Uniform numbers aren’t for everyone. I have friends who I’d consider to be engaged sports fans who have almost zero recall of who wore what number — and even less inclination to further study the art.
I also have friends — and I’m the chairman of this little extra-curricular activity — who believe uniform numbers are an essential part of investing in sports. I’m not saying that’s true. I just know that the other night a buddy asked about Ron Gardenhire — an excellent manager in his day but a fairly obscure Met before that — and I immediately said “19.” I’m not sure I can recall anything else about Gardenhire’s 285-game tenure with the Mets, but I remembered he wore 19. When the friend looked it up on Baseball-Reference.com and confirmed it, he nodded in admiration.
This isn’t a skill that will change the world. But I’m a uniform number guy. So Saturday was my kind of day, the Mets retiring Darryl Strawberry’s No. 18 forever, swelling the roster at Citi Field to seven — 14 (Gil Hodges), 16 (Doc Gooden), 17 (Keith Hernandez), 18 (Strawberry), 36 (Jerry Koosman), 37 (Casey Stengel) and 41 (Tom Seaver) when, for the longest time, only Hodges, Stengel and Seaver had that honor.
It got me thinking about who might get the next retired number for each of our nine teams in the four major leagues. And here is one man’s guess at that:
Mets
It almost certainly has to be David Wright’s 5, it’s just a matter of when. After that? Just about every worthy member of the all-time roster (for now) will have been duly honored. It’s anyone’s guess who the ninth number would be. He might not have been drafted yet — though if he stays around, Pete Alonso is a possibility.
Yankees
No team better takes care of its legends in this regards than the Yankees, so there are no holdouts. Safe to say Aaron Judge’s 99 will reside in Monument Park someday, at the earliest possible date.
Giants
I’d say at some point a public reconnection/reconciliation with Tiki Barber is in order. He is the all-time rusher — by more than 3,500 yards — for a team that’s about to begin its 100th year of operation. It should be time for 21.
Jets
This one should have been done a long time ago: Gerry Philbin’s 81. He was the Joe Namath (only less chatty) of the ’68 Jets defense.
Knicks
While I’d love to suggest that someday Julius Randle will have enough gravitas to warrant a dual hanging of 30 with Bernard King, the most egregious omission right now is Richie Guerin’s No. 9, which should’ve been hung at the Garden decades ago.
day. NBAE via Getty Images
Nets
We know the answer to this: The Nets will retire Vince Carter’s 15 next season. Me? I’d have gone with Micheal Ray Richardson’s 20 before Carter. His time with the Nets was brief and ended badly but he was electric.
Rangers
I’m with my man Brooksie on this one: Brad Park’s No. 2 should be added to Brian Leetch’s No. 2 sooner rather than later. And there’s precedent: two 9s (Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate) and two 11s (Mark Messier and Vic Hadfield) already hang in the rafters.
Islanders
The only real omission from the Dynasty Boys is Ken Morrow, who was as reliable and as clutch a player as any of them. His No. 6 really belongs at UBS Center.
Devils
Claude Lemieux was an essential part of the team’s attack and an integral part of the dressing room for the 1995 and 2000 champs. Neither departure was especially smooth, but Pepe’s 22 should hang.
Vac’s Whacks
I was remiss in my tribute to Bill Walton the other day to not recall the profound impact New York’s very own Marty Glickman had in helping Walton overcome a stutter and giving him first-class, hands-on training as a broadcaster.
On the subject of Negro Leaguers being incorporated into MLB stats, I defer as always to my late friend, the great Buck O’Neil, who once told me, “Anyone who saw Josh Gibson or ol’ Satch Paige play knows they were every bit as good as the best white players. But fewer and fewer of us are still around. What happens when we’re all gone and nobody can talk about them?” If this makes one kid look up Gibson and Paige? Sign me up.
I’m about halfway through “A Man in Full,” and, as always with any project she is in, Diane Lane is the best part about it. By a lot.
Celtics in seven. But it’s going to be fun watching Luka for seven games worth of prime time.
Whack Back at Vac
Henry Conte: Steve Cohen drew a hand of Brodie, Porter, Scott and Eppler. …. I hope his casino poker tables have better luck.
Vac: That is the time you go looking for a new dealer. For his sake, David Stearns had better be the one.
Paul Sciortino: I guess they are right, money doesn’t buy happiness, see Steve Cohen and the Mets. Maybe they just don’t know where to shop?
Vac: At least it seems like he’s done with his antique-store phase. That’s a start.
JerzDevl2000: Angel Hernandez finally made the right call.
@MikeVacc: Sometimes all it takes is seven words to say it all.
Gregg Slater: I was lucky enough to have spent time with Bill Walton over the years. The first time in an airport where we were both sitting around with flight delays. Walked up to him and asked about UCLA and didn’t get a word in for the next 10 minutes. By the time we were done, he knew my wife and kids’ names.
Vac: So many stories like this have flooded in these past few days. What a man. What a life.