Retired Numbers
| Jim Rice's number 14 was retired by the Boston Red Sox in 2009. |
There are eight retired numbers above the right field grandstand. All of the numbers retired by the Red Sox are red on a white circle. Jackie Robinson's 42, which was retired by Major League Baseball, is blue on a white circle. The two are further delineated through the font difference; Boston numbers are in the same style as the Red Sox jerseys, while Robinson's number is in the more traditional "block" numbering found on the Dodgers jerseys.
Until the late 1990s, the numbers originally hung on the right-field facade in the order in which they were retired: 9-4-1-8. It was pointed out that the numbers, when read as a date (9/4/18), marked the eve of the first game of the 1918 World Series, the last championship series that the Red Sox won before 2004. After the facade was repainted, the numbers were rearranged in numerical order. The numbers remained in numerical order until the 2012 season, when the numbers were quietly rearranged back into the order in which they were retired by the Red Sox.
The Red Sox policy on retiring uniform numbers was once one of the most stringent in baseball—the player had to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, play at least 10 years with the team, and retire as a member of the Red Sox. The final requirement was waived for Carlton Fisk as he had finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox. However, Fisk was assigned a Red Sox front office job and effectively "finished" his baseball career with the Red Sox in this manner. In 2008, the ownership relaxed the requirements further with the retirement of Johnny Pesky's number 6. Pesky has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but in light of his over fifty years of service to the club, the management made an exception. Pesky would have had 10 seasons, but he was credited with the three seasons he served as an Operations Officer in the U.S. Navy during WWII. The most recent number retired was 14, worn by Jim Rice.
| Red Sox retired numbers | |||||
| Number | Player | Position | Red Sox Years | Date Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Doerr | 2B | 1937–44, 46–51 | May 21, 1988 | US Army, 1945 |
| 4 | Joe Cronin | SS | 1935–45 | May 29, 1984 | Player-Manager |
| 6 | Johnny Pesky | SS, 3B, 2B | 1942, 46–52 | September 28, 2008 | US Navy, 1943–45 |
| 8 | Carl Yastrzemski | LF, 3B, 1B | 1961–83 | August 6, 1989 | |
| 9 | Ted Williams | LF | 1939–42, 46–60 | May 29, 1984 | US Marines, 1943–45, 52–53 |
| 14 | Jim Rice | LF | 1974–89 | July 28, 2009 | |
| 27 | Carlton Fisk | C | 1969, 71–80 | September 4, 2000 | |
| 42 | Jackie Robinson | Brooklyn Dodgers 1947-1956, retired by Major League Baseball April 15, 1997 | |||
Read more about this topic: Fenway Park
Famous quotes containing the words retired and/or numbers:
“I will never accept that I got a free ride. It wasn’t free at all. My ancestors were brought here against their will. They were made to work and help build the country. I worked in the cotton fields from the age of seven. I worked in the laundry for twenty- three years. I worked for the national organization for nine years. I just retired from city government after twelve-and-a- half years.”
—Johnnie Tillmon (b. 1926)
“All experience teaches that, whenever there is a great national establishment, employing large numbers of officials, the public must be reconciled to support many incompetent men; for such is the favoritism and nepotism always prevailing in the purlieus of these establishments, that some incompetent persons are always admitted, to the exclusion of many of the worthy.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)