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Jim Rice’s number 14 to be retired with other Sox greats
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Jim Rice is now officially a Hall of Famer.
The Boston Red Sox do not retire anyone’s number. In fact, the team has retired only seven numbers. The Sox have two official rules for retiring numbers. First, the player must have played for the Red Sox for 10 years. Second, they must be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame.
The Sox also have many unwritten rules for retiring numbers. For instance, they did not retire Hall of Famer Wade Boggs’ number 26. (The Rays retired his number 12, even though he only played for them for two seasons.) There are several reasons why the Sox did not retire Boggs’ number, but you get the point. The Sox just do not retire numbers easily.
Below is a list of the seven numbers currently retired by the Red Sox.
1 - Bobby Doerr
Doerr, a second baseman, played his entire career with the Red Sox. For his career he posted a .288 BA, .357 OBP, 223 HR, and 1247 RBI. He was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.
4 – Joe Cronin
Cronin played for the Sox during the final 11 years of his 20-year career. During this time he also served as the Sox manager. Primarily a shortstop, Cronin has a career batting average of .301 and a career on-base percentage of .382. In 1946, he retired as a play but continued to serve as the manager for two more years. He leads all Red Sox managers with 1,071 career wins. (Francona is in the 500s.) Cronin was elected to the MLB HOF in 1956.
Johnny Pesky played with the Sox for the first eight years of his 12-year career. After retiring as a player, he returned to the Sox has worked in various roles for the team. In all, he served as a player, coach, and manager of the Sox for 21 years. During his career, with the Sox, he was known as Mr. Red Sox. Nowadays, he is best known as the namesake of Fenway Park’s right field foul pole, the “Pesky Pole.” Exactly how Pesky got a piece of Fenway named after him is shrouded in mystery. You can look here for more on the naming story.
Yaz is an icon in Boston. He began a tradition of terrific Red Sox left fielders, playing his entire career with the Sox. A great fielder, Yaz won seven Gold Gloves. In 1967 he hit for the Triple Crown and was named A.L. MVP. Ended his career with more than 400 home runs and 3,000 hits.
Ted Williams played his entire career with the Red Sox. He is one of the greatest hitters of all-time. Williams won two A.L. MVP Awards (1946 and 1949) and two Triple Crowns (1942 and 1947). His career stats speak for themselves: .344 BA, .482 OBP, 521 HR, 1,839 RBI. He is also fourth all-time with 2,019 walks.
Fisk waves it fair!
27 – Carlton Fisk
Fisk played the first 11 years of his XXX-year career with the Sox. He is one of the greatest catchers to ever play the game, posting a career .269 BA, with 376 home runs. The most famous video of Fisk is during Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. He hit a game-winning home run and famously waved the ball to stay fair.
42 – Jackie Robinson
Robinson is known as the first African American to play in MLB. Technically, Robinson was not the first African American to ever play n the Majors, but he was the first to ever be a fulltime starter. He was much more than an average starter, though. Robinson had a great career, winning the 1949 N.L. MVP Award and shares the record for most double plays turned by a second baseman in one season. In 1997 MLB decided to retire Robinson’s number 42 for the entire league. Players who were currently wearing that number were allowed to continue wearing it. (I believe Mariano Rivera is the only player currently wearing number 42, but I could be wrong.)
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