Holy crap! Somebody's reading this? Thanks ... all three of you.Drewster (who was kind enough to leave a comment) opined that Piazza should be retired long before Mex. I see his point, but he's wrong. By which I mean, of course, he's right. Thirty one will get retired long before 17, for a whole host of reasons.
Chief among them, I suspect, is wholesomeness. Piazza's story is significantly more feelgoody than Mex's, owing in large part to the whole "not doing a ton of coke so far as we know" thing. Fair enough.
The man is the greatest hitting catcher to ever play the game. No doubt about it. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer without question, while Keith won't ever get in (though I believe a case could be made, I can see the point that he shouldn't).
But ....BUT ... when we're talking about number retirement, we're talking (I believe) about value to the specific team, and I would argue heartily that Keith was as valuable to his teams as Mike - possibly more.
I'm not generally one for the reductionist "but he got a ring!" argument. That being said ... Keith did.
Piazza's number should be retired. As should Koosman's, and probably Carter's. Doc & Straw should be seriously considered, as should Harelson, maybe Agee, and a couple of others.
But there should be no argument here.
It's really pretty simple.
Retire 17.
