Jaffe: The best players whose numbers haven’t been retired by MLB teams
From SABR member Jay Jaffe at Sports Illustrated on June 23, 2016:
Pete Rose isn’t getting into the National Baseball Hall of Fame anytime soon, but this weekend, the Reds will induct him into their own Hall of Fame. That ceremony will come as part of a weekend of festivities that will also include honoring the 40th anniversary of Cincinnati’s 1976 World Series champions and the retirement of Rose’s No. 14.
It rates as a surprise that the Reds haven’t already retired Rose’s number, particularly given that they don’t limit the honor to players enshrined in Cooperstown, as some teams do. In fact, there’s no league-wide uniformity to this particular uniform issue, but the retirement of a number remains a team’s most visible tribute to its former players.
The Reds are hardly alone in having not gotten around to bestowing such honors upon obvious candidates; last month, I noted that the Mets hadn’t done so for anyone from their 1986 World Series champions. In researching that article, my colleague Cliff Corcoran and I came up with a list of the most glaring omissions around the majors.
Read the full article here: http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/06/23/retired-numbers-alan-trammell-fernando-valenzuela-edgar-martinez
Originally published: June 23, 2016. Last Updated: June 23, 2016.