this is the 42nd 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.
so, without further ado, here are the three people for whom number 44 has been retired:
hank aaron (retired by the brewers in 1976) 1976 topps
the brewers were quick to retire hank aaron's number 44, doing so at some point after the home run king played in his final game on october 3, 1976. some sources say that was the day it was retired, but i could find no mention of any ceremony or announcement that day. certainly it was the last day the number was worn, but from what i've read, the brewers really didn't mark aaron's final game in any notable way. topps didn't bother to include aaron in the 1977 set (not even with even a highlight card as they had done with al kaline in 1975 and would do with brooks robinson in 1978) either, but his 1976 topps card fits well within this collection as it shows his number pretty clearly.
we all know that bud selig, the owner of the brewers, was a big fan of the milwaukee braves and so bring aaron back to milwaukee for the 1975 and 1976 seasons was probably a no-brainer for the future commissioner. as a brewer, aaron hit 22 homers in 222 games. he legged out an infield single in his final at bat, but was denied the opportunity to score one more run to pass babe ruth on the all-time leader board when he was removed for a pinch runner.
the braves kept number 44 out of circulation in 1975 and 1976, and formally retired it for aaron on april 15, 1977 during pre-game ceremonies. at the time, aaron was the only player to have his number retired by two franchises. he spent the bulk of his career with the braves - first in milwaukee and then in atlanta - and became the all-time major league home run king at home in fulton county stadium as a brave (on a pitch from another 44 in al downing). that moment is captured on the 1982 topps kmart card i've used for this collection. it was the first hank aaron card i owned, and i treasured it.
as a brave, aaron had 3,600 hits and 733 home runs to go along with a .310 batting average. he led the milwaukee braves to back-to-back pennants in 1957 and 1958 with a world championship in '57. that same season, he was the national league mvp - just one of seven seasons in which he finished in the top 3 of mvp finalists. to this day, aaron remains one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1982 on his first ballot.
i am always happy to be able to use a 1978 topps card in any collection, and willie mccovey's record breaker card from that set does the job nicely in this one. the giants retired mccovey's number on september 21, 1980 which was a couple of months after he played in his final game, so that means that nobody on the giants wore 44 after mccovey, who was ultimately voted into the hall of fame in 1986 on his first ballot.
in two separate stints with the giants, mccovey hit 469 home runs and drove in 1,388 runs. he won the rookie of the year award in 1959 and the mvp award 10 years later. he led the league in homers three times as a giant, and helped the club to the 1962 pennant. he famously lined out to end the 1962 fall classic with the winning run on second base, breaking giants fans' hearts, including that of charles schulz who created an iconic comic strip shortly thereafter.
the "straw that stirs the drink" led the yankees to american league pennants in three of his five seasons in new york and was recognized with a number retirement ceremony on august 14, 1993. that came just after he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame on his first ballot, going in as a yankee. i like that the card i chose for this collection, the 1993 upper deck fifth anniversary insert above, shows both his number 44 and one of his prodigious swings.
while reggie wore number 9 with the a's and orioles prior to joining the yankees, he had to choose a new number in new york since number 9 belonged to graig nettles. jackson considered 42 in honor of jackie robinson, and actually wore number 20 for frank robinson during spring training before switching to 44 to honor the recently retired hank aaron.
the highlight of reggie's yankee tenure was 1977. in his first season with the club, he was the mvp of the world series, hitting five home runs against the dodgers, including three in the series clinching game 6. in all, he hit 144 homers for the yankees, leading the league in that category in 1980 with 41. in doing so, jackson was the first yankee to reach the 40 home run mark since roger maris and mickey mantle did so in 1961. when jackson left to join the angels in 1982, the yankees did not recirculate his number which i thought was a (rare) classy move by george steinbrenner.
as a young fan in the late 1970's, i considered 44 to be a slugger's number, and you can see why with these three guys. i was a little confused when mickey hatcher took the number for the dodgers, but felt a little bit better when darryl strawberry arrived and claimed it for his own. i don't know if we will see another 44 retired anytime soon, although i could see the diamondbacks doing it for paul goldschmidt at some point in the future just because.
i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.
retired numbers by team (through the 42 posts so far):
yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44
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
phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 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, 35, 41, 42, 44
astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42
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
twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42
white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 72
brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44
tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42
cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42
royals - 5, 10, 20, 42
padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42
athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43
angels - 11, 26, 30, 42
expos - 8, 10, 30, 42
rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42
major league baseball - 42
rays - 12, 42, 66
diamondbacks - 20, 42
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)
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): 154
running total of non-hall of famers: 53
Voting for Braves' Aaron.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. 44 has some heavy hitters. A lot of home runs between those three guys. I didn't realize that Aaron and Ruth ended up with the exact same number of runs scored. I looked up that final game to see if his pinch runner eventually scored. It was Jim Gantner... and he didn't.
ReplyDeleteJust based on these three guys stats, I would have to imagine that this is one of the more successful of the retired numbers so far.
ReplyDelete