The New York Yankees love retiring things, from numbers to a stadium. And now general manager Brian Cashman thinks they should retire the very idea of captains after Derek Jeter.
During an interview on Mike Lupica’s ESPN Radio show, Cashman said that captaincy should be retired, just like Jeter’s No. 2. However, he stressed that the decision isn’t up to him.
“As far as I’m concerned, and I’m not to decision maker on this, that captaincy should be retired with No. 2. I wouldn’t give up another captain’s title to anyone else,” Cashman said, reports the New York Daily News. “Leadership comes in a lot of forms, it would be a hard one to anoint someone captain... regardless of how great they might be.”
Jeter was already a four-time World Series champion by the time the Yankees named him captain in June 2003, the first since Don Mattingly retired in 1995. He won a fifth in 2009 and racked up 3,465 hits in his career.
The Yankees love to remind fans about the greatness of the past, and have 18 numbers retired. Jorge Posada’s 20, Andy Pettite’s 46 and Bernie Williams’ 51 will be retired this season and Jeter’s No. 2 will likely be soon as well. A report from the New York Times this week noted that 23 numbers are unavailable, including No. 0 and Paul O’Neill’s 21, which hasn’t been used since he retired.
image of Derek Jeter courtesy of Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com