Yankees prepare to retire Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte’s numbers

“For them to get recognized this weekend and be here this weekend, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun”.

And in my opinion, Pettitte deserves the honor, but Posada doesn’t. The player whose No. 23 is retired certainly doesn’t.

It’s been a busy season in Monument Park. Yankee fans were calling for the veteran to be demoted to the bullpen or even cut from the team and bought out of his current contract. As far as the HGH is concerned, was it wrong? No doubt he made a stupid mistake for a guy that appears to have a head on his shoulders.

“They’re champions. They all came up in this organization together and they led this organization to another great run and left it in a good place, too”.

Posada, in his 17 year career, hit.274/.374/.474 and won four World Series championships with the Bronx Bombers. In 15 years in pinstripes, he was 219-127 with a 3.94 ERA (256-153, 3.85 ERA overall).

His 148 wins between 2000-09 were the most in baseball for the decade.

As for Posada, he was a homegrown Yankee who also played a big part in four of the five WS titles between 1996-2009. Maybe it’s because Andy Pettitte see’s a little bit of himself in Sabathia, being that he did the exact same thing towards the end of his own career, or maybe it’s because Andy Pettitte is just that good of a teammate, but either way, it’s working. However, since than, the big lefty has lost just one game, and despite not producing many tallies in the win column, he’s recorded five quality starts, and finally looks to be back on track as we near September. 273 with 275 homers and 1,065 RBIs in 1,829 regular season games. He only batted. 248 in 416 career post-season at-bats with 11 HRs and 42 RBI… again, not too shabby, but not elite.

Yogi Berra, perhaps the most famous Yankee catcher of all-time, sent a letter that was read on the outfield screen to the crowd before Posada addressed the crowd. Posada wasn’t particularly strong defensively either, unlike both Dickey and Berra. Posada’s No. 20 will be officially retired at a ceremony before the start of the game.

Mattingly, now the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, had his number retired by the Yankees in August 1997.