by Michael Frissore

Created on: July 17, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The Red Sox have been run pretty smoothly since new management took over, what with the first two World Series victories since 1918. Even the trading of top prospect Hanley Ramirez in 2005, which could have had disastrous, Jeff Bagwell-like implications, brought the team Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, two of the players that certainly helped bring the Sox the championship in 2007. But the one thing I would do if I ran the team is get rid of the silly rule that, in order for a player's number to be retired, he must first be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Aside from Jackie Robinson, the Sox have retired just five numbers - those of Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronin, and Carlton Fisk. This long-standing rule has assured that only the truly elite (if anyone outside of Boston would call Doerr and Cronin "elite," Hall of Fame notwithstanding) get their jersey numbers up there. And it has definitely set the Sox apart from most second-rate clubs. Look at the Chicago White Sox, who retired Harold Baines' number; the Minnesota Twins, who retired Kent Hrbek's; or the Kansas City Royals, who placed Frank White's number forever on their wall. The Toronto Blue Jays even went so far as to retire the numbers of George Bell and Tony Fernandez. Tony Fernandez!

There are a few other examples of this seemingly arbitrary number-retiring, and it does indeed make the Sox organization look special and elite that they haven't gone retiring, willy-nilly, the numbers of players like Johnny Pesky or Rick Burleson. However, the Sox have entered a new era. They've finally won, not one, but two World Series titles, and broke the legendary Curse of the Bambino. Plus, some franchises who are a bit more on the storied side, like the Sox, have retired the numbers of players who have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but were, nonetheless, a very special part of the club.

Look at Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs. He was a great player for the team for 14 years, hit a decent 342 home runs in his career, with 2,254 hits. He was a nine-time All-Star, but never got the votes to get into the Hall. The Cubs, a historic franchise with Hall of Famers like Billy Williams and Ernie Banks, both of whom played alongside Santo, retired Santo's number 10 just as they did the others.

The New York Yankees, the most famous franchise, perhaps, in all of sports, retired Don Mattingly's number 23 in 1997. Mattingly spent 14 seasons with the Yanks, his entire career, which was sadly sandwiched

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