Playing the Numbers

What do Brooks Robinson, Johnny Bench, Joe DiMaggio, George Brett, Lou Boudreau, Hank Greenburg, Jeff Bagwell, Willard Hershberger, and Carl Barger have in common?  All have had the number 5 retired by a major league baseball team in their honor, making #5 the most retired uniform number in the majors.

Now, if you're thinking, "Hey, two of these names don't seem to belong on this list!" you're right;  they don't seem to, but they do.  Willard Hershberger, like Johnny Bench, was a Cincinnati Reds catcher who wore #5.  Unfortunately, he committed suicide August 3, 1940, the only player to do so during the season.  Subsequently, the Reds retired his number, but brought it back into service a mere two years later.

Carl Barger was the first president of the Florida Marlins, but died before the Marlins inaugural season.  As Barger's favorite player was Joe DiMaggio, Florida retired #5 in Barger's honor.

There is an excellent discussion of baseball's retired numbers, including a list of all retired numbers at Wikipedia.  I do not routinely recommend Wikipedia as a solid source of information, but whoever wrote this entry did fantastic work.