Next Sunday the Toronto Blue Jays will recognize Roberto Alomar by retiring his number 12 in a pre-game ceremony. Undoubtedly Alomar is one of the best, if not the best position player to don a Jays’ uniform and he will become the first person in the organization’s history to receive such an honour. All this after tomorrow becoming the first player inducted as a Jay into the Hall of Fame. Now, I love Alomar. I’ve watched his homerun in the 1992 ALCS over and over and over; his robbery of Lenny Dykstra in game 1 of the 1993 World Series still ranks on my list of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen; and his love for the city of Toronto has always endeared him to Jays fans. But to make him the first Blue Jay with a retired number is a mistake.
Roberto was in Toronto for five years. When talking about Alomar that automatically means you can assume he won five gold gloves and made five All-Star appearances during that time frame; which he did. He also ranked 6th in AL MVP voting from ’91-’93. To say the Jays’ second baseman was consistent would be an understatement. But I believe the most important stat I just listed, at least in terms of this argument, is the first statistic: he only played for five years in Toronto. One of which was the strike shortened 1994 season. Yes, Alomar is going into Cooperstown as a Jay. Why? Because he was an amazing player and they were kind of obliged to put one of the seven logos Roberto wore over the course of his 17 year career on his plaque. There’s no question that his best seasons were played in Toronto; and there’s no doubt in my mind that he should be inducted as a Jay, but just because an organization has a player in the Hall doesn’t mean they need to retire his number. In fact I think it should be the opposite.
If you pull out your atlas and look at a map of North America you might notice that the city of Toronto is not located in the United States. You might also notice that if you turn on ESPN you won’t hear much Blue Jays baseball chatter. These two facts are just slightly intertwined. For a team located outside of the US to garner attention they have to be a) good, like Alomar’s Toronto teams; or b) have a player like Jose Bautista defying all that is logical. Maybe the best example of this is Roy Halladay. In his first season with Philadelphia Halladay went 21-10, had a 2.44 ERA, pitched a perfect game against the Marlins, and tossed a no-hitter in his first career post-season start. He also just happened to appear on his first video game cover and grace the cover of SI for the first time as well. It was Roy’s best season and it rightly placed him as the best pitcher in baseball in the minds of most who cover the game; but it shouldn’t have taken him till now to get there. Halladay had comparable seasons in ’02 and his AL Cy Young winning 2003. He may have in fact been on pace to put up better numbers in 2005 if it had not been for Kevin Mench… But that’s a rant for a different day. The point is even a player of Halladay’s calibre, a player who will most likely also end up in Cooperstown, needed to get out of Toronto to be fully recognized and appreciated. So if this is to be the curse of playing in Toronto, the organization needs to make special use of retiring a player’s number. Don’t just tack it on to a Hall of Famer, use it to honour the players not properly recognized by the baseball media. Use it as a way to tell former players “they may not realize how great you were, but you were loved here.”
A player like Joe Carter; whose 396 career home runs won’t likely carry him to the Hall, but whose bat carried the Jays to two World series titles and is responsible for one of the greatest moments (and calls) in baseball history. Ask Jays fans to name a single player from the World Series era and I’d be willing to bet you hear a lot more “Carter” than “Alomar”.
A player like Dave Stieb; who spent all but one season of his 16 year career with the Jays. Stieb was a seven time All-Star for Toronto who remains the franchise leader in several pitching categories. He also remains the only person to toss a no-hitter while wearing a Jays’ uniform. Dave was around in ’92, so he did win a World Series for his efforts, but it’s become clear after several years of eligibility that he will not be entering Cooperstown. His efforts on a young, blossoming team and a young, blossoming franchise should be recognized however.
Or a player like Carlos Delgado; who more than any other player I could mention here had his run at Cooperstown side-tracked by bad luck and even worse timing. Delgado was in Toronto for 12 seasons. He won three Silver Sluggers, made two All-Star appearances, and finished top 4 in AL MVP voting twice; including 2003 where he finished second to a steroid enhanced Alex Rodriguez. This sums up the time in which Delgado played. He was 40 home run hitter during the steroid era, lost amongst the numbers A-Rod, McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds were putting up. But his luck would only get worse. At the age of 37, after playing just 26 games with the ’09 Mets, Delgado would succumb to injury and never return to the majors. Carlos had hit 38 homers in 2008. With 31 in 2009 he would have reached 500 for his career; what use to mean automatic entry to the Hall. Instead Delgado retired earlier this year as the Jays’ franchise leader in almost every offensive category and with 473 home runs. One more thing to consider? He signed with Toronto as a 16-year old from the Dominican in 1988. In my opinion Carlos Delgado is the greatest Blue Jay of all-time. Maybe it’s just that they can’t decide which number to retire… It doesn’t matter! 6, 21, 25! Any of them! Just do it!
