If you're reading this, there's a 0% chance you haven't heard about the Yankees retiring Derek Jeter's jersey over the weekend. This post isn't about him (or the Yankees). I will say that if you're wanting some Jeter coverage that's different than the mainstream stuff, check out episode 93 of our podcast. We all could use more Derek Jeter's Taco Hole in our lives.
As promised on Saturday, I want to answer a weird hypothetical question; if other teams had to retire jersey numbers 1-10, how would it go? The retirement of Jeter's number 2 means they are the first franchise to complete 1-10. The Cardinals and Red Sox are next with five.
Cardinals
| Number | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ozzie Smith |
| 2 | Red Schoendienst |
| 6 | Stand Musial |
| 9 | Enos Slaughter |
| 10 | Tony "Cats" LaRussa |
Red Sox
| Number | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Doerr |
| 4 | Joe Cronin |
| 6 | Johnny Pesky |
| 8 | Carl Yastrzemski |
| 9 | Ted Williams |
Nine MLB teams don't have any numbers 1-10 retired: Diamondbacks, Rockies, Angels, Marlins, Mets, Mariners, Rays, Rangers, and Blue Jays.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time to go through all 30 teams hypothetical numbers 1-10. Tonight, I'm just doing the Cubs and White Sox; maybe I'll pick a few more sometime later this week. Feel free to investigate and send us your favorite team's list.
Cubs
| Number | Player | Career | WAR w/ # |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Woody English | 1927-38 | 8.4 |
| 2 | Billy Herman | 1931-47 | 22.9 |
| 3 | Kiki Cuyler | 1932-35 | 7.2 |
| 4 | Ralph Kiner | 1946-55 | 5.8 |
| 5 | Billy Jurges | 1931-47 | 4.2 |
| 6 | Frank Demaree | 1932-44 | 7.6 |
| 7 | Jody Davis | 1981-90 | 17.2 |
| 8 | Andre Dawson | 1976-96 | 14.6 |
| 9 | Randy Hundley | 1964-77 | 12.1 |
| 10 | Ron Santo | 1960-74 | 72 |
White Sox
| Number | Player | Career | WAR w/ # |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Johnson | 1987-00 | 21.2 |
| 2 | Nellie Fox | 1953-63 | 39.3 |
| 3 | Harold Baines | 1980-01 | 24.5 |
| 4 | Luke Appling | 1930-50 | 73.5 |
| 5 | Bubba Phillips | 1955-64 | 5.3 |
| 6 | Taffy Wright | 1938-49 | 12.9 |
| 7 | Cass Michaels | 1943-54 | 10.6 |
| 8 | Pete Ward | 1962-70 | 20 |
| 9 | Minnie Minoso | 1949-80 | 41.3 |
| 10 | Sherm Lollar | 1946-63 | 23.9 |
Much like our 2005 MVP Baseball series so far this year, the White Sox crush the Cubs. This time it was 272.5 to 172. Keep in mind the Yankees had over 600.
Baseball is here! And more importantly, that means the over/under game is back. It seems as though everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow we convince ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than everyone else. Well, AFITB is putting that to the test for the third year in a row. Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway.