If Lou Gehrig were alive, being the modest man he has always been portrayed as, he would probably shrug it off and find an excuse for it. Babe Ruth, on the other hand, would very likely see it for the crass money-making gimmick it is and blister the New York Yankees for cheapening the honor they bestowed on him by retiring his famous uniform No. 3 June 13, 1948.
The Yankees, in recent years, have gone into the business of increasing ticket sales for games at Yankee Stadium by retiring uniform numbers and putting up plaques in what they call Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.
They have cheapened their legitimate honors so much that they may as well go the rest of the way and start selling plaques to fans for hanging among the monuments for Ruth and Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.
The Yankees introduced their Monument Park expansion last year when they added plaques for Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill, two very good players, who contributed to World Series titles but weren’t on the level of previously honored players.
The Yankees are going even further this year, retiring the uniform numbers worn by Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte and putting up plaques for each of them and a plaque for Willie Randolph.
“The ceremonies are part of a recognition series that saw the honoring of Joe Torre, Rich ‘Goose’ Gossage, Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill in 2014,” the Yankees said in a news release.
In the Yankees’ ratings, retiring a number ranks above a plaque, but bestowing both honors on the same player, manager or executive is special. That’s what they did with Torre last season. However, the year before, they retired Mariano Rivera’s number (42) but didn’t put up a plaque for him,
My guess is they will do the plaque another time, perhaps when he is inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Last summer they unveiled a plaque for Gossage, who went into the Hall of Fame in 2008, but didn’t retire his number.
Perhaps they will retire Gossage’s number and unveil a plaque for Rivera in future seasons when those special days would attract large attendances.
This whole business, I’m certain, is all about attendance. On the day the Yankees retired Rivera’s number (Sept. 22, 2013), the attendance was 49,197. The average attendance for the other 80 Yankee Stadium games was 40,380. Last year’s four days of celebration, as well as Derek Jeter’s last home game, each exceeded 47,000 in attendance. The other 76 games averaged 41,623.
As high as Yankee Stadium ticket prices are, even an additional 5,000 fans bring in meaningful revenue.
If there are other criteria for posting plaques or retiring numbers, they escape me. I asked a Yankees spokesman via e-mail who makes these decisions and on what bases, but I received no reply. Let me suggest some reasons.
Reggie Jackson had his No. 44 retired in 1993 and a plaque hung in Monument Park in 2002. Why either one?
(a) Because he hit three home runs in a World Series game in 1977
(b) Because he fought with Billy Martin in the dugout
(c) Because he defied Martin and made him so angry that the manager flung an empty beer bottle against a wall in his office
(d) None of the above
The correct answer is (d). The Yankees honored Jackson because his Hall of Fame plaque shows him wearing a Yankees cap. Why is he wearing a Yankees cap even though he played for three other teams, twice as long with the Athletics? Word at the time the cap was decided was that George Steinbrenner made it worthwhile financially, in addition giving him a post-playing career job.
Let’s look at another former star outfielder. The Yankees have neither retired Dave Winfield’s number 31 nor posted a Monument Park plaque in his honor. Why not, considering what the Yankees have done for Jackson?
I can think of two possible reasons:
- Steinbrenner resented Winfield and wound up being banned from baseball because he paid a sleazy two-bit gambler $40,000 to get dirt on him, and
- Have you seen Winfield’s Hall of Fame plaque? He is wearing a San Diego Padres’ cap. He chose the Padres despite Steinbrenner’s effort a la Jackson to induce him to make it Yankees.
Posada, Williams and Pettitte haven’t made and aren’t likely to make the Hall of Fame, but the Yankees aren’t waiting to find out. Those three sellouts will be money in the bank.
That the Yankees are retiring Pettitte’s 46 is especially intriguing because, according to the commissioner’s office, he will be the only player to have his number retired who has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
Randolph will not have his number retired, and though he told me he’s delighted with the plaque, I don’t understand why the Yankees are retiring numbers wholesale but are not including Randolph.
“This is such a tremendous honor,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable honor. And it’s on old-timers day. Goose, Bucky, Mickey, Oscar could be there. Goose was on old-timers day last year. I never dreamed I’d be out there.”
But why not a retired number, considering the way the Yankees are passing them out? Is he any less deserving than Posada, Pettitte and Williams?
A Brooklyn native, Randolph was the Yankees’ second baseman for 13 years, their captain for three. He coached for them for 11 years. He played on two World Series championship teams and coached on four others. Who has been more Yankees than Randolph?
After being jobless for three years, since he coached for Baltimore in 2011, Randolph also had a status that would have served the Yankees well as a coach. They were looking for one, having fired their first base coach, Mick Kelleher, and interviewed Randolph.
However, instead of hiring a first base coach, they hired a third base coach, Joe Espada, and moved the previous third base coach, Rob Thomson, to bench coach and the previous bench coach, Tony Pena, to first base. Espada was a coach with Miami for eight years, the last four at third base.
In case the Yankees forgot, Randolph coached third base for them for 10 years.