The Pittsburgh Steelers have been a historic franchise ever since it was founded in 1933. Over the years, the organization has been blessed to have had numerous legendary and iconic players don the black and gold. Yet despite this fact, there have been only two official jerseys retired by the team. These numbers are Ernie Stautner's #70 that was retired in 1964 and Joe Greene's #75, retired in 2014.
Both jersey retirements are very well deserved, but so are many others that haven’t been made official yet. While it seems like a matter of “if not now, when,” the real questions are “will it ever happen” and if so, “why hasn’t it already happened?”
A Family Matter
Any member of Steeler Nation can tell you that the Steelers organization is notorious for simply pulling numbers from the rotation as opposed to retiring them outright. Every fan has their own theory as to why this happens, as well as opinions on whose number should be hanging in the team’s Hall of Honor, but I personally like this take from Bob Labriola of Steelers.com. He describes the relationship between players and ownership as a “familial bond” and how the whole jersey retirement situation is kind of like a “proud parent” moment.
“As this shows, the franchise isn't big on retiring jerseys, and my personal belief is some of their trepidation involves the number of great players, Hall of Fame players, players who have their fingerprints all over multiple Lombardi trophies, and as a result, it is very difficult to decide which jerseys to retire. Or to put it differently, it's very difficult to decide which jerseys don't get retired. I believe to some extent, the Rooney family – Art Sr., Dan, and now Art II – have come to view their Hall of Fame, championship winning players almost like their children in the sense that you love them all equally.”
While this is a unique and interesting point of view, there is a more logical explanation as to why many numbers have not been raised to the rafters.
A Game of Numbers
The primary reason why jerseys aren’t retired often has to do with the quantity of numbers available for distribution. Players are allowed to select the number of their choosing, starting with the number 1, and going all the way to number 99. The numbers themselves vary based on the player’s position. The only two numbers that are banned by the NFL are the number 0 and 00.
Even so, that still gives enough numbers that can be used, so long as they aren’t retired. Once they’re officially retired, no player can select it, which decreases the total numbers available for distribution. If a team has large amounts of success, and retires every player they deem worthy, they will eventually run out of numbers. For a team like the Steelers, this makes a great deal of sense.
Legends Living On
As previously stated, Pittsburgh has been fortunate to have had a multitude of legendary players suit up for them. Guys like Terry Bradshaw who helped secure the first four Super Bowls for the franchise during the 1970’s.
Steelers.com
Other names include Troy Polamalu, who was instrumental in capturing the last two championships during the 2000’s.
Steelers.com
These two men are among the long and ever-growing list of names of players whose jersey number should be immortalized by the Steelers. Also, like previously mentioned, if the team were to retire either one, if not both player’s numbers, then there would be a lot of hurt feelings and backlash to deal with. It wouldn’t be from just the players themselves, but from the fans as well. It truly seems to be an “all or nothing” movement.
While researching this topic, I came to my own conclusion. For this situation, it’s probably for the best to stick to the status quo. I do feel that the Hall of Famers we have had, and have put on our own Mount Rushmore of greats, should be shown the proper respect and gratitude from the organization for all they accomplished on behalf of the team. However, I know that there would be large consequences stemming from beginning a new tradition of jersey retirements.
No matter who has their jersey retired first, the rest of the alumni would become bitter and show resentment towards both the Rooney family and the Steelers as a whole. More than likely, it’s in everyone’s best interest to continue to simply pull numbers from the rotation rather than bring in new issues that could potentially derail the team from future success.
What do you think? Should the Steelers start officially retiring numbers? If so, who should be first? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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