{"id":1110,"date":"2009-01-26T03:31:16","date_gmt":"2009-01-26T03:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beta.mbtn.net\/?p=1110"},"modified":"2014-01-26T10:33:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T16:33:20","slug":"sick-and-retired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=1110","title":{"rendered":"Sick and Retired"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0I recently came across (not literally) about the Cubs planning to retire\u00a0No. 31<\/strong>\u00a0this summer as a tribute to Hall of Famer\u00a0Fergie Jenkins<\/strong>\u00a0and future Hall of Famer\u00a0Greg Maddux<\/strong>, both of whom wore No. 31 when pitching for the Cubs. In the meantime, they plan to take their time when it comes to\u00a0Sammy Sosa<\/strong>, whose\u00a0No. 21<\/strong>\u00a0is expected to be issued this year to\u00a0Milton Bradley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The article quotes Mark McGwire, the Cubs’ executive vice president for business operations:<\/p>\n

“We’ve gotten into a situation where we’ve been really tough about retiring numbers. We actually have an in-house standard of people getting in the Hall of Fame before the organization would even consider retiring his number. There’s some discussion this year because of No. 31 and the unique status of Mr. Maddux and Fergie Jenkins that we may go ahead and do something this summer.<\/p>\n

“With Sammy, time has a way of healing a lot of things, and we’ll just see how it works itself out. I don’t think we’ll be escalating our program in that regard.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have to say I applaud the Cubs’ rigid standards and suggest that Met fans unhappy about the number of of Mets to have their numbers retired direct their energies not toward making it up with players of the past but rooting for situations where a decision will be an easy one in the future.<\/p>\n

I sometimes think the attention around\u00a0No. 17<\/strong>\u00a0gets\u00a0way out of hand<\/a>, for instance.\u00a0Keith\u00a0knows how he’s got us by the nads and, I think, gets a kick out of tugging them from time to time. I’ve always been indifferent to whole idea of retiring his number, mainly because of the slippery slope that was the 1980s Mets (if you retire 17, so you must 16 and 18, and 8 and 1, and 47 and so on). Hernandez also didn’t fashion a career with the Mets exclusively (in fact may have had more success in a rival’s clothes) and hasn’t (yet) attained a place in the Hall of Fame (though I and a veteran’s committee might be convinced still of that).<\/p>\n

17’s route to immortality will be, like 21 in Chicago, dependent some on how the future views Hernandez. His announcing gig — and forthcoming\u00a0book\u00a0<\/a>— no doubt has his popular estimation on the rise and will continue to add to his lagacy, so I wouldn’t be strongly opposed when that day comes but know this: It hasn’t come yet. It’d be a no-brainer otherwise.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\"\"The Mets you have may have seen have inked gangly pitcher\u00a0Freddy Garcia<\/strong>\u00a0and outfielder\/utilityman\u00a0Rob Mackowiak<\/strong>\u00a0to minor league deals and invited them both to spring training. The oft-injured and well-traveled Garcia has worn\u00a034\u00a0<\/strong>everywhere he’s played: It will be interesting to see whether\u00a0Mike Pelfrey\u00a0has any attachment to it in the event Garcia makes the club. Macklowiak, who seems a threat to\u00a0Marlon Anderson\u00a0(lefty, multipurpose player, with a weak bat) will take what he’s given. He’s worn\u00a059\u00a0<\/strong>in Pittsburgh,\u00a010<\/strong>\u00a0with the White Sox and\u00a012<\/strong>\u00a0with Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting\u00a0article\u00a0I recently came across (not literally) about the Cubs planning to retire\u00a0No. 31\u00a0this summer as a tribute to Hall of Famer\u00a0Fergie Jenkins\u00a0and future Hall of Famer\u00a0Greg Maddux, both of whom wore No. 31 when pitching for the Cubs. In the meantime, they plan to take their time when it comes to\u00a0Sammy Sosa, whose\u00a0No. 21\u00a0is expected … Continue reading “Sick and Retired”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[329],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-keith-hernandez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2013,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions\/2013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}