A star search
1 – Bobby Doerr
4 – Joe Cronin
6 – Johnny Pesky
8 – Carl Yastrzemski
9 – Ted Williams
14 – Jim Rice
26 – Wade Boggs
27 – Carlton Fisk
34 – David Ortiz
42 – Jackie Robinson
45 – Pedro Martinez
Those are all the retired numbers for the Boston Red Sox.
Jackie Robinson, of course never played for the Red Sox. Although #42 is a back door tribute to Mo Vaughn, who in no way deserves his number retired by himself, but is along for the ride anyway.
It’s a good list. A solid list. Boston was held back on retiring numbers for a while by requiring players not only finish their career with the Sox but also make the Hall of Fame.
For the most part I think this was a policy with the right goal in mind. I won’t name any names but a certain team in New York has the opposite policy and has retired a plethora of numbers for players who probably did not deserve the honor.
This does come with a drawback: despite being the team with the third most World Series championships (after the Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals) they have retired only two numbers of players who won a championship with Boston: Pedro and Big Papi.
While teams had experimented with numbers for players since the late 1800s, the first time a team wore them on the field was an experiment in Cleveland in 1916 with numbers on the sleeve. Uniform numbers on the back of the jersey as we know them now didn’t stay until 1929. So the heroes of first few championships — Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Jimmy Collins, Harry Hooper, Tris Speaker — were all out since they didn’t even have numbers! Not to mention the requirement of finishing their career in Boston and having a 10-year Red Sox career.
Imagine the reputational difference for the Sox during the championship drought if they’d been able to leverage this cornucopia of stars?
So who does that leave? Who would be next? Will Pedro and Papi be it for the (first) four championships of the 21st century?
Mookie Betts, sadly, will not have his number retired in Boston.
Manny Ramirez is an obvious fit but for his trouble with PEDs. Despite the Sox dropping the Hall of Fame as a requirement, for Manny, that seems to be the most likely way to patch it all over. And that’s still a long shot.
Jon Lester? Well, he spent nine years with Boston. But his 43.4 bWAR and lack of Cy Young awards probably means no Hall in his future. The pitcher we would want to retire, Roger Clemens, is like Manny, unavailable. But again, he didn’t win with Boston so it’s less of a loss.
Dustin Pedroia? Now we’re getting somewhere. Pedroia spent his entire 14 year career in Boston. He started his career winning the AL Rookie of the Year — plus a World Series — in 2007. Then an MVP in 2008. Four Gold Gloves. A couple runs at the batting title. Another World Series. He’s on the Hall of Fame ballot and, maybe, could find himself enshrined. But also, and this is the potential biggest point, the Red Sox have not assigned 15 to anyone else since he stopped playing.
Will they wait until his Hall of Fame case is over? Will they combine both? It’s possible. Unlike David Ortiz this isn’t a sure thing. But he’s a Red Sox legend who helped moved the team from curse breaking — which was great! — to dynasty.
If John Henry hasn’t said “do it” hopefully he’s at least thinking “get it done.”