In case you missed it, the New York Yankees recently announced that they were going to retire 3 numbers, 20, 46 and 51 the numbers belonging to Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Bernie Williams. I am sure this will please many Yankee fans, of which I am not. But just because I root for the team in Flushing doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on in the Bronx. With the retirement of these three numbers the Yankees will have a total of 20 numbers retired, not to mention the retirement of Willie Randolph’s number and of course Derek Jeter’s number in the not to distant future, raising the total to 22 or basically close to a full major league roster of 25. The next statement isn’t going to sit well with many Yankee fans…they don’t deserve to have their numbers retired. The Yankees already have the single digit numbers retired except for number 2 which will be retired at some point then every number 1-10 will be retired. I always thought the Mets didn’t retire enough numbers and the Yankees retire too many numbers. the thought has always been to retire a number it should be for great players, elite players, the best players, all time great players, immortal players. None of the 3 players that will have their numbers are what I would call all time great players…yes I know Andy Pettitte has the most post season wins, and that Bernie Williams has big time post season numbers, but they were not elite players,or all time greats or immortals. If you retire Bernie Williams,Jorge Posada, Pettitte and for that matter Willie Randolph then why not retire Dave Winfield’s number, he played nearly 8 years with the Yankees hit 100 RBI 6 times during his time as a Yankee. If you retire Randolph’s number then why not do the same for Mickey Rivers or Rickey Henderson…see where I am going with this? Where does the retiring of numbers end? And what is the standard the Yankees use to retire these numbers? I know I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I would think the retiring these numbers should be for the very best in franchise history not for the good or very good players.
smallthoughtsinasportsworld 
The Yankees won’t retire Henderson, Windield, or Rivers’ numbers because unlike Bernie, Jorge, & Pettitte, they didn’t play in N. Y. their entire career. Although Pettitte was a Yankee his entire career except for the three years he played in Houston, he was included because he was part of the Core Four…
I Knew I’d get you to comment lol. Reggie jackson played only 5 years in New York his number is retired. The Babe was a Red Sox before coming to the Yankees, Randolph came up in the Pittsburgh Pirates system and how come when everyone talk about the core 4 they don’t include Bernie Williams? and make it the Fab 5? By the way …Bobby Murcer came up as a Yankee and play a long time as Yankee and didn’t get his uniform retired. These three are getting their number retired for one reason…in the words of George Steinbrenner it puts fannies in the seats