Rewind 2023: Yankee Stadium's Retired Numbers


From April 4th, 2023: this panel at Yankee Stadium is always a work in progress.  Every year, players work their way toward future consideration for this forever honor.  If he remains healthy and productive, it's easy to envision Aaron Judge's #99 being added; now that he's won his first Cy Young Award, one could imagine a space to honor Gerrit Cole.

I contend that there is at least one other Yankee legend who should be considered.  The trouble is that no one reading this saw him play.  Earle Combs, the original number-one, was the leadoff batter on those iconic clubs led by Ruth and Gehrig.  Because he played before the era of TV (and in the Yanks' case, radio, as well), his exploits never received all the publicity he deserved.  Still, it's hard to overlook a career .325 hitter with a lifetime .397 on-base percentage who led the league in triples three times -- and averaged 17 a season.

I understand that sports and marketing are forever linked.  It's easier to promote the heroics of Jeter, Rivera, Jackson, Guidry and O'Neill.  They're still with us, and are will be faces of the franchise as long as they live.  But for a team that celebrates its history, allowing the player nicknamed "The Kentucky Colonel" to fall between the cracks and be forgotten because he can't be on hand for Old Timers Day or schmooze with the sponsors just isn't fair.

Look at Combs' career numbers -- all compiled as a Yankee.  Yes, we have all heard the expression about home run hitters driving Cadillacs and singles hitters, Chevys.  But Combs produced plenty more -- frankly, a lot of the RBIs that belong to the Babe and Lou were from them driving in the first Yankee to ear number-one, Earle Combs.  

Don't say it can't be done.  Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey "share" number eight.  I don't believe anyone in Billy Martin's family would mind if a co-honoree for number-one was added, especially someone so worthy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more