TBNL: Twice the (jersey retirement) fun; RIP Sports Science

Available Bucs, Apple TV might spend, and more words

Author

Aaron Somers
June 02, 2025

Among the highest honors an athlete can receive after their playing career ends is knowing that no one else will wear their uniform number again. Sure, nobody sets out saying “I want my jersey retired!” as their primary goal, but it’s one of sport’s greatest achievements reserved only for those who produce on the field and are respected off it.

I’ve written about the subject before, including as recently as this past January, shortly after the Mets revealed plans to honor David Wright this summer with a July ceremony to retire his No. 5. I went team by team and tried to predict who might be the next player(s) from each organization to have their number retired. Here’s what I said on the Mariners:

Seattle Mariners, Ichiro Suzuki & Randy Johnson’s No. 51

Félix Hernandez will have his No. 34 retired eventually, but it’s only a matter of time before the team formally retires No. 51 for Ichiro (perhaps as soon as this summer given his likely HOF induction). It’s also likely the organization holds a separate ceremony at some point to recognize Johnson’s tenure wearing the number, too.

About a week later, as expected, Ichiro was officially announced as one of this year’s HOF inductees. Shortly thereafter, the Mariners revealed plans to retire the legendary right fielder’s No. 51 in a ceremony planned for August 9.

Johnson wore No. 51 first and did so for ten seasons. The legendary left-hander pitched more than 1,800 innings over his decade in Seattle, posting a 3.42 ERA (128 ERA+) with more than 2,100 strikeouts. The stretch included five All-Star appearances and the first of his five Cy Young Awards.

At his Hall of Fame press conference, the always humble Ichiro recognized that he knew he had large shoes to fill (literally, Johnson was 6’10”) in wearing the number:

“When I first got the number 51, I knew that number 51 was a special number. I knew it was a special number to the organization, and I knew that it was a special number to the fans here in Seattle. Obviously, I wanted to make sure number 51 was (done) justice, make sure that 51 wasn’t going to be embarrassed. And I felt like if number 51 was just an average player, I wouldn’t do Randy Johnson justice. I knew (what it meant) for that number to keep going and for that, I took very seriously. I needed to do well to make sure I performed well in that number. I remember feeling that pressure when I got that number.”

Ichiro Suzuki

On Monday, the Mariners announced that Johnson will also get his own ceremony. The team will retire No. 51 in Johnson’s name sometime next season.

Fellow Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. (#24) and Edgar Martinez (#11) also have their numbers retired by the Mariners.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

  • Teams are going to be paying close attention to the Pirates in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. The club is allegedly listening to offers on the entire roster outside of right-hander Paul Skenes and center fielder Oneil Cruz.

  • Data science is being used in new ways to measure, track, and analyze performance all the time. One of the first mainstream avenues that helped broaden the interest in such things was a long-running show on ESPN (and briefly Fox Sports, before that) called “Sports Science.” The show’s creator and host, John Brenkus, passed away on Sunday. In a statement, his family said he’d been suffering from depression for years. Brenkus was just 53.

  • While nothing appears close to a resolution, Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp reports that Apple TV is emerging as the favorite to take over some of the MLB media rights available now that the league is ending its longstanding partnership with ESPN. Apple TV already pays the league $85M annually for Friday night games. It’s unclear what a package centered on assuming control of “Sunday Night Baseball” might cost. Regardless, a move to Apple TV is less than ideal for consumers.

More words from me

Reply

or to participate.