Every year various teams will bestow honors on various players or personnel in some fashion in their home ballpark.\u00a0 Be it retiring a jersey number, or induction into the team\u2019s Hall of Fame, other like honor, or a statue dedicated in the person\u2019s honor.\u00a0 And 2017 was no different.<\/p>\n
Being that 2017 was the 70th<\/sup> anniversary of his breaking the color barrier, the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> bestowed the honor of being the first of non-number retirement for the franchise, besides a retired number, on Jackie Robinson<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The dramatic statue of Robinson sliding into home in front of Dodger Stadium was unveiled on the anniversary date of his debut.<\/p>\n Other new stadium statues unveiled over the summer included;<\/p>\n Pete Rose<\/a><\/strong>, also in mid-slide,\u00a0outside Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati<\/a>, done before the controversy involving Rose broke this summer.<\/p>\n Progressive Field in Cleveland<\/a> added Lou Boudreau<\/a><\/strong>, and Frank Robinson<\/strong><\/a> as the game\u2019s first African-American manager, to the stadium\u2019s Heritage Park.<\/p>\n Tom Kelly<\/a><\/strong> outside Target Field in Minnesota<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, a Ken Griffey<\/a>, Jr.<\/strong> statue was placed outside Safeco Field in Seattle<\/a>.\u00a0 Some bit of bad news though, as in October the statue of Griffey\u2019s follow through was vandalized.\u00a0 The perpetrator stole the bat from the statue\u2019s handle!\u00a0 No word on whether or not Griffey will be relocated once a bat is reattached.<\/p>\n The biggest team statue news was in Atlanta as the Braves<\/a> opened SunTrust Park.\u00a0 Of the four statues that were outside Turner Field, only the Warren Spahn<\/a><\/strong> and Phil Niekro<\/a><\/strong> statues made the trip from Turner Field. The statue of\u00a0Ty Cobb<\/a><\/strong>, that was outside the Braves’ homes since the 1970s,\u00a0was planned to be shipped to Cobb\u2019s home town of Royston, GA, while the original Hank Aaron<\/a><\/strong> statue would wind up staying on the grounds of the Braves\u2019 previous two homes.\u00a0 This was due to a legal dispute between the Braves and the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.\u00a0 A new Aaron statue has been added in SunTrust Park, as part of an exhibit dedicated to Aaron.<\/p>\n Also in the spring, the Braves added a statue of Bobby Cox<\/a><\/strong> to the area where the Spahn and Niekro statues are.<\/p>\n In terms of team Halls of Fames, 2017 saw Corey Hart<\/a><\/strong> added to the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>\u2019 Wall of Honor.\u00a0 With Lew Burdette<\/a><\/strong> added to the Braves\u2019 Honor Roll, also in Miller Park.<\/p>\n Barry Bonds<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 name was added to the Wall of Fame outside AT&T Park in San Francisco<\/a>, which like the Brewers\u2019 Wall of Honor is attained by achievement merits as opposed to other instances of team honors, where it is more about the honoree\u2019s relevance in team history.<\/p>\n Which makes the 2017 additions to the Washington Nationals<\/a>\u2019 Ring of Honor seem a bit on the head scratcher side.\u00a0 First, the franchise that disowned the Montreal Expos retired number, added a third player whose number was retired by the Expos to the Ring of Honor with Tim Raines<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(the others being\u00a0Gary Carter<\/a><\/strong>, and Andre Dawson<\/a><\/strong>).\u00a0 While Raines\u2019 career ended some time before the franchise relocated to Washington, Ivan Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong> did play two seasons in Washington.\u00a0 It does seem clear though that both of them being members of the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2017 was the reason for them being added to the team\u2019s ring of honor.<\/p>\n The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> had a dilemma with their 2017 Wall of Fame selection of Rose.\u00a0 While his induction would have been controversial enough considering the long-standing battle with Cooperstown, days before his scheduled induction the enshrinement of Rose was canceled due to news of a sex scandal had recently broken.\u00a0 The Phillies still held scheduled events for the induction weekend, but it was turned into a somber affair to honor the recently deceased Wall members Dallas Green<\/a><\/strong>, Jim Bunning<\/a><\/strong> and Darren Daulton<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> added three new members to their team Hall of Fame, Mark McGwire<\/a><\/strong>, Tim McCarver<\/a><\/strong> and Pepper Martin<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Twins added Michael Cuddyer<\/a><\/strong> and Andy McPhail<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jack McKeon<\/a><\/strong> was inducted into the San Diego Padres<\/a> HOF<\/p>\n And in advance of his potential call for the Cooperstown Hall this year, Vladimir Guerrero<\/a><\/strong> was inducted into the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n On May 14th Derek Jeter<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s number 2 was the 21st number (22nd person honored) to be retired by the New York Yankees<\/a>.\u00a0 He was also the latest enshrine in Yankee Stadium\u2019s Monument Park.<\/p>\n Along with the statue, Frank Robinson\u2019s number 20 was retired by the Indians, the previous season they had inducted him into their team Hall of Fame.\u00a0 With the retirement, the Indians became the third team to retire Robinson\u2019s number (all number 20), and that ties Robinson with Nolan Ryan<\/a><\/strong> for the most franchises (not including Jackie Robinson\u2019s across the board number retirement) to bestow a number retirement honor on a single person. Of course, Robinson is the only one with the same number as the Angels and Houston Astros<\/a> retired Ryan\u2019s 34, while the Texas Rangers<\/a> retired Ryan\u2019s 34.<\/p>\n In June the Red Sox retired David Ortiz<\/a><\/strong>\u2019 34, and the White Sox bestowed the same honor on Mark Buehrle<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s 53.\u00a0 Ortiz was the 10th<\/sup> Red Sox to have his number retired, while Buehrle was the 11th<\/sup> White Sox.\u00a0 The last two of the 2017 number retirements were by teams with far fewer.\u00a0 Speaking of all-time great DHs, Edgar Martinez<\/a><\/strong> became the second ever Mariner to have his number retired, when the Mariners retired his number 11 on August 12th<\/sup>.\u00a0 The same day the Texas Rangers retired Rodriguez\u2019s number 7, making him the third Ranger to have his number retired.<\/p>\n In upcoming franchise Hall of Fame news, in early December it was announced that the Colorado Rockies<\/a> acquired a lease on a lot adjacent to Coors Field, with the purpose of creating a Ballpark Village, complete with a Team Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Also in future franchise honors news, the Oakland Athletics<\/a> have announced a Rickey Henderson<\/a><\/strong> statue to be unveiled outside their stadium sometime during the 2018 season.\u00a0 This would be the first such non-retired number based honor bestowed by the franchise.<\/p>\n Main PhotoSunTrust Park<\/h2>\n
Hall of Fame<\/h2>\n
In Other Halls of Fame News<\/h2>\n
Upcoming Projects<\/h2>\n
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>