Should MLB retire Clemente's #21?

[Pronk48]

There is an ongoing coo about wether or not to retire Roberto Clemente's 21 league wide. Jackie Robinson's daughter says it should only be her father who has the distinction of having his number retired and that Clemente did not go through what her father did so he should not have his number retired.

However,Clemente is the most celebrated Latin player ever.He played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates,and was the mainspring for thier success.

Here are his accomplishments on the field:

Over 3,000 hits
Career BA of .317
240 Home Runs

Off the field he comitted a lot of time and money to the Latin world,and died in a tragic plane crash taking food and medicine to earthquake stricken Nicaragua in 1972.

If he had not died,who knows what his final career numbers would have been.

Jackie Robinson however broke the color barrier and allowed all non-white players to play MLB,not just African-American players.He opened the door for Latin,Chinese,Japanese players also.

However,my personal opinion is that MLB should not retire Clemente's #21. Yes, he was a great player and a great person.Yes,he advanced Latin players.But if MLB retires his number,then it opens up the flood gates for many more.The most recognized Japanese player?The most recognized Canadian player?Any player that dies tragically doing something good?It wouldn't end.

[DirtyKash]

The Pirates have retired his number and that's enough. No need to do it league-wide.

[rockin500]

The Pirates have retired his number and that's enough. No need to do it league-wide.

what he said. having his own team retire his number is enough.

[Dry1313]

Here are his accomplishments on the field:

Over 3,000 hits

Umm, he got 3,000 on the dot.
And there are much better players who deserve to have their numbers retired league wide, like Babe Ruth. If they retire Clemente's then they'd have to retire a lot more.

[McKain]

If Clemente's performances get his number retired league-wide, there will be a whole hell of a lot of players having their numbers retired league-wide.

So many so that we'd need to start busting out the three digit numbers and the alphabet to put on uniforms.

I voted no.

[DirtyKash]

Side thought, it would be pretty cool (and XFL-ish) if the league allowed alphanumeric combinations for jersey numbers. Right now, you already have the possibility of someone wearing "69", but you would add such jerseys as "FU", "BJ", etc.

I am giggling like a schoolgirl at the thought.

[Kingdom]

Three yankees starting pitchers lining up side by side to read SU CK S1

[Dry1313]

Yankees Starting Lineup: OV ER PA ID SH IT HE AD SS

im a Yankee fan but it still hilarious

[Pronk48]

Side thought, it would be pretty cool (and XFL-ish) if the league allowed alphanumeric combinations for jersey numbers. Right now, you already have the possibility of someone wearing "69", but you would add such jerseys as "FU", "BJ", etc.

I am giggling like a schoolgirl at the thought.

Haha that'd be hilarious!

[DirtyKash]

If he had not died,who knows what his final career numbers would have been.

BTW, he retired (died) at age 37. I doubt he had much more left anyways.

[Stonedrie2]

defaintly not for his career numbers, or any of his stats. If baseball wants to do it because of his character then fine, but i vote no.

[Saber]

No, they shouldn't retire his number, and yes, Robinson's daughter is a *****.

[nyjunc]

I think we went over this months ago but NO,NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO MLB should not retire Clemente's #21. As important as he was to the game he was not a Jackie Robinson. I am not one who likes retiring any player's # leaguewide but i can understand why they did it for Jackie but Clemente was not the first Latin player and he didn't break barriers and didn't go through what Jackie went through.

He was a great player and did alot of great things off the field but his # is retired by Pitt, he has a statue outside PNC Park and he's a HOFer. I think that's enough and Air Bud better not buckle under the pressure to make such an asinine move.

Here is a great quote from Jackie Robinson's Daughter:

"I have tremendous respect for Roberto Clemente's accomplishments," she said in a New York Daily News interview at a recent birthday celebration for her father, who would have been 87 on Jan. 31. "To my understanding, the purpose of retiring my father's number is that what he did changed all of baseball, not only for African-Americans but also for Latinos, so I think that purpose has been met. When you start retiring numbers across the board, you'd be diluting the original purpose."

Click for the entire article:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseb...robinson_x.htm

[Hmark6]

Don't they already have an award named after him? That's plenty. He was a nice guy and all, but once we start doing all of these cute Public Relations events, they're going to lose their novelty. I wish the Yankees would stop doing it. Let's retire Danny Tartabull's number! And where's my Robinson Cano Yankeeography?