Retired Number - Details and Examples

Details and Examples

If a jersey is retired and an active player is still wearing it, the player is usually permitted to wear the number for his entire career as a player. If in the sport, managers and coaches wear uniform numbers, and the player later becomes a coach for the same team, he is also permitted to wear it as a coach. However, in some cases the player may elect to change their number. For instance, in 1987 the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League decided to retire jersey number 7 in honor of Phil Esposito, who had become a star while playing for the team. At the time of the decision, team captain Ray Bourque was wearing the number, and instead of keeping it elected to switch. The switch was revealed during the ceremony honoring Esposito when Bourque skated up to him and pulled his #7 jersey off to reveal his new jersey number, 77, and "surrender" the 7 to Esposito. Bourque's new jersey number would eventually join Esposito's in the rafters of TD Garden, as the Bruins retired his #77 following his 2001 retirement.

In rare cases, a number may be retired because of the player's endeavors in other fields. For example, former college football star Gerald Ford's number 48 was retired by the University of Michigan football squad by virtue of his future career as the 38th President of the United States.

Teams also take numbers out of circulation without formally retiring them. For example, the Pittsburgh Steelers have not reissued the jersey numbers of several of their greatest players—most notably Terry Bradshaw's #12, Franco Harris' #32, and Joe Greene's #75. Although the Steelers have only formally retired one number in their history - Ernie Stautner's number 70 - it is generally understood that no Steeler will ever wear 12, 32 or 75 again. Similarly, with the exception of a pair of quarterbacks in the mid-1980s, the Green Bay Packers have not re-issued Paul Hornung's number 5 since his departure from the team following the 1966 season. The Dallas Cowboys do not officially retire numbers, but it is generally understood that Roger Staubach's #12, Bob Lilly's #74, Troy Aikman's #8, and Emmitt Smith's #22 will never be worn again in the regular season (though the Cowboys have occasionally used Lilly's 74 in the preseason). Additionally, Peyton Manning, upon his release by the Indianapolis Colts, owner Jim Irsay stated that no Colt will ever wear the number 18 again, though it was not officially retired. After his departure from the team in 2004, the Lakers removed Shaquille O'Neal's #34 from circulation. The Lakers had announced the intention to retire O'Neal's #34 officially, though, doing so on April 2, 2013.

Outside of USA, due to the relatively short history of One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, once a player retires, the number will rarely be re-issued to another player in some countries (e.g. Zimbabwe, New Zealand).

Some teams either formally or informally take a jersey out of circulation when a player dies or has his career ended by serious injury or disease. For instance, the Toronto Maple Leafs only retire a player's number if he experiences a career-ending incident while playing for the team. As a result, they have only retired two jerseys in their entire history; Ace Bailey's #6 was retired after he suffered a career-ending head injury and Bill Barilko's #5 was retired after his disappearance and presumed death on a fishing trip (his death was confirmed years later with the discovery of the wreckage of the plane on which he was flying). The New York Yankees retired Lou Gehrig's #4 after he was forced to retire due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The New York Jets did not reissue the #90 of Dennis Byrd or the #80 of Wayne Chrebet after both suffered career-ending head injuries, but did not retire Byrd's number until 2012, 20 years after his injury, and have not yet retired Chrebet's number.

Some association football clubs have started doing this as squad numbers have become common. AS Roma, AC Milan, Internazionale, Napoli, Manchester City, Lens, Lyon and Swansea City have all retired shirt numbers; Milan retiring Franco Baresi's #6 shirt and Paolo Maldini's #3 shirt (with the caveat that one of Maldini's sons can wear the shirt if they play professionally for the club). The Swans retired the shirt number of Besian Idrizaj after he died in his sleep, of a suspected heart attack, at his family home in Linz, Austria. Manchester City, Lens and Lyon all retired the shirt number of Marc-Vivien Foé after his death on the field in the 2003 Confederations Cup; the Cameroon national team also attempted to retire Foé's number, but FIFA prevented them from doing so. FIFA also rejected an attempt by Argentina to retire the number of Diego Maradona.

Some teams have also retired number 12 in honor of their fans, or the "Twelfth Man".

In Finnish ice hockey, if a player's number is retired, family members (most notably his son, or son-in-law) can use the retired number if he plays for the same organization. Timo Nummelin had his number 3 retired by TPS, and later his son, Petteri Nummelin, wore number 3 for the team. Similarly, Italian AC Milan has promised to retire Paolo Maldini's number 3 once he retires, but with a provision that it could be used by his sons if either of them makes the club's first team squad.

Following the death of Wouter Weylandt in the 2011 Giro d'Italia cycle race, organizers decided that they would not re-assign Weylandt's bib number of 108 in future editions of the race.