this is the 25th 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.
i am skipping ahead a bit here, with jackie robinson day coming on monday. so, without further ado, here are the three people for whom number 42 has been retired:
jackie robinson (retired by the dodgers in 1972) 2008 topps stadium club
the dodgers retired number 42 for robinson on june 4, 1972 in a ceremony that also saw numbers 32 and 39 retired for sandy koufax and roy campanella, respectively. the trio were the first to be honored by the franchise, and i like to think that jackie was the first number retired of the three as he was the first to be enshrined in cooperstown, with his induction taking place in 1962. oddly enough, the dodgers, who had held his number out of rotation since robinson retired, issued the number briefly to ray lamb in 1969.
robinson's 2008 topps stadium club card is a good looking card except for the fact that it is miscut (i don't think i've seen one without the white "border" at the bottom). it gives a good look at his number, and so is appropriate for the collection. as for his career, robinson was the 1947 rookie of the year and the 1949 mvp of the national league. he helped the dodgers get their first world series championship in 1955 and retired after the 1956 season with a .313 lifetime batting average.
in honor of jackie robinson's contribution to the game of baseball as the first black man allowed to play in the major leagues, number 42 was retired across the entire league on april 15, 1997 - the fiftieth anniversary of his debut for the dodgers. active players who were wearing 42 at the time could continue to wear it, but clubs were not allowed to issue it to new players. here's a list of each team's last player to wear 42 on the field, according to baseball reference:
dodgers: ray lamb (1969)
diamondbacks: franchise began play in 1998
braves: armando reynoso (1992)
orioles: lenny webster (1999)
red sox: mo vaughn (1998)
cubs: glenallen hill (1993)
white sox: scott ruffcorn (1996)
reds: roger salkeld (1996)
guardians: michael jackson (1997)
rockies: armando reynoso (1996)
tigers: jose lima (2002)
astros: jose lima (2001)
royals: tom goodwin (1997)
angels: mo vaughn (2000)
marlins: dennis cook (1997)
brewers: scott karl (1999)
twins: michael jackson (2002)
expos: kirk reuter (1996)
mets: mo vaughn (2003)
yankees: mariano rivera (2013)
a's: buddy groom (1997)
phillies: toby borland (1996)
pirates: jason schmidt (1997)
padres: pedro martinez (1994)
giants: kirk rueter (1997)
mariners: butch huskey (1999)
cardinals: jose oliva (1995)
rays: franchise began play in 1998
rangers: marc sagmoen (1997)
blue jays: xavier hernandez (1999)
nationals: franchise began play in 2005
i am not 100% sure about sagmoen for the rangers. he made his big league debut on april 15, 1997 and i would find it surprising that the team would give him number 42 to wear on the night it was being retired. the practice of players wearing 42 on jackie robinson day didn't take hold until later.
we already know that sutter wasn't the last cardinal to wear number 42, but the team retired it in his honor on september 17, 2006 after being inducted into the hall of fame the month prior. sutter pitched for the cardinals for only four seasons, but he led the league in saves in three of them and was a top-5 cy young award vote getter in those same three seasons.
using his 1982 fleer card here is appropriate as 1982 was the year that sutter helped the cardinals beat the brewers in the world series. he saved two of the cardinals' four wins in the series, and notched the win in a third.
rivera was the last yankee and the last player to wear number 42. he was also the only (to date) player to be unanimously inducted into the hall of fame, receiving 100% of the writers' vote in 2019. the yankees, however, had already retired 42 in his honor on september 22, 2013 - just a few days before he made the final appearance of his career.
rivera is the game's all-time leader in saves with 652. he also saved 42 postseason games as a part of the yankees' resurgence that uncoincidentally coincided with rivera's career which lasted from 1995 through 2013. he was a big part of their five world championship teams during that span, winning the 1999 world series mvp award along the way.
i originally used rivera's 2010 topps card
for this collection, but moved that card to my name/number on the back collection after i pulled his 1997 topps card from my sportlots inventory.
i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.
retired numbers by team (through the 25 posts so far):
yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 42
giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 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, 42
phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 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, 42
astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 42
mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 42
orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 42
dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 42
twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 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, 42
royals - 5, 10, 20, 42
padres - 6, 19, 42
athletics - 9, 24, 42
angels - 11, 42
expos - 8, 10, 42
rangers - 7, 10, 42
major league baseball - 42
rays - 12, 42, 66
diamondbacks - 20, 42
blue jays - 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 (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)
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
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): 113
running total of non-hall of famers: 42
Ray Lamb is an answer to a pretty cool Dodgers trivia question. I had to him up, because I wasn't familiar with him. It'd be cool if one of those custom card guys made a card of him depicting him wearing #42.
ReplyDeleteMo Vaughn was the last 42 on 3 different teams. I didn't know that he had played for 3 different teams
ReplyDelete