# Um, why did the Miami Heat retire Jordan's #23?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 4, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268 "2008-01-04T14:59:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268/1 "2008-01-04T14:59:09Z")

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[This has got to be a mistake, right?](http://www.sportsline.com/nba/teams/history/MIA)

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**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268/2 "2008-01-04T15:13:15Z")

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[No mistake.](http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/6310850)

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268/3 "2008-01-04T15:27:40Z")

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On a related note, to make the above seem more believable:

The NHL retired #99 (Gretzky) for **all** teams.

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**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268/4 "2008-01-04T15:57:39Z")

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The Cavaliers are going to retire #23 someday too, but in honor of LeBron James and not that \<expletive deleted\> Jordan. 😃

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-why-did-the-miami-heat-retire-jordans-23/432268/5 "2008-01-04T16:48:55Z")

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Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s 42, though a couple of players were grandfathered in and can still use it until they retire.