How SHOULD we honor Baseball Players for their Societal Impact?

I nominate Jose Altuve for adopting all the Yankees and being their daddy.

 

Ruth. He is in the HOF. He didn't have the off-the-field impact. Baseball impact? Of-course. I would Lou Gehrig had a bigger off the field impact.
Robinson was a no-brainer.
Clemente had a societal impact on MANY Latin players on and off the field. No problem giving him the Robinson treatment.

 

In the past 40 years baseball has lost tremendous "market share"

Turn on any sports radio station in August when baseball is the only sport in season and you will hear hours and hours of NFL and some NBA content with an occassional score update on MLB.

I would argue that MLB has more historical figures who have impacted society than any other sport and celebrating their stories nationally and beyond baseball is an opportunity.

Retiring numbers only impacts the game and fans.

MLB should designate a "Mt Rushmore" or similar of MLB figures that made huge impact ( baseball and beyond).

Then identify local MLB heroes and focus on them locally.

Make it an initiative that transcends the game. National and diverse interest.

How to do that escapes me but MLB needs it to be news among the general population.

Maybe establish an initiative to build presentations/monuments to these "heroes" in local museums and historical locations ( specific to that location)

Jackie Robinson - civil rights and equality
Roberto Clemente - humanitarianism
Babe Ruth - Revolution of and growth of the game.
Ichiro Suzuki- Global popularity and growth.

Any other ideas? Other heroes?

 

Buck O'Neil

 

The only problem with retiring Robinson's number is that it took too long. The abuse that man took without fighting back or quitting while playing at an elite level paved the way for blacks and a whole new era of baseball. Heck, when your parents and my parents were teenagers, they could have been at a game where the N word was screamed at him and it was accepted behavior.

It's important to remember the sacrifice he made and simply having a Cooperstown inner circle to honor him would not be near enough.

Clemente faced similar issues as Robinson. He also helped open the door to Latino players. No problem with me having his number retired as well.

The place where a circle of honor makes the most sense is at Minute Made Park. Way too many Astro numbers have been retired.

 

GREAT ONE !!!

 

Hank Aaron would be in there

 

Got no issue with sport-wide jersey retirements. Clemente is long overdue.