in the late 1980's and early 1990's. he was the last person - player or coach/manager to wear the number for the team. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1982 on his first ballot, and is enshrined as an oriole.

pie traynor (retired by the pirates in 1972) 1976 topps

there aren't too many card options other than this 1976 topps card for traynor, who played for the pirates from 1920-1937 and served as their manager from 1934-1939. he was the first pirate to wear number 20, but richie hebner holds the distinction of being the last to don it having done so in the 1971 season prior to its retirement on april 18, 1972. he spent his entire career with the pirates.

traynor hit .320 over his career and was considered by most to be the greatest third baseman in the game's history (as indicated by his inclusion in the 1976 topps all-time all-stars subset) up until brooks robinson and another guy we will cover a bit later in this post came along. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1948 on his ninth ballot.

lou brock (retired by the cardinals in 1979) 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game

brock's number 20 is front and center on his 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game card which shows him sliding into third base - hopefully on a successful stolen base attempt. the cardinals, brock's second franchise, retired his number on september 9, 1979 just three weeks in advance of his retirement as a player and just shy of a month after he joined the 3,000 hit club.

brock's claim to fame was the stolen base, and he led the national league in that category 8 different times. he retired as baseball's all-time stolen base leader and held the all-time season stolen base record until rickey henderson passed him in both categories. he was obviously the last cardinal to wear number 20, and was elected to cooperstown in 1985 on his first ballot.

mike schmidt (retired by the phillies in 1990) 1984 topps

michael jack schmidt is the guy i alluded to earlier as up for consideration for the greatest third baseman of all-time. i'm biased a bit because he comes from my prime fandom years, but the stats are undeniable: 548 home runs, three national league mvp awards, 12 time all-star, nine consecutive gold gloves (10 overall), and a world series championship and mvp award. that is quite a career. i appreciate his 1984 topps card for showcasing the number as well as giving us a good look at the last zipper jerseys in the big leagues.

fittingly, the phillies retired his number on may 26, 1990 - just about a year after he announced his retirement during the 1989 season. he was the last phillie to wear number 20, and he was elected to the national baseball hall of fame in his first year of eligibility in 1995 with 96.5% of the vote, which at the time was the fourth highest percentage ever achieved, behind tom seaver, ty cobb, and hank aaron.

frank white (retired by the royals in 1995) 1985 topps

it's fitting that i chose white's 1985 topps card for this collection because that is the year that white and the royals won their first world series title, but truth be told it was the first card of his that featured the number somewhat prominently. white spent his entire 18 year big league career in kansas city, retiring after the 1990 season with 2,006 hits and eight gold gloves to his name.

white was the mvp of the 1980 alcs, helping the royals secure their first pennant, and he retired as perhaps the second greatest royal behind george brett. he is not in the national baseball hall of fame, but his value to the franchise was shown during the 1995 season when he was enshrined in the team's hall of fame. while the team did not issue his number to anyone after he retired following the 1990 season, they waited to formally honor its retirement until may 2, 1995 presumably to coincide with the team's hall of fame induction. 

don sutton (retired by the dodgers in 1998) 1977 topps

there's no missing don sutton's number on his 1977 topps card - i love the dodgers' red jersey front numbers and hope that the uniform snafu currently going around the big leagues doesn't impact this iconic look. anyway, sutton waited until august 14, 1998 to have his numbered retired by the dodgers - that's almost 10 years to the day after his final appearance on the mound in a big league game - as they were honoring their (almost always adhered to) rule of waiting for a player or manager to be elected to the hall of fame. sutton got in in 1998 on his fifth ballot which was crazy to me as a fan.

sutton racked up 233 wins and 2,696 strikeouts in his two stints as a dodger, both best in franchise history until clayton kershaw passed him in strikeouts during the 2022 season. kershaw is only 23 wins behind sutton at this point, but has no chance in passing sutton in some other catergories in which he leads all dodger pitchers, such as starts (533), innings pitched (3,816.1), and shutouts (52). 

sutton is the reason that frank robinson didn't wear number 20 during his lone season with the dodgers (he wore 36), and even though sutton amassed the majority of those stats with the dodgers from 1966 through 1980, the club didn't hesitate to reissue his number when he left for houston following the 1980 season. candy maldonado was the first to wear it after sutton departed, although sutton later reclaimed it from phil garner in 1988 when he returned. after the dodgers released sutton late in the 1988 season, they again reissued the number to several players until darren lewis (in 1997) became the last dodger player to wear it.

frank robinson (retired by the reds in 1998) 2002 topps american pie

robinson began his career with the reds by winning the 1956 national league rookie of the year award and continued to perform at a high level through the 1965 season - his last in cincinnati. he was the 1961 national league mvp as he led the reds to the pennant that year and their first world series since 1940. the 2002 topps american pie card i chose shows him in the early 1960's with his number clearly visible.

the reds wound up trading robinson to baltimore following the 1965 season with his 324 home runs totaling the most in franchise history. he has since been passed in that category by johnny bench and joey votto, but he is still the franchise's all-time leader in slugging percentage and ops. despite his success for the franchise, the reds reissued robinson's number in 1966. it was last worn by chris stynes in 1997 before being retired on may 22, 1998.

luis gonzalez (retired by the diamondbacks in 2010) 2001 pacific private stock

it makes sense to use a 2001 card like that pacific private stock issue for gonzalez here because he cemented his place in diamondbacks lore that year. all he did was hit 57 home runs during the regular season and lead the dbacks to the national league pennant. then, in the world series, he hit a walk-off series winning single off of mariano rivera in game 7 to give the franchise their first title.

his number 20 was the first number to be retired by the franchise for one of their own players, and gonzalez was given the honor on august 7, 2010. prior to that, the diamondbacks had a "hall of fame" policy similar to the dodgers', but they relaxed that stance to honor gonzalez. jeff suppan is the only other diamondback to have worn number 20 for the team, but gonzalez was the last.

monte irvin (retired by the giants in 2010) 2004 topps all-time fan favorites

irvin's 2004 topps all-time fan favorites card gives us just a tease of his number 20, but it's the best i could find. he was 30 by the time he was brought into the major leagues by the giants in 1949 as their first black player following the sport's integration in 1947, and in 1951 he had his best season. as the giants' primary left fielder that year, he led the league in rbi with 121 and finished third in the mvp voting. he hit .458 in the world series that year, although the giants lost to the yankees. irvin helped the club return in 1954, however, and this time he and his teammates brought home the championship.

while irvin's tenure with the giants was short (he played with them from 1950 through 1955) he was a star for the newark eagles before heading to new york, and he was inducted to the hall of fame in 1973 on the merits of his full career - both in the negro leagues and the national league. and, while the giants retired his number on june 26, 2010. many giant players (and frank robinson as the team's manager) wore number 20 following irvin's time with the club, but john bowker was the last to do so, and he did so as late as a month prior to its retirement.

jorge posada (retired by the yankees in 2015) 2009 topps update & highlights

posada switched from number 20 to 22 after mike stanley was reacquired by the yankees towards the end of the 1997 season, but in 1998 he switched back and never relinquished the number again. the yankees decided to retire it in posada's honor after he retired following the 2011 season, and they kept it out of rotation until the formal retirement ceremony was held on august 22, 2015.

a member of the yankees' "core four", posada was the team's primary catcher on all four of the club's recent world series winning teams and he ranks eighth all-time among yankees in terms of games played. posada is not in the hall of fame, although if yadier molina makes it someday i would expect his candidacy to be revisited by an eras committee.

frank robinson (retired by the guardians in 2017) 2008 topps sterling

robinson didn't spend a lot of time in cleveland, but he finished his playing career there and made a mark on baseball history at the same time. he joined the club near the end of the 1974 season, and when 1975 came around, his role had been expanded to include the managerial duties - making him the first black manager in the major leagues. he made his last appearance as a player on september 16, 1976 and singled in a run in his final at bat. robinson remained the manager of the indians until a few weeks into the 1977 season when he was replaced by jeff torborg.

the indians retired his number on may 27, 2017 making rajai davis the last cleveland player to wear number 20. i was happy to find the 2008 topps sterling card shown above from his playing days in cleveland - not too many of those cards out there.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 18 posts so far):

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

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20

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

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 455

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

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20

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

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

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19

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

cubs - 10, 14

royals - 5, 10, 20

padres - 6, 19

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12, 66

diamondbacks - 20

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

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

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): 97

running total of non-hall of famers: 34