# Question for Yankee fans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 1999, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529 "1999-10-06T19:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Foghorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Foghorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foghorn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/1 "1999-10-06T19:55:00Z")
Two questions about the numbers retired and posted to a wall at Yankee Stadium. First, why are there 2 number “8”'s? I know Yogi was one of them, but why would they retire a number twice? I don’t get it… Second, who wore number “10”? Seems to me that Chris Chambliss wore that number, but he’s a coach with the team and now wears another number… so I figure the “10” retired wasn’t his… so why did they let him wear it? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/2 "1999-10-06T20:01:00Z")
I opened this one hoping it would be “How can you stand yourselves?” * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/3 "1999-10-06T20:06:00Z")
The other 8 is Bill Dickey. They were retired together in the 70s. 10 is for Phil Rizzuto. It was retired in the 80s, after Chambliss’s career, and well after Rizzuto’s. * * * I don’t know who first said “everyone’s a critic,” but I think it’s a really stupid saying. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/4 "1999-10-06T20:50:00Z")
Ike: I respectfully say, “Blow me!” Correct on both numbers… Go Yanks! Team of the century!! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/5 "1999-10-06T21:00:00Z")
Yeesh. I bet ya root for Dallas when football season rolls around, too. – Underdog Uke, who always hates a winner ---
**Author:** ![Foghorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Foghorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foghorn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/6 "1999-10-06T21:31:00Z")
Thanks Pete. Another quick question for you, if you don’t mind. How do they decide to retire numbers in NY? Seems kind of strange that Rizzuto’s number wouldn’t be retired after his career. If it was worthy of retiring later on, why not earlier? Same for Bill Dickey… Why do these guys grow in importance? Memories make them better players? ---
**Author:** ![SoxFan59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@SoxFan59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoxFan59)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/7 "1999-10-06T21:51:00Z")
I have a sense that the Yankees retired no. 8 for Yogi, despite Bill Dickey’s prowess as a player. The fact that both were great players made it easy to recognize both of them for wearing the same number. But make no mistake about it; the number was retired because of Yogi. As for Rizzuto, I sense that his number was retired as much for his career as a broadcaster as his most excellent career as a Yankee shortstop. * * * SoxFan59 “Its fiction, but all the facts are true!” ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/8 "1999-10-06T22:14:00Z")
Uke - You wanna take this over to the Pit? BASEBALL - NY Yankees FOOTBALL - NY Giants BASKETBALL - NY Knicks COLLEGE HOOPS - St. Johns (in Jamaica, NY) COLLEGE FOOTBALL - Columbia (NYC) HOCKEY - NY Rangers SOCCER - NY/NJ Metrostars Get the point? Dallas… Man am I gonna torture you in Hell for THAT remark… ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/9 "1999-10-06T22:34:00Z")
COLLEGE HOOPS - Syracuse University ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/10 "1999-10-07T13:26:00Z")
And here I always thought hell was reserved for Giants fans… Oh, wait, forgot. Hell is being a Giant fan on Earth (thinking of a certain game lost due to fumbleitis)… (As if **I** can talk, Cubs fan that I am…) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/11 "1999-10-07T13:39:00Z")
Hee hee hee…see you down by the Lake of Fire. I assume you’ll be confiscating my sunblock. I shouldn’t have teased you, knowing you’re a born-and-bred New Yorker. You’re entitled to be a Yank booster. I’m a transplant myself, like 98% of the residents of the five boroughs. And it’s been said by better folks than me that any New Yorker originally from someplace else (excepting, probably, those backwaters without professional baseball teams) who sets himself up as a Yankee fan is by definition the lowest form of human life. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Snetho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Snetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snetho)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/12 "1999-10-07T14:28:00Z")
BASEBALL - Boston Red Sox FOOTBALL - NE Patriots (4-0) COLLEGE FOOTBALL - Boston College (4-0) HOCKEY - Boston Bruins (waiting for Dafoe) SOCCER - NE Revolution (who cares though) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/13 "1999-10-07T14:31:00Z")
Nine Teen Eight Teen * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/14 "1999-10-07T16:18:00Z")
Sorry, FogHorn. Didn’t check back on this thread until now. SoxFan makes some good points out. Also, you have to realize that it wasn’t traditional to retire numbers until about 40 years ago. And, as wonderful as the Scooter was, it was usually reserved for people like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jack Robinson. (Does anyone know who was the first of any/each sport?) I know the Yanks were the first professional team to assign numbers to players, in the 20s. * * * I don’t know who first said “everyone’s a critic,” but I think it’s a really stupid saying. ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/15 "1999-10-07T16:19:00Z")
lol, manhattan * * * I don’t know who first said “everyone’s a critic,” but I think it’s a really stupid saying. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/16 "1999-10-07T18:42:00Z")
Snetho: Curse of the Bambino Bill Buckner Bucky Dent (Sorry… Couldn’t resist…) ---
**Author:** ![Snetho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Snetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snetho)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/17 "1999-10-07T19:47:00Z")
**Satan:** First of all, I should hold all comments until after the playoffs, but The Curse of the Bambino should be expiring soon with our new ball park…so pending the ALCS results, NY may soon have a new force to reckon with. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/18 "1999-10-07T20:13:00Z")
\< Thinking the Curse pulled the muscle in Pedro’s back… \> ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/19 "1999-10-08T03:38:00Z")
Well, I’m pretty sure that Lou Gehrig’s #4 was the first uniform number to be retired, in any sport. You’ve all seen that Gary Cooper movie, so I don’t have to tell you the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![SoxFan59](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@SoxFan59](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoxFan59)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529/20 "1999-10-08T16:33:00Z")
I think astorian is right, but the habit of “officially” retiring a number, that is, to have a ceremony and raise the jersey into the rafters or put a plaque on the wall, came much more recently. The Yankees simply didn’t reassign Gehrig’s number after his retirement. Of course, at the time of Gehrig’s retirement (1939?), I’m not sure all the big league clubs were using numbers to identify their players yet. Anybody know the year the last team started to use numbers on uniforms to identify their players? (Yankees were first, back in the late 20s). * * * SoxFan59 “Its fiction, but all the facts are true!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-yankee-fans/7529.md?page=2)