The Houston Astros Find a New Way to Embarrass Themselves
By Mac Wolff
A Different Look:
I looked at four factors:
- Year of Team Founding
- Number of World Series titles
- Number of retired numbers (excluding Jackie Robinson)
- Number of retired numbers that are also in the Hall of Fame
I didn’t do this for every team put I picked a pretty decent sample size consisting of some of the oldest teams and then also the teams that were founded around the same time as the Astros.
|
Team |
Year Founded
# of Titles
# of Retired Numbers
Ratio of
Retired Numbers in the HOF
New York Yankees
1903
27 [Rolls eyes]
18
12/18 (including Rivera)
St. Louis Cardinals
1882
11
12
10/12
Chicago Cubs
1870
2
6
All
Boston Red Sox
1901
8
7
6/7
Oakland Athletics
1901
9
5
All
San Francisco Giants
1883
7
9
All
New York Mets
1962
2
3
2/3
Milwaukee Brewers
1969
0
4
All
San Diego Padres
1969
0
5
3/5 (including Hoffman)
Houston Astros
1962
0
9
2/9 (including Biggio)
Observations:
We have more retired numbers than teams that have been around since before the turn of the 20th century! We have more retired numbers than teams that are almost in the double digits as far as World Series wins go!
On top of that, the Astros’ percentage of retired numbers in the HOF is a dismal 22%, far below the marks set by the other teams in this sample size. These aren’t even all the teams that prove my points best! The Braves and Dodgers have insane records too!
As you can tell from my exclamation, I’m getting a little fired up. Also, this should have already been a policy of mine, but if I ever hear a Yankees fan complain about baseball related things I’m going to punch them in the face. I knew they had been dominant but TWENTY-SEVEN championships? Puh-lease.
Comparing the Astros’ list of retired numbers to the League’s list makes you realize we should MAYBE have retired the numbers of four players; Ryan, Biggio, Bagwell and Dierker considering his time as manager.
Berkman and Oswalt
Well now this brings us to the matter at hand. With the recent retirements of the Puma and Roy O, does the precedent set by the Astros front offices of the past require that we now also retire the numbers 17 and 44? The consensus among the “experts” is that neither Oswalt nor Berkman will make it into the Hall of Fame. But compared to the stats of those that are already in the rafters, you would absolutely have to retire both of their numbers.
As a Houston native that regularly complains about the lack of coverage H-town gets, I respect what the Astros have done to take care of their guys. The mentality of, “Well if no one else will honor them, then we will” makes sense to me. But to have 11 numbers hanging over right field on a team with no World Series wins and a history that only goes back to 1962, does seem desperate and is a little embarrassing.
As far as un-retiring numbers, there aren’t many examples of it. The Marlin’s un-retired the number 5 for Logan Morrison, which was previously retired to honor the passing of the Marlin’s original president and CEO Carl Barger. The White Sox un-retired Luis Aparicio’s number 11 when fellow Venezuelan shortstop Omar Vizquel joined the team in 2010. Otherwise most of the other un-retirements were because of a player returning to the field Brett Favre style (minus the dick pics).
Chances are that the only way the Astros are going to reduce the retired numbers is if some legend comes to play for them and demands his number be used.
Crane, Luhnow, Reid.
So does the new regime really care about any of this? The team is doing everything it can to appease the fan base and generate good will. The Astros continue to create roles like “Special Adviser to the organization” in order to give big names a place within the organization (See Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan). The front office has also shown that they could give a crap how they are perceived by anybody who is not an Astros fan. They will retire Oswalt’s and Berkman’s numbers because that’s what the fan base wants and since they can’t give us wins, they try to give us everything else we want.
Conclusion
Is it really a problem that the Astros have a lot of retired numbers? No, not really. The Astros didn’t get involved in a land war in Asia, nor did they go against a Sicilian when death is on the line, so a classic blunder it is not.
Does it give the rest of the league another reason to laugh at us? Yes it does.
It would have been nice if the team was more judicious about its rafter selections but really this piece was born out of curiosity. Brian McTaggart brought up a point I thought needed some fleshing out and that’s what I did. Opening day and the Yankees are fast approaching and soon writing about the ratio of HOFers to retired numbers will be INCONCEIVEABLE! But until then, anybody want a peanut?
Also if you haven’t seen Princess Bride, I apologize for how little sense this conclusion is making to you.
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Written: Mac Wolff
Creative: Marcus Chavez