LA Rams’ rafters: Why are those jersey numbers retired?

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Since NFL teams first began the practice of retiring numbers, 139 players have been so honored.  The Chicago Bears are the most prolific of any team with 14 retired jerseys. In fact, Da Bears have retired so many numbers, that after hoisting Mike Ditka’s No. 89 to the rafters in 2013, the team announced they would retire no more, no mas.

There are just three NFL teams that do not retire player’s jersey numbers – the Las Vegas Raiders, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Dallas Cowboys. Although sometimes, teams will take a jersey number of a former player “out of circulation” instead. The Cowboys, for example, may not have any jersey numbers officially retired, but they have chosen to remove jerseys numbered 8, 12, and 22 out of current circulation after they were worn by The Trio: Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach, and Emmitt Smith, respectively. (Way back in the halcyon days of the franchise when America’s Team actually made the playoffs.)

Los Angeles Rams

And the Raiders, in keeping with their we-do-things-our-own-way-approach to all things football,  keep every jersey number in circulation, always. Ever the football contrarians, I suppose.

There’s no strict formula for when, or even why a number is retired. Teams can pretty much do what they want here. The number 12 is sometimes retired, for example, in deference to the fans, since there are 11 players on the field. Former U.S. President Gerald Ford had his number 48 retired by the University of Michigan when he became, well, president.

Curiously, the NFL has never retired a jersey number league-wide to honor anyone. Conversely, Major League Baseball retired LA Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson’s number 42 for breaking the color barrier in baseball and the National Hockey League retired number 99 for Wayne Gretzky, because they don’t call him “The Great One” for nothing.

Once upon a time, the NFL allowed the numbers 0 and 00 to be worn, and although neither of those numbers from the past has ever been retired, its current numbering rules no longer allow it to be worn (Former NFL players Johnny Olszewski, Obert Logan, Jim Otto, and Ken Burrough all wore 0 or 00). Trivia timeout: The Dallas Cowboys’ Obert Logan, whose nickname was “The Little O”, was the last person in the NFL to wear the single digit 0 before its use was discontinued by the league.