Jersey Retirement Odds – Whose Numbers Will Reach the Rafters?

The New York Yankees recently announced that they would retire the numbers of three legendary Pinstripers: pitcher Andy Pettitte (No. 46), center fielder Bernie Williams (No. 51), and catcher Jorge Posada (No. 20).

The trio will be the 18th, 19th, and 20th Yankees to have their numbers retired by the organization. (New York better be careful or it won’t have enough numbers left for its active roster.)

That news got us thinking: what are the odds that other stars – past and present – will see their numbers set aside? Since no one else has addressed the issue, it’s once again up to us!

We could just stick to the Yankees, but that would be boring. We could just stick to baseball, but that would be lazy. So, instead, we set the odds for players from all the major North American sports: NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL.

It was a daunting task we took on – and one that doesn’t have a set formula – but, by looking at a multitude of stats and teams’ proclivities for retiring numbers, we’ve come up with some odds.

Since we’ve focused on great players from each sport, there are a lot of shoe-ins in the list below (which is organized, first, by sport and, second, by likelihood). But feel free to drop a name or two in the comments and we’ll try to come up with some figures.

NFL
Tom Brady (12) – New England: 1-1000
Peyton Manning (18) – Indianapolis: 1-250

• Peyton Manning (18) – Denver: 2-1

Drew Brees (9) – New Orleans: 1-100
Ray Lewis (52) – Baltimore: 1-100
Aaron Rodgers (12) – Green Bay: 2-9
JJ Watt (99) – Houston: 2-7
Brian Urlacher (54) – Chicago: 1-4
Mike Singletary (50) – Chicago: 1-4
Calvin Johnson (81) – Detroit: 1-3
Steve Smith (89) – Carolina: 1-2 [Smith’s odds would be higher if he didn’t torch every bridge on his way out of town.] Joe Flacco (5) – Baltimore: 2-3
Eli Manning (10) – New York Giants: 2-3
Andrew Luck (12) – Indianapolis: 1-1
Cam Newton (1) – Carolina: 1-1
Philip Rivers (17) – San Diego: 1-1
Terrell Davis (30) – Denver: 3-2
Matt Forte (22) – Chicago: 3-2
Rob Gronkowski (87) – New England: 3-2
Adrian Peterson (28) – Minnesota: 4-1
Bruce Smith (78) – Buffalo: 5-1 [The number is unofficially retired already; Buffalo has only officially retired one number, Jim Kelly’s number 12.] Thurman Thomas (34) – Buffalo: 10-1 [The number is unofficially retired already.]

MLB
Derek Jeter (2) – New York Yankees: 1-1000
Albert Pujols (5) – St. Louis: 1-100
Pedro Martinez (45) – Boston: 1-50
David Ortiz (34) – Boston: 1-50
Clayton Kershaw (22) – Los Angeles Dodgers: 1-10
Buster Posey (28) – San Francisco: 1-5
Manny Ramirez (24) – Boston: 1-5
Ichiro (51) – Seattle: 1-5
Dustin Pedroia (15) – Boston: 1-3
Miguel Cabrera (24) – Detroit: 2-3
Joe Mauer (7) – Minnesota: 2-3
Barry Bonds (25) – San Francisco: 7-2

• Barry Bonds (24) – Pittsburgh: 6-1

Jim Thome (25) – Cleveland: 4-1
Pete Rose (14) – Cincinnati: 5-1
Sammy Sosa (21) – Chicago Cubs: 5-1

NBA
Tim Duncan (21) – San Antonio: 1-1000
LeBron James (6) – Miami: 1-1000

• LeBron James (23) – Cleveland: 1-500

Kobe Bryant (24) – Los Angeles Lakers: 1-500

• Kobe Bryant (8) – Los Angeles Lakers: 1-1

Dirk Nowitzki (41) – Dallas: 1-100
Tony Parker (9) – San Antonio: 1-100
Dwyane Wade (3) – Miami: 1-100

Kevin Garnett (21) – Minnesota: 1-50

• Kevin Garnett (5) – Boston: 7-2

Manu Ginobili (20) – San Antonio: 1-50
Kevin Durant (35) – Oklahoma City: 1-25
Steve Nash (13) – Phoenix: 1-25
Paul Pierce (34) – Boston: 1-10
Chris Bosh (1) – Miami: 1-5
Steph Curry (30) – Golden State: 1-5
Russell Westbrook (8) – Oklahoma City: 1-5
LaMarcus Aldridge (12) – Portland: 2-1
Carmelo Anthony (15) – Denver: 2-1

• Carmelo Anthony (7) – New York Knicks: 2-1

Rajon Rondo (9) – Boston: 4-1
Ray Allen (20) – Boston: 4-1

NHL
Sidney Crosby (87) – Pittsburgh: 1-1000
Martin Brodeur (30) – New Jersey: 1-1000

• Martin Brodeur (30) – St. Louis: 1000-1

Jaromir Jagr (68) – Pittsburgh: 1-100
Alex Ovechkin (8) – Washington: 1-100
Jarome Iginla (12) – Calgary: 1-50
Evgeni Malkin (71) – Pittsburgh: 1-25
Jonathan Toews (19) – Chicago: 1-25
Zdeno Chara (33) – Boston: 1-10
Patrick Kane (88) – Chicago: 1-10
Martin St. Louis (26) – Tampa Bay: 1-10

• Martin St. Louis (26) – New York Rangers: 25-1

Joe Thornton (19) – San Jose: 1-5
Duncan Keith (2) – Chicago: 1-5
Pavel Datsyuk (13) – Detroit: 1-2
Henrik Lundqvist (30) – New York Rangers: 1-2
Rick Nash (61) – Columbus: 1-2

• Rick Nash (61) – New York Rangers: 8-1

Shea Webber (6) – Nashville: 1-2
Henrik Zetterberg (40) – Detroit: 1-2
Chris Pronger (44) – St. Louis: 2-3
Drew Doughty (8) – Los Angeles: 1-1
Roberto Luongo (1) – Florida: 1-1

• Roberto Luongo (1) – Vancouver: 2-1

Patrice Bergeron  (37) – Boston: 2-1
Marian Hossa (81) – Chicago: 20-1

(Photo credit: Silent Wind of Doom [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo may appear cropped.)