I've got a bit more to say about jersey numbers today. Bear with me. Last week, Troy Glaus chose to wear 8, rather than Mark McGwire's 25.
"I've been 25 a long time. I've known Mark for a long time," Glaus said. "He's an icon in this city and I'm not going to do that."
Last season, 8 belonged to Cardinals hitting coach, Hal McRae. I just found out that this season, McRae will wear 15, the number worn by departed fan favorite, Jim Edmonds, since 2000. The news didn't sit well with me. I don't expect 15 to be retired by the Cardinals, but I'd at least like to see it put away for a while. Why can't McRae say something like Glaus did? Jim is an icon in St. Louis. I know what some of you are thinking, so to better explain my thoughts on this, we're going to do a little role playing (you play the part of You, and I'll be Me). Ready?
YOU: Mike, it's just a number. What's the big deal?
ME: Just a number? It's not just a number. It's the number I've been staring at from the bleachers for the past eight years. It's Jimmy's number.
YOU: Yeah, okay, but it's not like it's retired or something.
ME: Who cares if it's retired. McGwire's number isn't retired and it hasn't been re-issued. Jimmy's done a lot more for the Cardinals than Big Mac ever did.
YOU: You're taking this too seriously man. I'm sure Edmonds doesn't care if someone in St. Louis wears the number fifteen.
ME: What? Pull your head out of your ass! He named his St. Louis restaurant F15teen.
YOU: That's probably just a clever marketing gimmick. He's rich. Do you really think he cares?
ME: Yeah. Check out this page from a magazine my mom sent me.
YOU: (After checking out the page here) Wow. That's pretty heartfelt. He even signed it #15. I guess he does care. So now what are you going to do?
ME: I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell my friends, my family, and everyone I know to petition against this move.
YOU: I'm sure you and a few handfuls of people aren't going to make Hal McRae change his number.
ME: You're missing the point here. If everyone I know tells everyone they know, soon we'll have a hell of a lot of pissed off people and then Hal McIdiot can find himself a new damn number!
Thanks for playing. Check back for a second post later today.
5 comments:
Why would McRae just take Jim's number? Is there more to the story? And where's that petition, 'cause I'll sign it, and so will all my friends! I wonder what Jim thinks about it....
Jimmmy Edmonds will always be a part of the Cardinals, and NOBODY should take his number! How do we stop this? Let me know what we can do, and I'll tell everybody I know! Gimme that petition!
Well, like I said, I'm not advocating the retiring of the 15. I would just prefer it not be used for a while. Let's not forget that a couple of other famous Cardinals wore it for while: Tim McCarver, and to a lesser extent Darrell Porter.
It's okay that other Cardinals wore it for awhile. Darrell and Tim wore it a long time ago. But even though Edmonds left and didn't retire, don't let a coach wear it!!!! What are they thinking? Man, that makes me mad! Please let us know when there's more to the story, as I'm sure there will be...
That is very strange that they'd reassign the number so quickly, unless McRae said something to the effect that he was wearing it to honor Edmonds. I've not seen that, though.
Post a Comment