Carry the 1…

If it’s possible, link were even worse-looking than the US jerseys. At least the US jerseys fit (though the NOBs were arched and for apparently no reason).

Mexico’s jerseys were too tight, the numbers on the back looked like they were drawn on, no NOB, the truncated adidas sleeve stripes, the white blob on the front of the collar…just bad.

Do they really use the name “New York Football Giants” on their mailing labels?

So does the confetti gift make up for the Ahmad Bradshaw paint chip that Skiba threw away?

Great UPI wire photo from 1970. Shows the Seattle Pilots “converted” unis as well Thurman Munson with the plainest number style imaginable.

link

This post is intended solely for the entertainment purpose of our audience. It should in no way be construed as an endorsement of ebay, so please save your commentary (or motivational posters).

If you’re looking for body paint link you’ll definitely find it in abundance at CAN2008. There is, however, only one link. Folks, awesome has just been defined!

My guess is this:

According to retroSheet.org, Billy Meyers was named link in 1948…

In 1947, Pittsburgh went 62-92 and in 1948 they went 83 – 71… a pretty big turnaround.

Maybe this is why?

[quote comment=”220545″][quote comment=”220541″]But if Hissrich’s account is accurate, it means the Buccos have essentially retired a number due to a clerical error.[/quote]

comment of the day… and its in the body.

this is similar to how milton kept receiving a paycheck at initech, however it wasnt a “clerical error” it was a “glitch in the system”.[/quote]

“So we fixed the glitch!”

…and… what was i JUST saying yesterday about the buccos??? ugh! gotta love them though… “gotta believe!” lol!!! my season tickets are in the mail!

p.s.
LOVE the new US soccer jerseys. i wish they would stick with them for, oh, i don’t know… a year or so? is that too much to ask?

the knoxville tennessee AA ball park was named after billy meyer, and it opened in 1955, one year after meyer’s number was retired

perhaps his number was retired in exchange for the pirates’ failure to return his stapler

[quote comment=”220547″][quote comment=”220528″]The Russian army (the actual military, not the Red Army hockey team) has new uniforms (courtesy of Chris Bisbee). …

I want the women’s uniform coat. Seriously.[/quote]

With the use of models to demonstrate the new Russian women’s uniforms, I am reminded of Dan Aykroyd’s love interest in “Spies Like Us.”[/quote]

And Aykroyd’s real life wife was Chevy Chase’s love interest in Spies Like Us.

in the flipped film from the kingdom, you can see the steering wheel in the vehicle behind the–its on the wrong side of the car.

[quote comment=”220560″][quote comment=”220547″][quote comment=”220528″]The Russian army (the actual military, not the Red Army hockey team) has new uniforms (courtesy of Chris Bisbee). …

I want the women’s uniform coat. Seriously.[/quote]

With the use of models to demonstrate the new Russian women’s uniforms, I am reminded of Dan Aykroyd’s love interest in “Spies Like Us.”[/quote]

And Aykroyd’s real life wife was Chevy Chase’s love interest in Spies Like Us.[/quote]
Yep. She was Sonny on “Bosom Buddies” with Tom Hanks.

On Meyer – His retired number is questionable, but understandable. Meyer was highly regarded as a manager in the Yankees’ system for many years. He was once passed over for the Yanks mgr job, and then took Pgh and made them (immediately and briefly) respectable in 1948, contending for pennant into August and finishing 4th. The Yanks then wanted to make Meyer mgr – Pgh refused – so they turned to Stengel. It was well understood that the Pirates’ return to horribleness after 1948 wasn’t Meyer’s fault at all, but the fault of a broken organization (echoes of today’s Pirates, sadly). In 1950 the new Pirate majority owner John Galbreath hired Branch Rickey to turn the organization around. This took years, but in the latter half of the 50s the Bucs got better and better (2d in 58, WS in 60, and thirty years of mostly excellent baseball thereafter). Rickey eventually got the guys he wanted in the mgr job (Fred Haney and Bobby Bragan, before new GM Joe L. Brown turned to Danny Murtaugh), but there was a great affection for Meyer in Pgh and apparently great respect for him throughout baseball. Plus he died very soon after he left as Pirate mgr, and sentiment over his untimely death also had something to do with it.

The least deserving retired number of all time is #7 of your Washington Capitals, the great Yvon Labre. Beat that one.

[quote comment=”220552″]

p.s.
LOVE the new US soccer jerseys. i wish they would stick with them for, oh, i don’t know… a year or so? is that too much to ask?[/quote]

Soccer jerseys are on a two year cycle. It’s been that way for the US National Team for quite a while. Expect new jerseys on each even numbered year. One set for World Cup Qualifying (this year), one set for the World Cup.

Re the Pirates retiring Meyer’s #1 despite his terrible record as manager:

Maybe they decided that the number was cursed, and retired it as a matter of self-preservation.

Based on their record since 1993, it didn’t work.

The Portland Trail Blazers have some pretty pitiful retired numbers, too. They essentially started retiring most of the main players from the 1977 championship team, and ended up with guys like Dave Twardzik hanging from the rafters. He played only 4 seasons for Portland, averaging about 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists per game.

Larry Steele’s stats aren’t much better, but at least he played about 10 years for the Blazers.

Unfortunately, because they’ve retired so many numbers of undeserving past players, the Blazers now seem hesitant to retire the numbers of deserving, more recent players (see: Terry Porter).

Santana wearing a white dress shirt for his press conference actually is one of the better jersey over dress shirt looks I can remember.

As Paul has documented, sometimes the player looks so link.

[quote comment=”220587″]I know there has been a decent amount of talk regarding Chivas’ sponosor Bimbo. It would’ve been nice to have seen this Bimbo sponsor follow with the Chivas US team, but everyone mentioned that this sponsor would not translate to the US market.

I thought it was interesting that even though last night’s freindly between US and Mexico was in Houston, Texas, Bimbo sponsorship was proudly displayed on the side and end boards.

The only picture I could find that illustrated this was featured in this article. Look at the back wall.

link

Wait, are you talking about link ;0)

[quote comment=”220527″]Do they really use the name “New York Football Giants” on their mailing labels?[/quote]

I’m pretty sure that they do. That’s also how the receptionists answer the phone.

I for one love it. A charming throwback from a very classy organization.

[quote comment=”220524″]If it’s possible, link were even worse-looking than the US jerseys. At least the US jerseys fit (though the NOBs were arched and for apparently no reason).

Mexico’s jerseys were too tight, the numbers on the back looked like they were drawn on, no NOB, the truncated adidas sleeve stripes, the white blob on the front of the collar…just bad.[/quote]

Nasty color, too, not nearly as nice as their usual shade of green. I liked the US jerseys in action better than I thought I would from photos. Good game, too. Well, except for the back 4 — I think Tim Howard was ready to deck one of them.

Are you sure that’s England’s away jersey Rooney is wearing? I know they generally wear white at home, but that game was at Wembley.

Looks like the mets are going with a different blue cap, with a with button on top instead of an orange one, unless it was the lights at the press conference.

[quote comment=”220602″][quote comment=”220527″]Do they really use the name “New York Football Giants” on their mailing labels?[/quote]

I’m pretty sure that they do. That’s also how the receptionists answer the phone.

I for one love it. A charming throwback from a very classy organization.[/quote]

Isn’t that their Official Company name? Didn’t they incorporate with “Football Giants” way back in the ’20s because to distinguish from the “Baseball” Giants?

On the other hand I still call the Arizona NFL team the “Football Cardinals” although they left StL 20 years ago…

[quote comment=”220608″][quote comment=”220524″]If it’s possible, link were even worse-looking than the US jerseys. At least the US jerseys fit (though the NOBs were arched and for apparently no reason).

Mexico’s jerseys were too tight, the numbers on the back looked like they were drawn on, no NOB, the truncated adidas sleeve stripes, the white blob on the front of the collar…just bad.[/quote]

Nasty color, too, not nearly as nice as their usual shade of green. I liked the US jerseys in action better than I thought I would from photos. Good game, too. Well, except for the back 4 — I think Tim Howard was ready to deck one of them.

Are you sure that’s England’s away jersey Rooney is wearing? I know they generally wear white at home, but that game was at Wembley.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s their new away(red) shirt. They unveiled it this week and that game was the debut. Can you think of another way to boost sales?

Retired numbers are a pox on the game.

By purporting to show respect to the players whose numbers are being taken out of circulation, they’re showing disrespect to the future of the franchise and the sport.

These teams are confident that they’ll still be in existence a century or two from now, don’t they? The Yankees have retired 16 numbers in 78 years. Had baseball been in existence (and with numbers on uniforms) since American independence, 48 numbers would be gone at that rate, and had baseball begun with the Mayflower settlement, available Yankee numbers would begin at around 83.

It was a great gesture to retire Lou Gehrig’s number 4 back in 1939 before his untimely death, when jersey numbers had only been around for a decade and could have been just a passing fad, but now they’re here to stay.

I like the way the Toronto Maple Leafs do it — hand up the jerseys of the all-time greats, but don’t forbid new players from having the numbers. Give those highly-touted rookies a number with some weight and watch them try to live up to it!

Maybe they could compromise and leave just one number out every year. If the Pirates want to honor Billy Meyer, make #1 unavailable. Then it stays out of circulation until the next great Pirate retires and assumes the mantle. Right about now that Pirate would probably be Willie Stargell, whose #8 would have been hanging up for over two decades. Then you could really gauge how great a player was — by how long it took to unseat him as the team’s only retired number.

Uh oh, I broke the italics.

Paul, if you could be so kind, please change that sentence to:

“These teams are confident that they’ll still be in existence a century or two from now, aren’t they?”

Even though it is not a retired number, the Baltimore Ravens do have a Ring of Honor in the stadium and the first ever inductee was the undeserving Earnest Byner. I know Art Modell put him in there as a homage to his work for the then Browns (minus the fumble), but as a Raven he played for only two years and put up a whopping 947 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Hardly an effort worthy of a name in the Ring of Honor.

[quote comment=”220524″]If it’s possible, link were even worse-looking than the US jerseys. At least the US jerseys fit (though the NOBs were arched and for apparently no reason).

Mexico’s jerseys were too tight, the numbers on the back looked like they were drawn on, no NOB, the truncated adidas sleeve stripes, the white blob on the front of the collar…just bad.[/quote]

Both jerseys were just plain awful. The Mexico long sleeves looked like green fabric that was sewn to the short sleeves.

The NOB of the USA jerseys looked horrible over the top of the red horizontal pin stripes.

Just plain painful to watch!

Re: Football (soccer) Jerseys

Football doesn’t work with strict “home” and “away” jerseys. Most teams have a primary jersey and an alternate one for use when their primary jersey clashes with the other team’s kit.

The Dutch, as a famous example, wear their orange kit almost all the time, simply because it rarely conflicts with the other team’s choice, while their change kit (which has varied in colour over the years) mostly hangs in the closet.

The English don’t wear their reds all that often, so may have chosen to wear them last night just to show them off in a game that doesn’t count. As the home team, they get first choice, though as the Swiss usually wear red the whole thing was a bit backwards.

[quote comment=”220599″][quote comment=”220587″]I know there has been a decent amount of talk regarding Chivas’ sponosor Bimbo. It would’ve been nice to have seen this Bimbo sponsor follow with the Chivas US team, but everyone mentioned that this sponsor would not translate to the US market.

I thought it was interesting that even though last night’s freindly between US and Mexico was in Houston, Texas, Bimbo sponsorship was proudly displayed on the side and end boards.

The only picture I could find that illustrated this was featured in this article. Look at the back wall.

link

Wait, are you talking about link ;0)[/quote]
No, they’re talking about this “link” (hugging Betty Boop!)

Errr… maybe not!

Not to speak ill of a man who died so young, but link, whose #4 is retired by the Flyers, was a far less relevant pro athlete than Yvon Labre.

After toiling in the minors for years and recovering from a severe back injury, Ashbee played four years for the Flyers as a second- or third-pair defenseman, sustained a horrific eye injury in the ’74 playoffs and had to retire, got hired as an assistant coach, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia shortly thereafter, and died a month later at age 37.

Hard-luck cases like this help define Philly sports.

Read glowing PR copy about him here: link

PS – I hope Rovell reports from a sweatshop in Malaysia for that Nike special.

[quote comment=”220664″]It was a good year for the confetti people, those colors would have worked for either team. (Unless they use red-white-blue every year as an NFL corporate thing, I am sure we have a confetti archivist here to weigh in).[/quote]

See this photo:
link

That’s Pittsburgh’s celebration over Seattle. All Red, White and Blue streamers.

I assume that is the protocol.

I will say this: when LSU won this year, the streamers were yellow and purple. Of course, that could have been because those were 2/3 of New Orleans colors, I don’t know.

Re: Billy Meyer’s retired number 1

I concur with Fr. John’s explanation that Ol’ Billy was considered a good guy, and so somehow his number was retired by the Pirates. I’ve read or heard the same story on more than one occasion. Maybe Meyer was quick to pick up the dinner tab! Sure looks like a mistake by the team — but you’d have to pin this one on the longtime (previous) owners of the Pirates — the Galbreaths. For all of its sins, the current ownership had Nutting to do with it.

Prior to the 1970s, the Pirates had only two retired numbers — Meyer’s 1 and Honus Wagner’s 33 (which he actually wore as a Bucco coach, since players in his day did not have uni numbers).

Beginning with the retiring of Roberto Clemente’s number 21 (in 1973), the Pirates have gone on a somewhat of a mothballing spree: No. 4 (Ralph Kiner), No. 8 (Willie Stargell), No. 9 (Bill Mazeroski), No. 20 (Pie Traynor), No. 40 (Danny Murtaugh have been retired, and Paul Waner’s No. 11 joined the club last season. All of these Pirates were worthy of this respect.

However undeserved the honor may be for Meyer’s No. 1, unretiring it would be bad form, and possibly bad karma. As a Pirates’ fan, I would not want this wretched franchise to bring any more bad luck upon itself. The Curse of Francisco Cabrera is doing fine on its own.

[quote comment=”220671″][quote comment=”220664″]It was a good year for the confetti people, those colors would have worked for either team. (Unless they use red-white-blue every year as an NFL corporate thing, I am sure we have a confetti archivist here to weigh in).[/quote]

See this photo:
link

That’s Pittsburgh’s celebration over Seattle. All Red, White and Blue streamers.

I assume that is the protocol.

I will say this: when LSU won this year, the streamers were yellow and purple. Of course, that could have been because those were 2/3 of New Orleans colors, I don’t know.[/quote]
Uh, purple and gold are not 2/3 of New Orleans’ color. The city’s link is a red, white and blue tri-color with yellow fleur-de-lis on it. And the city’s link doesn’t have purple or gold.

Purple and gold are 2/3 of the link colors.

Am I the only one that misses the days when MLB jerseys actually link?

I mean, how link is link!

[quote comment=”220675″]Has this ever been talked about before:

link

Wow, I haven’t seen those since my Little League days (1972). We used them running the bases. After batting we’d flip off the helmet and put these on.

Billy Meyer’s baseball card makes him look like Sloth from The Goonies

[quote comment=”220661″]Not to speak ill of a man who died so young, but link, whose #4 is retired by the Flyers, was a far less relevant pro athlete than Yvon Labre.

After toiling in the minors for years and recovering from a severe back injury, Ashbee played four years for the Flyers as a second- or third-pair defenseman, sustained a horrific eye injury in the ’74 playoffs and had to retire, got hired as an assistant coach, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia shortly thereafter, and died a month later at age 37.

Hard-luck cases like this help define Philly sports.

Read glowing PR copy about him here: link

PS – I hope Rovell reports from a sweatshop in Malaysia for that Nike special.[/quote]

I remember as a youngster watching Barry Ashbee play for the Flyers; he was a great defenseman who never got the accolades. Seeing him take a puck to the face against the Rangers in ’74 is one of the few things I still remember vividly from that season (game was on NBC on a Sunday afternoon). Not sure if he warrants his jersey being retired, but he was MUCH MORE relevant than Yvon Labre, IMO.

[quote comment=”220679″]Am I the only one that misses the days when MLB jerseys actually link?

I mean, how link is link![/quote]

Arch is nice, but vertical arch rules!
link

[quote comment=”220664″]It was a good year for the confetti people, those colors would have worked for either team. (Unless they use red-white-blue every year as an NFL corporate thing, I am sure we have a confetti archivist here to weigh in).[/quote]

[quote comment=”220661″]Not to speak ill of a man who died so young, but link, whose #4 is retired by the Flyers, was a far less relevant pro athlete than Yvon Labre.

After toiling in the minors for years and recovering from a severe back injury, Ashbee played four years for the Flyers as a second- or third-pair defenseman, sustained a horrific eye injury in the ’74 playoffs and had to retire, got hired as an assistant coach, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia shortly thereafter, and died a month later at age 37.

Hard-luck cases like this help define Philly sports.

Read glowing PR copy about him here: link

PS – I hope Rovell reports from a sweatshop in Malaysia for that Nike special.[/quote]

Speaking of the Flyers, I attended last night’s game where they link Ron Hextall into their Hall of Fame. Which is a good way to honor a key player without retiring the number. While watching the video tribute to Hexy, I focused on the various masks he wore throughout his career with the Flyers from his bland birdcage, to the link, link, to the link.

Love him or loathe him, Hexy changed the way goalies play the game.

[quote comment=”220691″][quote comment=”220686″]Santana’s uniform would be perfect if they got rid of the black drop shadows.[/quote]

but then it would be boring[/quote]

boring…link?

[quote comment=”220674″]Re: Billy Meyer’s retired number 1

I concur with Fr. John’s explanation that Ol’ Billy was considered a good guy, and so somehow his number was retired by the Pirates. I’ve read or heard the same story on more than one occasion. Maybe Meyer was quick to pick up the dinner tab! Sure looks like a mistake by the team — but you’d have to pin this one on the longtime (previous) owners of the Pirates — the Galbreaths. For all of its sins, the current ownership had Nutting to do with it.

Prior to the 1970s, the Pirates had only two retired numbers — Meyer’s 1 and Honus Wagner’s 33 (which he actually wore as a Bucco coach, since players in his day did not have uni numbers).

Beginning with the retiring of Roberto Clemente’s number 21 (in 1973), the Pirates have gone on a somewhat of a mothballing spree: No. 4 (Ralph Kiner), No. 8 (Willie Stargell), No. 9 (Bill Mazeroski), No. 20 (Pie Traynor), No. 40 (Danny Murtaugh have been retired, and Paul Waner’s No. 11 joined the club last season. All of these Pirates were worthy of this respect.

However undeserved the honor may be for Meyer’s No. 1, unretiring it would be bad form, and possibly bad karma. As a Pirates’ fan, I would not want this wretched franchise to bring any more bad luck upon itself. The Curse of Francisco Cabrera is doing fine on its own.[/quote]

I actually heard that one of the reasons Meyer’s number got retired was becasue he was married to the owner’s daughter. I heard it on Mark Madden’s show last summer. I am 95% positive that was the case. Believe it or not his love life got his number retired. I think thats a great tactic.

What about a UniWatch party in Pittsburgh???

[quote comment=”220687″]Billy Meyer’s baseball card makes him look like Sloth from The Goonies[/quote]

I was thinking Rodney Dangerfield……

link

[quote comment=”220708″]My favourite retired uniform story goes to the linkof the CFL.

Kapp had his number retired after he left the Lions for the Vikings in the late 60’s. In 1990 he returned to become GM of the Lions. His big signing was link – and considered it such a big deal that he “unretired” his number 22 to give to Flutie.

The problem was that Kapp, and his coach Larry Kuharich – didn’t bring anybody else. The team was godawful – and Kapp was fired 11 games into the season. Flutie left two years later – but for the next few years – they left 22 unretired as Kapp’s GMimg left such a sour taste. Jon Volpe wore 22 for awhile, and the number lost a little of its luster.

Fortunately time heals all wounds and Kapp’s number was quietly re-retired a few years ago.

Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?[/quote]

The White Sox retired #3 for Harold Bained while he was still an active player. He later came back to finish his career with the Pale Hose and wore his own “retired” number . . . does that count?

[quote comment=”220684″][quote comment=”220650″]Georgia Tech’s women’s hoops team was called the Jackettes? Do they still use that name in any women’s sport? Does that appear on a uniform or in any other official capacity, or is it a nickname of a nickname?[/quote]

I doubt it. There was a time when a lot of schools did cute little things like that with their women’s teams’ names. For instance, I grew up in New Orleans, so I can remember when LSU’s teams were the Ben-Gals and the University of New Orleans’ teams were the Buc-ettes. Now, lots of schools have done away with even “Lady” designations (La Tech and Tennessee not withstanding). I even think USC is phasing out “Women of Troy” in favor of just plain “Trojans.”[/quote]

There’s a link in my native Milwaukee which uses “Popes” as its mascot. The girls’ teams are, I kid you not, Lady Popes.

The Lions did the unretire deal to sign Pat Swilling:

link

link

[quote comment=”220595″]I can’t disagree more!!! Retired numbers do not have to 100% deal with stats! Yvon’s contributions were far reaching off the ice to an area that was new to the NHL. Hockey didn’t exist in DC before Yvon, and he was part of the reason it flourished.[/quote]

Along these same lines, consider if you will, the case of link, the former Boston University hockey player who, in 1995, was paralyzed on the ice just 11 seconds into his first collegiate shift.
Travis has worked tirelessly to assit others who suffer from paralysis, has established the link and continues to serve as a beacon of hope and inspiration to disabled people and the Boston University Hockey community.
In 1999, before what would have been the start of his senior season as a Terrier, the BU Athletic Department made the decision to link that Travis wore for those 11 seconds. The number had previously been worn by BU captains (Mike Sullivan and Jacques Joubert) as well as by players who eventually left BU to NHL stardom (Keith Tkachuk) and others.
In the long tradition of BU Hockey, with the countless players who have gone on to NHL success, Travis’ number 24 remains the ONLY number the administration has taken out of active use.
The numbers don’t mean everything.

speaking of retired numbers…

how long before link is retired?

[quote comment=”220732″]speaking of retired numbers…

how long before link is retired?[/quote]

If that’s a Yankees grey road jersey with Joe Torre’s number 6 on it, then probably sometime after he retires. They wouldn’t dare do it while he is still working for the Dodgers.

[quote comment=”220724″]The Lions did the unretire deal to sign Pat Swilling:

link

link

I could be mistaken but I believe the Lions also unretired Eddie Murray’s #3 for Joey Harrington.

Whoops. Looks like I’m wrong about Lions #3. I swore I heard that story at the time. Sorry about the misinformation.

What about a UniWatch party in Pittsburgh???

guess we’d just have to throw a huge “smasher” one night here just to show paul how many interested people there are in pittsburgh! lol.

[quote comment=”220735″]Where does NFL clothing proclaiming a Patriots championship go?[/quote]

–sounds like my ex-wife

…lemieux and jordan both “un-retired” their own numbers… then retired them again. funny thing about lemieux’s though. the first time it was retired, it was done so on a white banner that looked like the home uni’s (at the time). the second time it was retired, it looked like the home black uni’s with the upside down, vegas-gold/white “V” on the sides. (pre-edge jersey). has THAT ever happened before???

…brings up another point… if a current player retires now… say for example selanne… will his banner be lighter, faster, and waterproof?

*sorry, rbk edge joke*

Seahawks with Steve Largent’s approval unretired 80 for Jerry Rice when he played for them.

[quote comment=”220751″][quote comment=”220735″]link[/quote]

a quote from the article:

[quote]”Oftentimes, the people who receive NFL gear aren’t familiar with American football,” Duffy said.

“Especially in the African countries, they have no idea what the Super Bowl is.”[/quote]
[/quote]

link

[quote comment=”220708″]My favourite retired uniform story goes to the linkof the CFL.

Kapp had his number retired after he left the Lions for the Vikings in the late 60’s. In 1990 he returned to become GM of the Lions. His big signing was link – and considered it such a big deal that he “unretired” his number 22 to give to Flutie.

The problem was that Kapp, and his coach Larry Kuharich – didn’t bring anybody else. The team was godawful – and Kapp was fired 11 games into the season. Flutie left two years later – but for the next few years – they left 22 unretired as Kapp’s GMimg left such a sour taste. Jon Volpe wore 22 for awhile, and the number lost a little of its luster.

Fortunately time heals all wounds and Kapp’s number was quietly re-retired a few years ago.

Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?[/quote]
The Phoenix Cyotes unretired Bobby Hulls #9 (They retired the number back when the team was still north of the boarder) so that Brett could wear it. It only lasted a few games as Brett retired shortly after. I don’t know if they hung the number back up or not.

[quote comment=”220722″]University of Florida’s football team retired 11 for Steve Spurrier and 74 for Jack Youngblood. When Spurrier took over the reigns as coach he unretired both numbers. Now 11 and 74 sit alongside 22 (Smith), 7 (Wuerffel), and 88 (Marshall) in the Ring of Honor but no numbers are off limits.

Speaking of Emmit’s #22, I picked up a replica in orange when Nike released a few unnamed throwbacks to celebrate the team’s 100th Anniversary. Nothing against Emmit, but one of my all time favorite Gators when I was but a lad was link. I want to get a name put on the back of the jersey but my 8 and 9-year old mind wasn’t savvy enough to store the format of his NOB in my long-term memory. Does anyone here remember if it was J. L. Williams or John L. Williams?[/quote]

From Pop Warner trough three of the four years that I played in college, I was a fullback. There were two players whom I tried to fashion my game after, John L. Williams of the Seahawks and link.

I was looking for something unrelated in the Time magazine archives and came across this from link:

Died. James L. Price, secretary of the Boston “Red Sox” baseball team; by suicide (razor); in Fenway Baseball Park, Boston.

I am kind of surprised that there don’t seem to be any further details available on the internet. The stock market didn’t crash til October, so it isn’t likely to be related to that.

Maybe they retired Meyer’s number because he was such a token of ‘bad luck’ or futility. Almost like the way truck drivers place children’s dolls on the grills of their 18-wheeler trucks to counter against ‘accidents’ or spurned girlfriends burn love letters after a breakup.
…just a thought.

[quote comment=”220773″][quote comment=”220734″][quote comment=”220732″]speaking of retired numbers…

how long before link is retired?[/quote]

If that’s a Yankees grey road jersey with Joe Torre’s number 6 on it, then probably sometime after he retires. They wouldn’t dare do it while he is still working for the Dodgers.[/quote]

If and when they do retire it, does Joe get to “share” it with link? A linkballplayer for some pretty crappy Yankee teams, or do honors like that only go for link and link?[/quote]

i had that topps pre-photoshop bb card of roy white…i loved how his batting stance was, shall we say, pigeon-toed…and i remember him being a pretty damn good little baseball player for the yanks…

but joe and joe alone will get #6

I don’t believe Bobby Phills deserved the honor of having his number retired by the (then Charlotte) Hornets. He averaged about 12 points/game in 3 seasons, and was killed basically drag racing with a teammate. It’s always a tragedy when a life is cut short in it’s prime, but he was already in his 9th or 10th season and was certainly not going to be worthy of such a distinction.

The Nets did a somewhat similar thing with Drazen Petrovic. When he was killed in a car accident, the guy had only played 2 1/2 years in NJ (4 overall in the NBA). His last season was excellent, but his career as a Net did not seem worthy of a special honor. He had also indicated that he did not want to continue playing for the Nets. Nevertheless, the Nets retired his #3.

[quote comment=”220762″]any true baseball fan knows these three numbers:

660…714…755

when #25 (of the giants) retires, will we even know or care what number goes ahead of #755?

lets say he never plays another game…does anyone even know what number he was at when 2007 ended?[/quote]

762

[quote comment=”220708″]My favourite retired uniform story goes to the linkof the CFL.

Kapp had his number retired after he left the Lions for the Vikings in the late 60’s. In 1990 he returned to become GM of the Lions. His big signing was link – and considered it such a big deal that he “unretired” his number 22 to give to Flutie.

The problem was that Kapp, and his coach Larry Kuharich – didn’t bring anybody else. The team was godawful – and Kapp was fired 11 games into the season. Flutie left two years later – but for the next few years – they left 22 unretired as Kapp’s GMimg left such a sour taste. Jon Volpe wore 22 for awhile, and the number lost a little of its luster.

Fortunately time heals all wounds and Kapp’s number was quietly re-retired a few years ago.

Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?[/quote]

Grant Hill currently wears 33, which is in the suns Ring of Honor and retired for Alvan Adams. The story is with Hill having worn 33 since his days in college, Adams made the decision to pass on his 33 without much hesitation.

“To me it’s not my number, it’s Jerry Colangelo’s,” Adams said. “He’s the one who made the decision to retire my number and I think of 33 as belonging more to him, the fans and Suns history. The past is great, but the most important thing is this franchise winning a championship. The best chapter in our history will be the day we win the championship and if I can make a small contribution by making Hill’s transition to Phoenix a smooth one, then I’m all for it.”

[quote comment=”220784″][quote comment=”220708″]My favourite retired uniform story goes to the linkof the CFL.

Kapp had his number retired after he left the Lions for the Vikings in the late 60’s. In 1990 he returned to become GM of the Lions. His big signing was link – and considered it such a big deal that he “unretired” his number 22 to give to Flutie.

The problem was that Kapp, and his coach Larry Kuharich – didn’t bring anybody else. The team was godawful – and Kapp was fired 11 games into the season. Flutie left two years later – but for the next few years – they left 22 unretired as Kapp’s GMimg left such a sour taste. Jon Volpe wore 22 for awhile, and the number lost a little of its luster.

Fortunately time heals all wounds and Kapp’s number was quietly re-retired a few years ago.

Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?[/quote]

Grant Hill currently wears 33, which is in the suns Ring of Honor and retired for Alvan Adams. The story is with Hill having worn 33 since his days in college, Adams made the decision to pass on his 33 without much hesitation.

“To me it’s not my number, it’s Jerry Colangelo’s,” Adams said. “He’s the one who made the decision to retire my number and I think of 33 as belonging more to him, the fans and Suns history. The past is great, but the most important thing is this franchise winning a championship. The best chapter in our history will be the day we win the championship and if I can make a small contribution by making Hill’s transition to Phoenix a smooth one, then I’m all for it.”[/quote]

I can’t beileve noone has mentioned Michael Jordan yet. He wore his new number 45 for a few games and then went back to his 23 that had already been retired.

[quote comment=”220735″]Where does NFL clothing proclaiming a Patriots championship go?[/quote]

I never want to go to Zambia now

Fascinating that the Bills never got around to retiring OJ’s #32. I wonder why it wasn’t done before you-know-what…

[quote comment=”220789″][quote comment=”220773″]If and when they do retire it, does Joe get to “share” it with link? A linkballplayer for some pretty crappy Yankee teams, or do honors like that only go for link and link?[/quote]

Actually thy retired 32 for Elston Howard. 8 is retired for Yogi and link.
Roy White was a great ballplayer, but I don’t know that he belongs out in Momument Park (I hold that feeling even about some people that are already out there!)[/quote]
Correction duly noted – and I agree with your sentiment about who “belongs out in Monument Park” – and this from an avowed “Yankee Hater” (I even have the link!)

[quote comment=”220799″]I even have the link![/quote]

that is just so wrong

fckn hilarious…but wrong ;)

[quote comment=”220767″]
A-Rod could hit a 1000 homeruns and I don’t see any of his teams retiring his number.[/quote]

if he remains injury free for the remainder of his career he will most certainly challenge that number.

It bears mentioning the strangest retired number in sports: The Miami Heat retiring Jordan’s number 23.
link

[quote comment=”220762″]any true baseball fan knows these three numbers:

660…714…755

when #25 (of the giants) retires, will we even know or care what number goes ahead of #755?

lets say he never plays another game…does anyone even know what number he was at when 2007 ended?[/quote]
I like to include.406 in w/ those beauties.

“I like the way the Toronto Maple Leafs do it — hand up the jerseys of the all-time greats, but don’t forbid new players from having the numbers. Give those highly-touted rookies a number with some weight and watch them try to live up to it!”

Are you kidding me? Yeah it was disgusting to see the #27 worn by Frank Mahovolich and Darryl Sittler parade into the penalty box when it was worn by meatheads John Kordic, Dave Semenko and Shayne Corson. The Leafs should be ashamed.

[quote comment=”220806″]What’s more interesting is the sneaker end of that story. When link and was wearing #45, he was also wearing the link at the time, widely regarded as the greatest of all. On the back of the heel, the number 23 is embroidered in a font very similar to the numbering on link. Nike decided to produce an extremely small number of those shoes with the link embroidered on the back, truly a collector’s item.[/quote]

and even further… since it was the playoffs and the bulls approved playoff uniforms included black shoes, jordan was fined for wearing a predominantly white shoe in games 1 and 2. since the aj xi had just been released, there was no black colorway in existance.

in game 3, in chicago, jordan complied and wore a black pair of air flight 1’s (penny hardaway’s first signature shoe).

for the remained of the series, jordan wore a pair of the same white and black patent aj xi’s however the upper was dyed black.

this combination (created by accident and necessity) was worn by mj in the movie space jam, and to this day, that colorway of the aj xi’s are known as space jams.

[quote comment=”220810″]It bears mentioning the strangest retired number in sports: The Miami Heat retiring Jordan’s number 23.
link

Well that’s just stupid!

[quote comment=”220806″]What’s more interesting is the sneaker end of that story. When link and was wearing #45, he was also wearing the link at the time, widely regarded as the greatest of all. On the back of the heel, the number 23 is embroidered in a font very similar to the numbering on link. Nike decided to produce an extremely small number of those shoes with the link embroidered on the back, truly a collector’s item.[/quote]

I completely agree. Those are the greatest Jordans of all time.

I think the link is at the very bottom of link.

And maybe Johnny Most’s mic. I can’t find a picture of it, but they put it “High above courtside” in the old Garden.

By the way, if you google “Johnny Most’s microphone” link comes up. Gotta love Google image search sometimes.

Fascinating that the Bills never got around to retiring OJ’s #32. I wonder why it wasn’t done before you-know-what…

i thought o.j. was in buffalo’s version of the ring of fame??? isn’t that what they do up there to honor the has-been bills???

Not totally uni-related, but check out this cool logo-related story.
link

While we’re on the subject, I’m amazed that the Twins settled for so little.

At that point, I’d have been tempted to just keep him around for one more season, knowing that he was on the way out in October.

[quote comment=”220767″]
I only see Jeter and Bonds as the only active players today worthy of retired numbers in baseball. Maybe Griffey Jr?[/quote]

Without a doubt Frank Thomas for the White Sox after he retires – 16 years, and probably the best White Sox player ever. Griffey Jr would be hard, since he’s been on two teams for a while and changed his number.

Does anyone know a way to contact Mr. Skiba? I’ve been following the equipped videos all year and had a couple of questions.

Thanks!

[quote comment=”220837″][quote comment=”220827″][quote comment=”220823″]Paul, you couldn’t give me a friendly heads’ up to skip today’s entry????

My goal is to make it through the entire baseball season by pretending that Johan is still here. Torii Hunter, too.

Nothing will EVER look as good as this:

link–EVER!

By the way, this pink thing has to stop. Seriously.[/quote]

but minna you got back Carlos Gomez and right-handers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra…

surely you remember the sweet music trade?

give it 4-5 years before we can call it a fleecing[/quote]

Come on. I have been watching the Twins for a long time. By the time any of the prospects mature into anything good, they will be gone. We are a ‘small market’ team, LI Phil, and the two championships in the eighties and nineties were flukes.

Everything in sports is based on snap judgements, anyway, and the need to win now, so why shouldn’t I have the same expectations?

Besides, the Twins’ uni is better than the Mets’. However, I will be rooting for the Mets this year AND they have black in their unis. Yeah, yeah, I know, ditch the black and all that, but I LIKE black. I don’t like orange so much…[/quote]

minna

since my mets last won the world series, 21 years and 20 world series ago, your twins have won TWO…and we made only made the post-season in 88, 99, 00 & 06…period

you’re getting a beautiful new park, and you’ve got some damn fine talent now…don’t blame the small market, blame carl pohlad & your GM…they COULD have made johan an offer he couldn’t refuse

only the yanks (with 4) have more WS wins, and the blue jays (2), marlins (2) & red sox (2) are equal

sorry, but i can’t say a LOT of teams and fans wouldn’t trade places with ya

[quote comment=”220862″]don’t blame the small market, blame carl pohlad[/quote]

True enough.

Pohlad takes the revenue sharing and lines his pockets. Then he weeps and cries poor. Steinbrenner, for all his faults, pours every single penny back into the club instead of doling it out to his investors.

Pohlad is a cancer on the game.

The whole process of retiring numbers is something that really annoys me. I’m a much bigger fan of the University of Florida style of having a ring of honor but no retired numbers.

[quote comment=”220858″]#159 by Joey Guns on 02.07.08 3:56 pm | Quote

link…

spoon?[/quote]

Yea, apparently somebody on here thought to mention that the inset of the lowercase ‘e’ looked like a spoon a while ago. Which really shouldn’t be mentioned in the logo’s design.

The “spoon” is just the shape of the ‘e’ happening. The arrow is intentional. They had to mess the with x-height of the ‘x’ (weird) to make it look like an arrow.

[quote comment=”220825″]Just found out the Gwinnett Gladiators will be having a link this weekend.[/quote]
not only will the ice be pink, so will their jerseys which will be auctioned off…

[quote comment=”220858″]#159 by Joey Guns on 02.07.08 3:56 pm | Quote

link…

spoon?[/quote]

yeah…everyone knows about the arrow…but look at the link…the negative space looks like a spoon (some even say a butter knife)

[quote comment=”220744″][quote comment=”220739″]Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?

barry bonds and willie mays. right?[/quote]
Nope . . .Bonds wore 25 with the Giants, not his godfather’s 24[/quote]

But they DID originally SAY they were going to unretire #24 for him, didn’t they? Seems like I remember it that way. And then they (way way WAY fortunately, as it turned out) didn’t do it.

[quote comment=”220766″]The Phoenix Cyotes unretired Bobby Hulls #9 (They retired the number back when the team was still north of the boarder) so that Brett could wear it. It only lasted a few games as Brett retired shortly after. I don’t know if they hung the number back up or not.[/quote]

I was there earlier in the season and believe it’s back up there. I’ll check my photos from that game, almost certain I took one of the retired numbers (which are all from Winnipeg, IIRC).

[quote comment=”220786″]I can’t beileve noone has mentioned Michael Jordan yet. He wore his new number 45 for a few games and then went back to his 23 that had already been retired.[/quote]

It was mentioned above.

Jordan wore 45 for 22 games.

OK, so being a suburban Atlanta resident, and Braves fan, I read the AJC beat writer’s blog fairly regularly. Nothing too fancy, just a writer letting the fans know what he knows.

However, it has been a bit special the past two days, as Chipper Jones himself has been posting on the blog, unsolicited, answering questions, and just generally hanging out. The writer confirmed it was indeed Chipper posting.

The uni angle? Someone asked which authentic Chipper jersey they should get. His response:
“Get the sunday home jerseys. Those things are sweet lookin. I hear we are gonna break out some blue ones this year.”

I am anxious to see some blue Braves alts. Any word on this Paul?

FYI, anybody interested in checking out what Chipper is saying, he is posting under the name “U Kno Who.”

link
link

[quote comment=”220865″]I wonder how people feel about Wayne Gretzky’s number being retired across the NHL. Not trying to be a pill or anything, but I imagine there are a lot of NHL fans that didn’t actually like Gretzky.

Seeing his number retired for their team might tweak them a bit.[/quote]

Maybe.

Not like anyone’s really tried or wanted to wear #99 for most teams.

I thought he was generally well-liked (except for the Devils’ fans after the “Mickey Mouse” affair, but they should have at least been happy that they got some attention for what was then a woebegone team).

I would hope that, whether you liked him or not, you recognized his greatness and you’d get over the fact that no one on the Tampa Bay Lightning can wear #99.

“Serious knob job…”? Wow, I though Rovell does pretty good work at CNBC. I thought Paul just railed against the “evils” the Nike perpetrates on sports uniforms, not the entire company. What companies should he report on – LA Gear? K-Swiss?

Darren’s a great reporter…It’s refreshing to see a story that will take Nike to task…but hey, Phil Knight won’t loose any sleep over it.

[quote comment=”220904″][quote comment=”220865″]I wonder how people feel about Wayne Gretzky’s number being retired across the NHL. Not trying to be a pill or anything, but I imagine there are a lot of NHL fans that didn’t actually like Gretzky.
Seeing his number retired for their team might tweak them a bit.[/quote]

Maybe.

Not like anyone’s really tried or wanted to wear #99 for most teams.

I thought he was generally well-liked (except for the Devils’ fans after the “Mickey Mouse” affair, but they should have at least been happy that they got some attention for what was then a woebegone team).

I would hope that, whether you liked him or not, you recognized his greatness and you’d get over the fact that no one on the Tampa Bay Lightning can wear #99.[/quote]

i never liked gretz, but i think he is, bar none, the GREATEST to ever lace up the skates, and certainly the reason cities that have never seen a frozen pond yet alone a legitimate snowfall boast professional hockey

if MLB can retire ’42’ then the NHL can certainly retire 99

both men who wore those respective numbers were tremendous ambassadors for the game…jackie more so, but the great one certainly did enough on and off the ice to warrant such acclaim

Would you say Jackie was really an ambassador for the game? I mean, surely, a flag-carrier and a cause celebre, but in the 16 years he lived after his retirement, didn’t he kind of keep to himself? I’m asking, because I don’t know, I just get that sense. I don’t think he was a Buck O’Neill ambassador type, going to everything, commenting on everything, shining a light on everything. He had some personal tragedies and ill health, which surely would have contributed to it (I’m not denigrating him at all if he did kind of keep to himself – the man put up with enough as it was). I just didn’t get the impression that he was Mr. Baseball after his retirement and before his death.

But I was too young, so y’all tell me.

[quote comment=”220850″][quote comment=”220767″]
I only see Jeter and Bonds as the only active players today worthy of retired numbers in baseball. Maybe Griffey Jr?[/quote]

Without a doubt Frank Thomas for the White Sox after he retires – 16 years, and probably the best White Sox player ever. Griffey Jr would be hard, since he’s been on two teams for a while and changed his number.[/quote]

Too soon to talk about Pujols? Probably.

I think Todd Helton will be the last Rockie to wear #17.

Mays did offer to have 24 unretired for Barry, but Barry wisely and graciously declined, possibly the last wise and gracious thing he’s ever done.

The Reds have never officially retired 14, but nobody since Rose has worn it — except Pete Jr., in his month with the team in ’97. So that was a sort of “unretirement.”

[quote comment=”220862″][quote comment=”220837″][quote comment=”220827″][quote comment=”220823″]Paul, you couldn’t give me a friendly heads’ up to skip today’s entry????

My goal is to make it through the entire baseball season by pretending that Johan is still here. Torii Hunter, too.

Nothing will EVER look as good as this:

link–EVER!

By the way, this pink thing has to stop. Seriously.[/quote]

but minna you got back Carlos Gomez and right-handers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra…

surely you remember the sweet music trade?

give it 4-5 years before we can call it a fleecing[/quote]

Come on. I have been watching the Twins for a long time. By the time any of the prospects mature into anything good, they will be gone. We are a ‘small market’ team, LI Phil, and the two championships in the eighties and nineties were flukes.

Everything in sports is based on snap judgements, anyway, and the need to win now, so why shouldn’t I have the same expectations?

Besides, the Twins’ uni is better than the Mets’. However, I will be rooting for the Mets this year AND they have black in their unis. Yeah, yeah, I know, ditch the black and all that, but I LIKE black. I don’t like orange so much…[/quote]

minna

since my mets last won the world series, 21 years and 20 world series ago, your twins have won TWO…and we made only made the post-season in 88, 99, 00 & 06…period

you’re getting a beautiful new park, and you’ve got some damn fine talent now…don’t blame the small market, blame carl pohlad & your GM…they COULD have made johan an offer he couldn’t refuse

only the yanks (with 4) have more WS wins, and the blue jays (2), marlins (2) & red sox (2) are equal

sorry, but i can’t say a LOT of teams and fans wouldn’t trade places with ya[/quote]

They could have made an offer he couldn’t refuse but a small market team can’t afford to tie all their money up in one guy. What happens if he gets hurt? Can’t afford to do anything. I have been a Twinks fan since Killebrew and Carew. At least the Twins play with heart and when they win a championship they earned it – not bought it.

[quote comment=”220918″]Chipper just slipped yet another notch in my esteem [although his stock had already plummeted after he stopped hiking up his cuffs a few yrs back]).[/quote]

But knocking up a Hooter’s waitress was okay with you?

JUST KIDDING! IT’S A JOKE, RELAX!

[quote comment=”220747″]Speaking of the Flyers, I attended last night’s game where they inducted Ron Hextall into their Hall of Fame. Which is a good way to honor a key player without retiring the number. While watching the video tribute to Hexy, I focused on the various masks he wore throughout his career with the Flyers from his bland birdcage, to the arrow, Liberty Bell, to the Philly skyline.
Love him or loathe him, Hexy changed the way goalies play the game

…you do mean, by chasing robbie brown around the ice after a goal right? haha. kidding, hextall was good enough… lol[/quote]

Of course. That was included in the video highlights they ran on the scoreboard. As well as: his 2-hander on Kent Nilsson, cross-check on Chelios, the fight with Felix Potvin, plus his 2 goals and fabulous saves.

[quote comment=”220918″][quote comment=”220900″]Someone asked which authentic Chipper jersey they should get. His response:
“Get the sunday home jerseys. Those things are sweet lookin. I hear we are gonna break out some blue ones this year.”

I am anxious to see some blue Braves alts. Any word on this Paul?[/quote]

No blue alternate, according to my info. Just the red alt (which looks like total shit — Chipper just slipped yet another notch in my esteem [although his stock had already plummeted after he stopped hiking up his cuffs a few yrs back]).[/quote]

Well, keep us abreast if you hear any different. Personally, I love the red alternate, but I hated it until I saw it in person on the field. TV doesn’t do it justice.

~E~

Why is Cade throwing up? These could be Oregon’s best unis.

link

[quote comment=”220899″][quote comment=”220811″]there is no way in hell that if my play during my career warranted my number being retired that i would EVER, for ANY reason allow the organization to un-retire it.

in fact, if i were to be presented with the honor i think i would have an attorney draft an agreement stating as such for the organization to sign.

i view it as an honor that i EARNED. and taking that honor back is no different than asking me to pay them money back that i EARNED during my career to appease a current player.[/quote]

I guess there really is an i in team.

Huh. How ’bout that?

(I personally would prefer that it not happen to me, either, but I would take the high road like Steve Largent and not get all militant about it.)[/quote]

if i had a career worthy enough that a franchise thought enough of me to retire my jersey, so no player would ever wear it again, that is not me being selfish. it would have been their request.

however i would be selfish when it came to a request to unretire my number, the number i represented during my career, the number which identified ME to millions in the city and nation.
i would have busted my ass in the weight room, on the training grounds, and in the off season just so i wouldnt disrespect #___ of franchise ___.

for my team then to approach me after retirement, to disregard all of that work put in to making #___ a special number for that franchise simply for the sake of getting a free agent or to massage the ego of a prima donna…

no thank you. i’ll be as selfish as i wanna be then.

[quote comment=”220862″][quote comment=”220837″][quote comment=”220827″][quote comment=”220823″]Paul, you couldn’t give me a friendly heads’ up to skip today’s entry????

My goal is to make it through the entire baseball season by pretending that Johan is still here. Torii Hunter, too.

Nothing will EVER look as good as this:

link–EVER!

By the way, this pink thing has to stop. Seriously.[/quote]

but minna you got back Carlos Gomez and right-handers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra…

surely you remember the sweet music trade?

give it 4-5 years before we can call it a fleecing[/quote]

Come on. I have been watching the Twins for a long time. By the time any of the prospects mature into anything good, they will be gone. We are a ‘small market’ team, LI Phil, and the two championships in the eighties and nineties were flukes.

Everything in sports is based on snap judgements, anyway, and the need to win now, so why shouldn’t I have the same expectations?

Besides, the Twins’ uni is better than the Mets’. However, I will be rooting for the Mets this year AND they have black in their unis. Yeah, yeah, I know, ditch the black and all that, but I LIKE black. I don’t like orange so much…[/quote]

minna

since my mets last won the world series, 21 years and 20 world series ago, your twins have won TWO…and we made only made the post-season in 88, 99, 00 & 06…period

you’re getting a beautiful new park, and you’ve got some damn fine talent now…don’t blame the small market, blame carl pohlad & your GM…they COULD have made johan an offer he couldn’t refuse

only the yanks (with 4) have more WS wins, and the blue jays (2), marlins (2) & red sox (2) are equal

sorry, but i can’t say a LOT of teams and fans wouldn’t trade places with ya[/quote]

Ummmmm being a Brewers fan, I would trade places with almost anyone. We have one World Series appearance (1982) and have not even made it to the post season since that year. That is the second longest streak with the Expos/Nats taking the longest streak only by one year I believe. So, I don’t want anyone complaining about ONLY winning a FEW World Series in the last 20 years. After the Crew make the playoffs this year, I will stop my bitching, but until then, not a whole lot of ball clubs can compare to the disappointment of Milwaukee in the last 25 years.

Hell, you all remember we celebrated losing the World Series this past year with a silver anniversary patch. (I know, I know it was to commemorate their only AL Championship) But when a ball club is doing that, you know there is not a lot to cheer about.

[quote comment=”220671″]

I will say this: when LSU won this year, the streamers were yellow and purple. Of course, that could have been because those were 2/3 of New Orleans colors, I don’t know.[/quote]
At the 2007 Rose Bowl, the confetti was red, blue, and yellow, covering all their bases in case Michigan or USC won. I thought that was pretty hilarious.

Huggins, however, looks like a chump in that windbreaker.

So the other day it was mentioned that the U. of Minnesota football team was getting Virginia Tech-inspired uniforms next season. I don’t know if they’ve been released yet, nor have I seen news about it.

So I worked up an idea of how I think they’re going to look, compared to the current versions.

link

To earlier mentions of the Blazers and Hornets retiring numbers for no apparent reason, I’ll add the Bucks.

I can understand Jon McGlocklin, who was just an average player but has been there since Day One, but not Brian Winters. Never have.

Not when the numbers of Bob Dandridge, Marques Johnson and Terry Cummings are still in use.

I know, I know. No one cares about this but me.

[quote comment=”220884″][quote comment=”220708″]Is there any other history of a player’s number being “un-retired” for various reasons?[/quote]

Brett Hull wore his father’s retired #9, but (a) it was for a different team (same franchise, but different team) and (b) he only wore it for five games before retiring. I think a father-son thing is not a bad reason to do this at all.

Contrast that with the Jerry Rice/Steve Largent thing. I have the utmost respect for Jerry Rice the player. Unbelievable player. Best WR ever. Work ethic second to none. My God what a player.

But the whole “Can I wear #80 thing?” was a bit too much. Classily, Largent didn’t object. But I’d hate to be put in that situation myself. Unlikely, since the only thing they’re going to retire pertaining to me is me.

I liked the way Montana did it when he went to Kansas City, taking another number that was meaningful to him without putting Len Dawson in an awkward position.[/quote]
The most interesting instance of this, in my mind, is Karl Malone. After a long career as #32 for the Utah Jazz, he was introduced at his Lakers press conference with a #32 jersey. (Also present was Gary Payton with his #20 jersey.)
Shortly after, he was the first guest on the ESPN show Rome is Burning, where he talked about his new jersey. Something like this:
“Magic Johnson offered to let me wear his #32, but I didn’t want to take #32 down from the rafters. So I wanted to show you my real jersey this year. (Holds up his yellow jersey.) #11. Isn’t it such a smooth number? I love it. Besides, #11 was my Dream Team number, so I’ve won with it before.”

[quote comment=”220963″]Looks like West Virginia didn’t wait until the Big East tournament to break out the new uni’s. The gold they are wearing tonight actually looks pretty sharp in my opinion.[/quote]

link

[quote comment=”220650″]Georgia Tech’s women’s hoops team was called the Jackettes? Do they still use that name in any women’s sport? Does that appear on a uniform or in any other official capacity, or is it a nickname of a nickname?[/quote]

today they’re known as the Lady Jackets, and on Sunday they will be wearing link against UNC

Hey! That girl pictured in the Georgia Tech throwback uni…she was in some of my classes at Tech! Off the top of my head, I think her name was Jamie Posey.

Great PP&K article…and not just because Paul quoted me! I remember that 1969 booklet well.

Here’s a bit on he history of Adidas:

link

[quote comment=”221009″][quote comment=”220767″]

But with the free agency and the way players change teams like underwear, retired numbers will soon be far and few between.

I only see Jeter and Bonds as the only active players today worthy of retired numbers in baseball. Maybe Griffey Jr?

A-Rod could hit a 1000 homeruns and I don’t see any of his teams retiring his number.[/quote]

I doubt we will see a Met wearing link again and i doubt #5 is far behind[/quote]

i could see them retiring piazza, but then again, we thought 16 & 18 were sure things too…i would like to see 17 and 8 retired, but if they haven’t already, it aint happenin…and what about 36? and if we one day do retire 5, what about 7?

[quote comment=”220952″]And if so, has any single player had two numbers retired by the same team?[/quote]

Not that I can find. We’ve had numbers retired for more than one person, but not more than one number retired for one person. We’ve had the same number retired for the same person by more than one team. We’ve had numbers retired for people who didn’t play for that team, numbers retired for non-players and honors for people who didn’t wear numbers at all.

BTW, link says Meyer’s #1 was retired by the Pirates in 1954, two years after they fired him and six years after he was NL Manager of the Year.

[quote]I’m not certain that Jordan’s 45 is officially retired by the Bulls.[/quote]

It’s not. In fact, Paul Shirley wore it in the 2003-2004 season.

It was 80’s night tonight at Joe Louis Arena in detroit. Alas, the visiting LA Kings did not wear this throwback…link

[quote comment=”221022″][quote comment=”221013″][quote comment=”221009″][quote comment=”220767″]

But with the free agency and the way players change teams like underwear, retired numbers will soon be far and few between.

I only see Jeter and Bonds as the only active players today worthy of retired numbers in baseball. Maybe Griffey Jr?

A-Rod could hit a 1000 homeruns and I don’t see any of his teams retiring his number.[/quote]

I doubt we will see a Met wearing link again and i doubt #5 is far behind[/quote]

i could see them retiring piazza, but then again, we thought 16 & 18 were sure things too…i would like to see 17 and 8 retired, but if they haven’t already, it aint happenin…and what about 36? and if we one day do retire 5, what about 7?[/quote]
16 and 18 shot themselves in the foot with the off-the-field stuff…i love 17, but he didn’t spend his prime with the team (won the MVP in ’79). I’d love to see 8, but my sense is that their MO is only retiring guys who get elected to the HOF as Mets. I think the next 7 years will tell us a lot about 5 & 7. you gotta think at least one of them will be, right? maybe their criteria are just a bit too high[/quote]
How did you get that one? I don’t think Casey is in the Hall as a Met, and I don’t think Gil Hodges is in the Hall at all. Your logic appears flawed.

In fact, it looks like Billy Meyer might have been only link to have his number retired (and first by a team outside New York).

I’m searching old Sporting Newses now. Surely if they actually retired his number in 1954, the Sporting News would have mentioned it.

link on baseball almanac either

[quote comment=”220982″]So the other day it was mentioned that the U. of Minnesota football team was getting Virginia Tech-inspired uniforms next season. I don’t know if they’ve been released yet, nor have I seen news about it.

So I worked up an idea of how I think they’re going to look, compared to the current versions.

link

Great work , Jim!

Forget the link, Sorry

link

[quote comment=”220556″]the knoxville tennessee AA ball park was named after billy meyer, and it opened in 1955, one year after meyer’s number was retired

perhaps his number was retired in exchange for the pirates’ failure to return his stapler[/quote]

Did he at least get a piece of cake? At the last ceremony he did not receive a piece of cake.