Padres prepare batter's eye for Hoffman's number retirement

over his BBQ, and put Garvey’s at Qualcomm.

Everyone will have to buy a new one. Well not everyone, just the two people that have one.

Would be to recycle the old ones.

he played 8 years for the padres, 9.5 for the yankees. His fued with Steinbrenner was pretty epic. He went into the HOF in a padres cap (the first padre to do so). He is vice president of hand shaking and healthy eating operations (or something like that) for the padres.

that lowered our payroll dammit. we need to spend MORE money!!!! How are we ever going to win games and drive in runs without our leading RBI Guy Ludwick!!

throughout our history and society. It should not only be retired, it belongs next to the others.

diamondlol

First of all, without the Babe and a few other players there would not be a “moment” for Jackie Robinson to truly make. Let’s not make it sound like if the defunct XFL was all white and let on a black player, that the nation would care, and remember that decades into the future. Baseball was only famous because stars before that made it famous.

Secondly (for the other commenter) the Brown decision was the beginning of true integration in America (or you can say the National Guard being mobilized to enforce the decision was), not Robinson’s signing with the Dodgers. This was merely a cuter precursor to the inevitable main event. Eventually the league would become integrated anyway because segregation laws would be abolished due to the ineluctable court decision. And I suppose with that, whomever would be that new first Afro-American ballplayer would also get their place in history instead.

Personally I’m for all the ceremonies, the Hall of Fame exhibits, all of that. I believe that what Robinson did was important for African-Americans in ultimately the world at large. We can have a Jackie Robinson Day. I just think that the retiring of jerseys belongs to the individual club and the players who performed exceptionally for that club. Jackie Robinson did not play for the Padres, or the Pirates, or the Cubs, or the Yankees, or the Orioles. He played for the Dodgers, and he did an exceptional job doing so (as well as his “greater than the game” moments). Therefore, that certainly merits his number being retired by the Dodges organization. But the MLB just doing this by fiat for all clubs….I don’t think that it is a good thing, because it messes with what it means to have your number retired by a specific team. The sense of what makes your team your team gets ruined with this sort of action, not to mention this creates precedent for future commissioners to retire more jerseys across all of baseball. Basically, I just don’t feel like this is the true “baseball” way to deal with tradition (by ruining other traditions).

And finally, why is there no outrage for the first Latino player (who’s name doesn’t even come to mind immediately…which I think explains it all) in not receiving all this pomp?

If the folks in charge of putting up the numbers accidentally dropped Garvey’s or just decided to donate it to the Kroc center, I’d be cool with it.