According to Benjamin Sarlin at the New York Sun, a movement is afoot to retire Roberto Clemente’s number from baseball. Jackie Robinson had his #42 retired in 1997, and now it seems that the New York City Council (of all organizations) would like to see Clemente’s #21 receive the same treatment.
Babe Ruth, meanwhile, hasn’t had his #3 retired (not that I’m advocating such a move). Fun stuff, eh?

Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time. Seems Babe Ruth’s granddaughter wants MLB to bestow upon Ruth the same honor it has given Jackie Robinson. She wants the Babe’s number retired throughout baseball.
Slippery slope, meet can of worms.
The unfortunate truth is that whenever you honor someone in this way, you also make a judgment on everyone else. In San Diego, for example, Steve Garvey’s number 6 is retired essentially because he hit a home run in a playoff game. Garvey spent most of his career with the Dodgers, who have not retired his number. Among Padres, he …read more

He isn’t the player he once was, and he’ll always be remembered as a key figure during baseball’s steroid era, but the Rangers’ Sammy Sosa pounded his 600th career home run on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs, the team that made him famous. The blast came at the expense of Jason Marquis in the fifth inning of the Rangers’ 7-3 victory and puts Sosa in rare company. Only four other men — Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays — have hit more homers in MLB history.
Sosa is only a marginally effective player these days — .242/.297/.458 is …read more