When it comes to retiring numbers, the Yankees dwarf all other baseball teams. The Yankees have retired 22 numbers to honor 20 players and three managers. The Cardinals are second with 12 numbers retired, including Stan Musial's 6.
The Yankees have one more honoree than numbers because Hall of Fame catchers Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey both wore 8.
Numbers should be retired for players who were great — at least Hall of Fame caliber — or individuals who did something special.
With 27 World Series championships, the Yankees have had more great players than any other team. Babe Ruth wore number 3, Lou Gehrig (4), Joe DiMaggio (5), Mickey Mantle (7), Whitey Ford (16), Mariano Rivera (42), Reggie Jackson (44), Derek Jeter (2), Berra and Dickey.
Roger Maris (9), Elston Howard (32), Joe Torre (6) and Casey Stengel (37) qualify as special, Maris for 61 home runs in 1961, Howard because he was the team’s first African American, Torre and Stengel as highly successful managers. Stengel won seven World Series as Yankee manager and Torre won four.
But the Yankees have also retired numbers for players who were good but not great, including Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams, Thurman Munson, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.
Jeter certainly deserves the honor, but he should not have worn 2. That number should have been retired long ago for Frank Crosetti.
Who is Frank Crosetti, you might ask. He played for the Yankees from 1932 until 1948, mostly at shortstop. He wasn’t a great player with a .245 career batting average. With teammates like Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Dickey, the Yankees didn’t need a big bat, just a consistent defender at an important position, which is what Crosetti gave them.
During Crosetti’s playing days, the Yankees won nine pennants and eight World Series. After retiring, he became the team’s third base coach for 20 years, with 14 pennants and 10 World Series. Thus he was in uniform for 23 pennants and 17 World Series, by far the most in baseball history.
That is SPECIAL! Far more special than Billy Martin, whose number 1 was retired by the Yankees for managing one World Series winning team.
Berra is second in both categories with 17 pennants and 11 World Series. He played for Yankee teams that won 14 pennants and 10 Series, managed the Yankees’1964 pennant winner and the 1973 Mets’ pennant winner and was a coach for the 1969 Miracle Mets that won the National League pennant and World Series.
One other who deserved to have his number retired by the Yankees was Joe McCarthy, who managed seven World Series winners, tied with Stengel for the most. But McCarthy chose to wear a uniform without a number.
