I think Jackie Robinson is evil. Are you all clear about that? OK, good to get that out of the way, just making sure your automatic "racist" ticker doesn't go off. In 1968, he called Willie Mays a "do-nothing Negro" for not "fulfilling his obligations to the black community". That's just the tip of the iceberg. In 1956, he was traded to the Giants and promptly retired. What is up with that? Marichal was dignified enopugh to acknowledge that he was going to be a Dodger near the tail end of his career. Vice versa for Robinson's old teammate, Snider. Then, years after his death, Selig decides to cruelly force the Giants to retire his number. Don't you think that blue 42 looks ugly up there next to all those other numbers at the Phone Booth? What's the problem with Monte Irvin? He was the 5th black in baseball (3rd in the 20th century), and a HoFer too. Speaking of which, what was so great about Jackie Robinson, anyway? He wasn't the first black in the bigs, not by 60 years. Why not retire Moses and Welday Walkers' numbers? I kow, they didn't have numbers. So? That hasn't stopped the Giants from retiring numbers. As an additional bonus, since the team the Walkers played for soon folded, reitiring their "numbers" wouldn't be glorifying any particular team, like the Dodgers are right now. If only Kirk Rueter could take up roster space forever, and the Giants would never have to retire his number 42.
On a somewhat related note, I remember reading that it was Giants team policy to not retire the numbers of non-HoFers. So then, why aren't all those HoFers from the New York Giants recognized? Some of them are. Of course, I realize that the Giants have more HoFers than any other team, and doing that would make Barry Zito's number the lowest on the team, but still, just the ones that wore a Giants cap on their plaques? Why not?
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