Not sure about 8, but 42 was retired by all of Major League baseball in celebration of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. At the time, there were still a few players wearing number 42 so they were allowed to keep it until they switched teams or retired. Rivera was one of them and became one of the best closers of all time. He would be the last person to ever wear 42 in the MLB as his number was retired in 2013.
Damn, this multi-generational dynasty reminds me of the Boston Celtics. For both, most of the credit goes to the genius of the front office and coaching staff
Why would they be kidding. I could type out the many reasons that is should be retired, but ill just c/p wikipedia
For his career, Pettitte had a 256–153 win-loss record with a 3.85 ERA and 2,448 strikeouts in 3,316 innings. He also never had a losing season in the major leagues. Among Yankees pitchers, Pettitte ranks first in strikeouts (2,020), tied-first in games started (438), and third in wins (219).[59] Pettitte and Rivera have combined for a record 81 (11 in the playoffs) win-save combinations, the most in history.[60] They, along with teammates Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, have been noted as the "Core Four", as they were teammates for the five World Series won by the Yankees between 1996–2009. During the period from 1995–2010, no major league pitcher accumulated more regular season victories than Pettitte did. His 148 wins from 2000 to 2009 were the most of the decade.[61]
I am acutely aware of all of this. I grew up in New York during the Yankees' dynasty. Andy Pettitte was an above-average pitcher who was very good in his best years, but he wasn't even a true ace. I understand Yankee fans are sentimental about guys like Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, etc. There's a lot of love for them because they played hard and were good-to-very-good players for a long time (and during some great years for the team). But none of them are great, and none of them have any business having their numbers retired. There really should be a standard. I could understand a lower standard for a team like the Brewers or Rockies, who are hurting for heroes, but it really dilutes the prestige when you're ranking Any Pettitte alongside the likes of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Mariano Rivera, and Yoga Berra. Those are first-ballot, all-time great players. Andy Pettitte was...pretty good.
Petite only owned up to using HGH twice to recover from injury. I believe that was just damage control. More likely he used it on a regular basis like his buddy Roger Clemens.
Pettitte was 19–10 with a 3.83 ERA and 173 strikeouts in the postseason (1995–2003, 2005, 2007, 2009–2010), with the most postseason wins in MLB history. He also holds the all-time postseason record for most starts (42) and innings pitched in the postseason (263). He was the second starting pitcher in history to win three series-clinching games (ALDS, ALCS and World Series) in the same postseason (2009). Derek Lowe did the same in 2004, but with one of the wins in relief, and additionally, Pettitte won the regular game in which the Yankees clinched the division. When Pettitte started Game 3 of the 2009 World Series, he passed Christy Mathewson and Waite Hoyt, with the second most World Series starts. Whitey Ford is in front with 22 starts. Pettitte has played in 8 different World Series (7 with the Yankees, and one with the Astros), and been on the winning end of 19 postseason series – both of which are tops among active players.
These are all very contrived stats though. Basically every one of them is the product of spending a long time on a team that always made the Series from the mid-90s forward. Justin Verlander is ten times the pitcher Pettitte was, but he can't help that he was stuck on a middling Tigers team that only made the Series once in his prime. The Yankees made the playoffs every year for like 16 years straight, and right at the advent of the wild card, which means they got one more round than earlier players to compile stats. There wasn't even a league championship series until 1969, so greats like Koufax have fewer postseason wins because they only played one postseason series per season. You have to be good to be a starting pitcher on a World Series team. You don't have to be great. Pettitte was reliable. He had a few really good runs, but he was not the star of any of those teams. The fact that he was a pretty good player on some very great teams does not make him great.
Andy Pettitte deserves his number retired because of how clutch he was. Off the top of my head, I can only remember 2 stinkers in October: game 1 of the 96 World Series against the defending champion Braves (which the 24-year-old responded to by pitching 8 1/3 shutout innings to win the game 5 1-0 and give the Yanks a 3-2 lead in the Series) and game 6 in 2001 World Series against the Diamondbacks. Other than that he was great.
But after a great 2003, the Yanks made the inexplicable decision to let Pettitte leave for Houston as a free agent and instead acquire Javy Vazquez and the corpse of Kevin Brown. I have always believed that, had Pettitte still been there in 2004, the Yanks would never have blown that 3-0 lead to Boston in the ALCS. They had no dependable stopper to break the Sox’ momentum and even actually needed to start Brown in game 7, where he gave up 5 runs through 1 1/3 innings before getting pulled.
Andy may not be a Hall of Famer, but his 46 is rightfully retired.
A bit of trivia about the father of Elston Howard who was the first African-American on the Yankee roster - Elston's father, Travis Howard, was a teacher in southeast Missouri and believed land ownership was the key to elevating blacks from poverty, so he bought a farm in New Madrid County and sold lots to black sharecroppers. The town was named Howardville after him.
For his career, Pettitte had a 256–153 win-loss record with a 3.85 ERA and 2,448 strikeouts in 3,316 innings. He also never had a losing season in the major leagues. Among Yankees pitchers, Pettitte ranks first in strikeouts (2,020), tied-first in games started (438), and third in wins (219).[59] Pettitte and Rivera have combined for a record 81 (11 in the playoffs) win-save combinations, the most in history.[60] They, along with teammates Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, have been noted as the "Core Four", as they were teammates for the five World Series won by the Yankees between 1996–2009. During the period from 1995–2010, no major league pitcher accumulated more regular season victories than Pettitte did. His 148 wins from 2000 to 2009 were the most of the decade.[61]
But after a great 2003, the Yanks made the inexplicable decision to let Pettitte leave for Houston as a free agent and instead acquire Javy Vazquez and the corpse of Kevin Brown. I have always believed that, had Pettitte still been there in 2004, the Yanks would never have blown that 3-0 lead to Boston in the ALCS. They had no dependable stopper to break the Sox’ momentum and even actually needed to start Brown in game 7, where he gave up 5 runs through 1 1/3 innings before getting pulled.
Andy may not be a Hall of Famer, but his 46 is rightfully retired.