Re: Unretiring A Retired Number.

Cf. Willard Hershberger:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Hershberger

From the looks of it, Mays offered, but Bonds decided to go with 25 in tribute to his father. He may have worn 24 on a couple of special occasions, but I haven’t been able to find anything.

@ Steve Lombardi:
Weird, because when Raf wrote that, I definitely remembered Bonds having worn #24 on at least one or two occasions.

@ MJ Recanati:
Not according to the uni numbers on his B-R.com page

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bondsba01.shtml

@ Raf:
@ Steve Lombardi:
I’m pretty sure that Bonds wore #24 for a short stint right around the time he was going to pass Willie’s 660 on the HR list.

@ Steve Lombardi:
Yes, I just checked… Memory’s playing tricks on me.

@ Raf: Didn’t Bonds wear 25 in SF?

The Giants unretired Mays’ 24 for Bonds. In Bonds’ and Vizquel’s cases the numbers were unretired with the blessings of Mays and Aparicio.

@ MJ Recanati: You can “unretire” a number too.

See: http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4897287

The Chicago White Sox have unretired Luis Aparicio’s No. 11, which will be worn by Omar Vizquel.

Aparicio is the only Venezuelan to be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. Vizquel, also a native of Venezuela, was acquired by the White Sox in November. He’s worn No. 13 in the past, but that number currently is used by manager Ozzie Guillen. Vizquel’s decision to wear No. 11 is a nod to his countryman.

“For me, it’s like a huge celebration, trying to keep his name alive and trying to spread the word of Venezuelan shortstops,” Vizquel said Monday during a conference call. “I think every kid now — the new generation of shortstops in Venezuela — has to know about Luis Aparicio and everything that he means to us in this game.”

“If there is one player who I would like to see wear my uniform number with the White Sox, it is Omar Vizquel,” Aparicio said in a statement. “I have known Omar for a long time. Along with being an outstanding player, he is a good and decent man.”

Steve Lombardi wrote:

I’m starting to wonder if these 8 should be the only Yankees numbers that are retired.

Um…it’s a little late for that.