Night Owl Cards

  The Dodgers announced yesterday that it will retire Gil Hodges' uniform No. 14 and that the ceremony will take place June 4 when the Dodgers play the Mets. It's been a long time since the Dodgers retired a uniform number. The organization, with one exception, does not retire a number until the person who wore it is elected to the Hall of Fame. I think this is the proper way to retire numbers, rather than the "just-because" reasons that several other baseball teams do. The last time the Dodgers retired a uniform number was on Aug. 14, 1998 when they retired Don Sutton's No. 20. Twenty-four years have gone by since, but, heck, people have been waiting for Hodges to reach the Hall of Fame for a lot longer than that. So I figured I would revive a blog series that I haven't done in years -- just to continue the whole "what you waiting for?" theme. This is where I review all the players who have worn a certain number for the Dodgers. Today we're look...

In the calendar world, the number 31 represents the maximum number of days in one month. It is the title of an upcoming slasher movie that I will never watch. And, if you were to hit a home run once a day for an entire month, the most you could hit is 31. Joc Pederson hasn't done that -- yet -- but he is already more than halfway to 31 for the season just two months into the season with two homers again last night and four in his last four games. Pederson wears uniform No. 31, and it's about time. Thirty-one was a once-proud numeral in the Dodger world as one of the best players of the mid-1990s wore it. But since that awful time when he was mistakenly traded, the number has never been the same. Mike Piazza wore No. 31 for the Dodgers between 1993-98. He isn't the Dodger who wore the number the longest, but he is the Dodger who wore the number best. No. 31 was Mike Piazza for half a decade and, I guess, for more than that since he also wore the number...

The arrival of Hyun-Jin Ryu as a member of the Dodgers signaled another threshold moment in L.A. uniform numerology. His choice of No. 99 marked the second time that a Dodger has worn that number while on a major league roster. No longer an uproarious one-and-done 2008 Mannywood dream, Ryu has taken 99 from Manny Ramirez and fashioned it with his own Far East style. So far, Ryu, tonight's starter, and Ramirez are the only Dodgers to wear the final number before venturing into triple digits (They have 99 problems but their number ain't one). But that started me thinking about the progression of the uniform number through Dodger history. Wearing a number in the 90s is a phenomenon of the last 15 years for L.A. Aside from Ryu and Ramirez, reliever Joe Beimel wore No. 97, and Pirates/Jays cast-off Jacob Brumfield wore No. 94 in 1999. The 80s numerals are a virtual wasteland with only Rick Wilkins, who played catcher for the Dodgers for all of three games, wearing...

In terms of numbers, 21 is a desirable objective. Reaching the age of 21 makes you an "adult" in the grown-up world. In one of the most popular casino game ever, 21 means "blackjack." Drinks are on you. That is, if you're 21. But 21 as a uniform number couldn't be less important in Dodgers history. This is not a good thing, because as you may have heard, new Dodgers signing Zack Greinke, owner of one of the most expensive pitching contracts ever, will wear No. 21 for the Dodgers. Here is the picture the Dodgers doctored up for the occasion of his signing: In going through the history of the Dodgers, the No. 21 has been worn mostly by bench players, prospects who went nowhere, and disappointing/unmemorable acquisitions. A list of each: Bench players: Tim Thompson (third-string catcher), Rocky Nelson, Ed Goodson, Bob Bailor, Reggie Williams, Tracy Woodson, Eric Young, Rafael Bournigal, Chad Kreuter, Marlon Anderson, Mark Sweeney, Rickey Le...

I have been on a Duke Snider kick for basically the last three months -- and you're going to see another key Duke card in another week or so -- so I might as well squeeze in this Dodger uniform number retrospective, too. Besides, today is the Duke's birthday. Willie and Mickey? Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about. As far as Dodger fans go, Snider is the only center fielder worth discussing and the only No. 4 on record. But even though the number is retired by the Dodgers in honor of Snider, others in Dodger Blue have worn No. 4, including a couple of notable ones. We'll start with a legendary Cub: Two years after Hack Wilson sent 191 runners home, he was a Brooklyn Dodger and the first reported Dodger to wear the No. 4. He arrived with the Dodgers in 1932, which was really his only season with Brooklyn worth mentioning -- he drove in 123 runs on just 143 hits. But Wilson would stay around two more years with the Dodgers wearing No. 4....

I will probably never watch an NBA game, for more than a couple minutes, for the rest of my life. This is no surprise. I've made it through half a lifetime without doing it so far. A guy tends to get set in his ways the second half of life. But it came to mind about a week or so ago when I heard about how excited Los Angeles was about its sports teams. The Dodgers -- the best team in baseball -- could barely get any coverage because the NBA's Lakers and Clippers were deep in the playoffs, and the NHL's Kings were making an unexpected charge to the Stanley Cup. And I thought, "if I was living in Los Angeles, I'd be pissed about this." I am a Dodger fan, and almost nothing else. The NHL sort of exists for me, but the NBA is a non-entity. Who cares what the Lakers, Clippers and Kings are doing? Who are they? The DODGERS are the best team in baseball!!! Everyone in L.A. should be paying attention to them! But then I'm an odd bird. Even when Mich...