THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

I recently saw a special on Bobby Orr’s retirement on NESN.  I don’t think I was alive yet when it happened, but I certainly remember the reverence with which my father spoke of Orr.  Orr’s retirement at the Boston Garden was the famous “12 minute” standing ovation, which was more like 7 minutes I think (I timed it)… but still incredible because even 45 seconds for something like that seems like a very long time.

It makes me wonder though… why doesn’t that happen anymore?  In Boston, supposedly home of the “most passionate” fans, teams seem to get long cheers when winning titles, but individuals rarely get the love some of the old timers got (Ortiz might be the closest to matching an Esposito-esque cheer).

I wonder if it’s because we know so much more about the athletes - we know they’re cheating on their wives, taking drugs (both performance-enhancing and performance-ruining), etc.  Or maybe it’s because people have more interests beyond sports these days, with all of the hobby and pastime opportunities out there - everyone’s always “keeping busy”.  Or maybe it’s simply because, in Boston at least, we haven’t retired a major figure’s number in quite some time.  I don’t know.

Steve Yzerman got a big ovation when the Wings retired his jersey a couple years ago. Something like 60-90 seconds I believe.

"Coolest” jersey moment for me was Lemieux’s unretirement of #66. Gotta be a youtube of that somewhere.