Retiring the number of an athlete is an honor a team bestows upon a player, usually after the player has left the team, retires from the sport, or dies, by taking the number formerly worn on their uniform out of circulation. Once a number is retired, no future player from the team may wear it, unless the original player permits it; however, in many cases the number cannot be used at all. Such an honor may also be bestowed on players who had highly memorable careers, died prematurely under tragic circumstances,[ ice hockey, basketball, American football, and association football. Retired numbers are often referred to as " hanging from the rafters" as they are so displayed in the team's home venue, either emblazoned on jerseys with the players' names or made into appropriately colored/styled banners.][ Hanging from the Rafters NBA Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 April 2012.]
The first number officially retired by a team in a professional sport was that of ice hockey player Ace Bailey, whose number 6 was retired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1934.
North American sports leagues
If a jersey is retired and an active player is still wearing it, the player is usually permitted to wear the number for the remainder of their playing career with that team. If the player later becomes a coach or manager for the same team, and if the sport is one in which coaches and managers wear uniform numbers, then the player may wear the retired number for the duration of their career with the team in this capacity.
However, in some cases, the player may still 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 #7 belonged to Ray Bourque, who was the Bruins' captain and had become a star in his own right. On the night of the ceremony honoring Esposito, Bourque took to the ice wearing his normal #7 jersey, which he had worn since breaking into the league in 1979. He skated over to the Hall of Famer, took off his #7 jersey, and handed it to Esposito in what was referred to as Bourque's "surrendering" of #7 to Esposito. Underneath was a jersey numbered 77, which would become as associated with Bourque as #7 had been with Esposito in Boston.
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 under his future career as the 38th President of the United States.
Teams also take numbers out of circulation without formally retiring them, though it is generally understood that those numbers will never be issued again. For example, the Pittsburgh Steelers have only officially retired three numbers: Ernie Stautner's #70, Joe Greene's #75 and Franco Harris' #32.
Some teams either formally or informally take a jersey out of circulation when a player dies or has their career ended by serious injury or disease. For instance, between 1934 and 2016, the Toronto Maple Leafs only retired a player's number if he experienced a career-ending incident while playing for the team. As a result, they had only retired two jerseys in their history during that time; Ace Bailey's #6 was retired after he suffered a career-ending head injury
In 2008, Princeton University retired the number 42 for all Princeton Tigers sports teams in honor of Bill Bradley and Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier.
In 2011, Michigan Wolverines football unretired all of the numbers that it had retired to create legends jerseys worn by its best players. The unretired jerseys were Bennie Oosterbaan's No. 47, Gerald Ford's No. 48, Ron Kramer's No. 87, The Wistert Brothers' (Whitey Wistert, Al Wistert, Alvin Wistert) No. 11 and Tom Harmon's No. 98.
On December 18, 2017, Kobe Bryant became the only player to have had two numbers (8, 24) retired by the same franchise, Los Angeles Lakers.
League-wide retirements
Three players in the major North American sports leagues have had their numbers retired by all teams in their respective leagues, those being Jackie Robinson, the first Black player in the modern era of Major League Baseball, Wayne Gretzky, argued by many to be the greatest hockey player in NHL history,
Robinson had his number 42 retired league-wide in 1997. However, players who were wearing the number at the time were permitted to retain it for the duration of their careers, if they chose to do so. Mariano Rivera, the last remaining player to wear the number, retired at the end of the . April 15 has been designated as Jackie Robinson Day to honor the anniversary of Robinson's MLB debut; on this day, all players, managers, coaches, and umpires wear 42.
Wayne Gretzky, who retired as the National Hockey League's all-time leader in goals, points, and assists, had his number 99 retired league-wide at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game.
Association football
Association football has a far shorter history of players wearing squad numbers; from the introduction of numbers of shirts in the 1930s until the 1990s, the players on a team almost always wore numbers 1 to 11, irrespective of which players were selected. This meant that players often wore many different numbers during their time with a club and even during the same season, and were not as readily associated with a specific number as players in North American sports. Nonetheless, some star players were associated with a particular number and this, along with squad numbers becoming more common since the 1990s, has led some clubs to retire numbers.
AS Roma, AC Milan, AFC Ajax, Birmingham City, Inter Milan, Napoli, Liverpool, Manchester City, RC Lens, Lyon, FC Nantes 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).
FIFA have rejected all attempts by national teams to retire numbers due to its rules which included teams must be numbered consecutively in official competitions such as the World Cup.[ These include the Cameroon national team attempting to retire Foé's number, Argentina and the #10 of Diego Maradona,][ El día que Grondona quiso retirar la 10 de la Selección por Maradona y la FIFA no lo dejó by Daniel Melluso on TyC Sports, 1 Jun 2022] and The Netherlands and the #14 of Johan Cruyff.
Australian rules football
In Australian rules football, some clubs may exercise the right to retire a particular guernsey number, either to honour a past player or to simply cease use of the number. Examples include the Hawthorn Football Club, who retired their No. 1 guernsey prior to the beginning of the 2011 AFL season as the tribute to the fans, according to Max Bailey, the last person to wear the #1 guernsey, had his career cut short by multiple injuries to his right knee, and thanked the fans in his comeback attempts, and the Collingwood Football Club, who retired their No. 42 guernsey in honour of Darren Millane, a Collingwood premiership player who was killed in a car crash in 1991.[ Magpie Collingwood open to reviving No.42, Herald Sun, 13 May 2011]
Motorsport
In NASCAR, only once has a number been unofficially retired; that is in the Whelen Modified Tour, where number 61 is retired for Richie Evans after his death in 1985. NASCAR unofficially retired the number 3 in honour of Dale Earnhardt after his death on the track at the 2001 Daytona 500. Following his death, Earnhardt's old team changed to the number 29, and the replacement driver (Kevin Harvick) drove the 29 car through the 2013 season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. made two special appearances in a number 3 car in the Xfinity Series in 2002 and again in the renamed Nationwide Series on 2 July 2010 at Daytona, but otherwise the number 3 was absent from all three national touring series until 2009, when Austin Dillon drove a number 3 in the Camping World Truck Series.
From 2004 to 2006, drivers in the International Race of Champions used their numbers from their primary racing series. However, the #3 was retired as a result of Earnhardt's death and any driver who drove the #3 in their primary racing series would drive #03 instead. As such, Hélio Castroneves, who drives #3 in the IndyCar Series, drove the #03.
Following the 1989 24 Hours of Daytona, months after his fatal plane crash, IMSA retired Al Holbert's #14.
Champ Car retired the use of #99 after the fatal accident of Greg Moore in 1999. However, since the IndyCar Series unification took place in 2008, that recognition has since been abandoned. For a brief time during the early-mid 1990s, CART unofficially retired #14 (in honor of A. J. Foyt), allowing it only to be carried only by an entry of A. J. Foyt Enterprises. After the open wheel split in 1996, the rule in CART competition was lifted.
Grand Prix motorcycle racing retired the use of #74 after the fatal accident of Daijiro Kato in 2003, #48 after the fatal accident of Shoya Tomizawa in 2010, #58 after the accident of Marco Simoncelli at the Sepang Circuit in 2011, and #39 after the death of Luis Salom at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2016. In January 2019, #69 was retired in honour of Nicky Hayden, who died in a cycling accident in May 2017. In 2021 number 50 was retired in honour of Jason Dupasquier who was killed after an accident at the Mugello Circuit
The Formula One World Championship, which has allowed drivers to choose their own permanent number since the 2014 season, retired the use of #17 after the death of Jules Bianchi in 2015, caused by critical injuries sustained in a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
The FIA Formula 2 Championship, formerly known as the GP2 Series, retired #19 after the death of Anthoine Hubert in a crash during the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps FIA Formula 2 round.
The FIA World Rally Championship, which has allowed drivers to choose their own number since the 2019,
Cricket
Australian Cricket retired Phillip Hughes' One-Day International shirt number, 64, in remembrance of him, after his death during a match in 2014.
In 2017, BCCI unofficially retired Sachin Tendulkar's One-Day International shirt number 10.
The Cricket Association of Nepal retired Paras Khadka's shirt number, 77, following the retirement of the country's most successful captain in August 2021.
Rugby league
In other sports such as Rugby league and Rugby union, despite the long history of the games, it used to be the case that because each number represents the particular positions on the field, the retirement of jersey numbers was impossible. However, as more leagues have gone over the use of squad numbers the retirement of numbers is now possible. The first recorded example in Rugby League was in May 2015 when Keighley Cougars withdrew number 6 following the death of Danny Jones during a match.
Following the death of former player Roger Millward, Hull Kingston Rovers withdrew the number 6 shirt Millward used to wear. Terry Campese who had been allocated that number for 2016 was allocated squad number 32 instead.
In 2014, the Newcastle Knights retired the number 16 jersey for every game from Round 4, following a career-ending neck injury to Alex McKinnon that left him a quadriplegic.
Other sports
In Finland ice hockey, if a player's number is retired, family members can use the retired number if they play 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.
Following the death of Wouter Weylandt in the 2011 Giro d'Italia cycle race, organizers decided that they would not reassign Weylandt's bib number of 108 in future editions of the race.
In December 2020, following the death of professional wrestler Brodie Lee, who wrestled under the ring name "Mr. Brodie Lee" in the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), the promotion retired the red strap version of the AEW TNT Championship belt that had been used up to that point in honor of Huber, who was the championship's second title holder; the belt was given to Huber's eldest son.
In ceremonies before Germany's opening game of EuroBasket 2022 against France on September 2 in Cologne, the German Basketball Federation retired the #14 that Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki had worn for the men's national team. Since then, a replica of Nowitzki's jersey has hung from the arena rafters at all Germany men's home games.
See also
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List of Canadian Football League retired numbers
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List of Major League Baseball retired numbers
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List of NBA retired numbers
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List of NFL retired numbers
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List of National Hockey League retired numbers
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List of retired numbers in association football
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List of NCAA men's basketball retired numbers
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List of NCAA football retired numbers
Footnotes
External links
