Is 42 the only number retired in baseball?
Baseball players of Black African descent were excluded from Major League Baseball until 1947. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. By the late 1950s, the percentage of black players on…
Baseball players of Black African descent were excluded from Major League Baseball until 1947. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. By the late 1950s, the percentage of black players on Major League teams matched or exceeded that of the general population.
In March 2004, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced that Major League Baseball would honor Robinson on April 15 as “Jackie Robinson Day”. He announced with Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson.
Is 42 the only number retired in baseball?
Yes, the number 42 is the only retired number in the history of baseball. In 1997, Major League Baseball honored Jackie Robinson by making his No. 42 the first uniform number to be retired across the sport. That said, players who were wearing No. 42 at the time could choose to continue wearing it until they retired. Thus, some teams have had a player wear No. 42 more recently than others — and some have never handed out that uniform to anyone.
