The Athletics, no longer residing in Oakland and about to move into a temporary home in Sacramento, have had an interesting off-season, especially from a uniform perspective.
The A’s have actually added a special Sacramento sleeve patch, stripped all references to Oakland from their jerseys, and both kept their popular kelly green jersey AND returned the classic gold jersey to their uniform line up. But all that good news was recently tempered as the Athletics will also add a jersey advertisement for “Las Vegas,” their future home, while playing in Sacramento.
Late Monday afternoon, the team made even more uniform news.
The team had already announced they will honor Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who passed away this past December, with a memorial patch on their jersey sleeves this season. How the Sacto patch, Rickey Memorial patch, and uni ad will eventually look isn’t yet known, as we’ve yet to see them all “in action.”
Now the team has announced that all Athletics members will sport the No. 24 (Rickey’s retired number) for the team’s home opener, which will take place on March 31. This date will also mark the A’s first game at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
The Athletics retired Henderson’s No. 24 back in 2009.
Previously the team had announced the above giveaways for fans attending Opening Day in Sacramento, so it would make sense for the A’s to choose their home opener to honor Henderson.
If you read Uni Watch, you well know that every year, Major League Baseball honors Jackie Robinson on April 15th, when all players sport the No. 42 on their backs. Players once wore 42 in their traditional style…
…but more recently, including this upcoming season, will have players sporting “42” in the original Brooklyn Dodgers font and color.
And if you read Uni Watch, you further know that the Pittsburgh Pirates now also all wear No. 21 for “Roberto Clemente Day” — the annual league-wide celebration in which all players wear No. 21 jersey patches.
All of which is to say, there is ample precedent for a major league ballclub featuring all players in the same number. It might be an announcers and scorers’ nightmare, but baseball is the only major sport where a uniform number is not specifically needed. In fact, you may recall the Yankees and Red Sox played a throwback game in 2012 (to 1912, when Fenway Park opened), in which neither team wore numbers at all.
I know some of you absolutely hate (or at least strongly dislike) when MLB clubs either all wear the same number or (in that one rare “historical” throwback) no one wore numbers, but I’m 100% fine with it. I’ve said many times that baseball never had a worse commissioner than Kennesaw Mountain Landis, but Bud Selig and Rob Manfred have given Landis a run for his money. However, Selig’s move to retire No. 42 leaguewide was his greatest contribution to the game, and one for which he deserves much credit. Having everyone wear 42 on Jackie Day, and the Pirates all wearing No. 21 on Roberto Clemente Day are fitting annual reminders of their contributions to baseball and society, writ large, on and off the field. No one is putting Rickey into their eschelon, but to have watched him play his entire career, he was certainly unique and worthy of some on-field recognition.
So I’m 100% behind the Athletics honoring Henderson in this way on the team’s Opening Day. Aside from the decision to sell advertising space on their uniform this season, so far I think the team has done a pretty good job during the offseason to make the best of an unfortunate situation. With their temporary home seating only 14,014 (including 2,000 fans seated festival-style on the grassy berm in right and right-center field), I expect them to easily sell out the home opener and hopefully many more games for the season.
Everyone wearing No. 24 for one day and opening in a new, temporary ballpark will certainly keep the team in the uni news. But unlike Robinson and Clemente, the Athletics should make this a one-and-done tribute. JRR and Clemente Days are recognized and observed by all teams leaguewide. I don’t expect MLB to give Rickey his own day too.
What are your thoughts on the Athletics all wearing No. 24 for opening day? And how do you feel in general about everyone wearing No. 42 on April 15th and the Pirates all in No. 21 on September 15th (Roberto Clemente Day), with all other teams wearing No. 21 patches? Should the A’s make this a one year thing only?
“I expect them to easily sell out the home opener and hopefully many more games for the season.”
They’ll definitely sell out the home opener, but with all due respect Phil, I’m not sure why anyone would hope they sell out any games? John Fisher deserves to have zero people attend any games so long as he owns the team.
It’s a travesty that the best tribute Rickey receives in a game in Oakland is minute of clapping in a soccer match.
Fisher may be an a-hole who doesn’t deserve to own a MLB team (I agree with anyone who shares this sentiment), but I certainly don’t want to wish any ill will on the players and fans, who both are being screwed over. The last thing baseball needs is more bad things to happen to the franchise — which has been around far longer than Fisher, and will (hopefully) remain so long after he’s gone.
As a former As fan who went to games pre pandemic and stopped when the Vegas nonsense kicked into high gear, no I don’t think selling out in Sac will help As fans. This jerk pulled a page out of the move “Major League” and got away with it. I hope they don’t sell out a single game. Him.and Manfred lied their way out of Oakland, acted like a team that’s been there for 50 years isn’t really an Oakland team because they once were in Philly when nobody alive remembers, and they still have the gall to dress them in Oakland city colors because hey, they had those colors in KansasCity – despite their being zero KC As fans.
It’s not just that rhey lied to move to Vegas before havkng a stadium. It’s that they, like every other ownership group that has moved, were intentionally spiteful and degrading of the town they were leaving. They aren’t unique. But they have been less organized. So no they dint deserve sellout.
I feel for the players and they are probably going to be good this year, which adds insult to injury to the fans. But the As don’t have fans and don’t deserve fans right now.
I think the Mets should wear a 24 patch for Henderson as well this season. He certainly did more them in a Mets uniform than they other guy that wore 24 that they honor.
How dickish are you to slight Willie Mays like that – you tool !
Yes. One and done. Rickey was a great player. Robinson and Clements transcended baseball.
Clemente
Rickey was from Oakland (not born, but raised and graduated HS there), so his connection to the team was deeper than just being an all time great. An appropriate tribute for this year’s Opening Day only.
I know I’m zeroing in too much on one line, and making a bit of a mountain out of a molehill, but Kenesaw Mountain Landis is the worst commissioner in baseball history, and Selig & Manfred will never come close. For all their MANY sins, they never enforced racial segregation.
Completely agree with this.
Agreed. Landis is his own category like Cy Young’s pitching records – absolutely untouchable.
I’m all for it. Fantastic tribute to the greatest Oakland Athletic.
I like what the A’s are doing here for Rickey. JRR and Clemente are just a little step above his importance to the game, so I think there is no need for other teams to all wear 24 on the same day. Rickey, however, deserves part of the outfield stands in the new stadium in Las Vegas to be named after him. I know it is uncommon to do so in American sports (I am a fan of Dutch soccer team Sparta Rotterdam and 3 of our 4 stadium stands are named after 2 legendary players and our best coach ever), but let the A’s be a trailblazer in this. And bring back the elephant, please.
Think of the Giants with McCovey Cove. Naming a feature of the stadium after one of your all-time greats is a cool tribute.
The Pirates built the right field wall at PNC park exactly 21 feet tall, and named it the Clemente Wall, so such a think is not unprecedented.
A fitting tribute for Henderson would be for 2nd base to have “Rickey 24” on the top of the bag. His SB record might never be broken in our lifetime. That is his base and where his lasting tribute should be.
Great tribute. Rickey Henderson was IMO the greatest lead-off hitter in the history of baseball. If somebody asked me to start a team from scratch, #1 in the starting lineup would have been Rickey Henderson.
Not one of your prompts: I’m all for honoring a loss to the organization, especially players, coaches, etc. What gets lost in the honor is that its there all season long whether its a black strip of fabric or a dedicated patch, it just becomes part of the clutter. With the black stripe, you may not even know who its for by the time September rolls around.
I know I’m in the minority but I believe the memorial patch or black ribbon/strip of fabric is best for one homestand/away trip if it happens while on the road.
As for all the players wearing 24 on opening day? It’s a nice way to honor a legend for that organization.
How about some of them wear 35 to recognize the many years where he wore that number for the team?
Not disagreeing with you, but he “only” broke the single season SB record wearing 35. He broke career records for SB and R, won the AL MVP, and won 2 World Series wearing 24.
When is MLB going to honor Larry Dody, the first black player in the American League?
Sorry, I misspelled his last name. It’s Doby not Dody.
NL teams should wear 42 on the anniversary of Robinson’s debut.
AL teams should wear 14 on the anniversary of Doby’s debut.
This really isn’t that hard… which is why that feckless dipshit Rob Manfred will never think of it.
I once attended an April 15 game at Yankee Stadium with both teams wearing #42 and someone sitting near me scoring the game seemed really annoyed by it. For a one-day gesture to honor Jackie I’m totally on board but this person was annoyed with every player in the same number and how it is confusing. I tuned him out and ignored him the rest of the game.
The Reds all wore #41 for the Opening Day festivities on March 31, 2008 after Reds player and long-time broadcaster Joe Nuxhall passed away the previous November. Opening Day starter Aaron Harang pitched the game with Nuxhall’s name and #41 only for that game. The rest of the Reds switched back to their regular name and numbers for the game.