Yankees reliever LaTroy Hawkins confirmed Tuesday night that he is planning to switch his uniform number Wednesday to 22 instead of O'Neill's unretired 21 when the team returns home to face the Red Sox.
"Yeah, I'm changing it," said Hawkins, whose decision was first reported by CBSsportsline.com.
The Yankees had not given out No. 21 since the beloved O'Neill retired after the 2001 season. For some unknown reason, they assigned it to Hawkins, who said he was wearing it in honor of Roberto Clemente.
Hawkins heard it from Yankees fans on the team's first homestand. They booed him during Opening Day ceremonies and chanted O'Neill's name when he entered games. Hawkins said he decided to make the change after discussing the matter with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.Good job by the Yankee vets for setting Hawkins straight with this. I'm sure they informed him that us fans weren't going to give him a break anytime soon and he'd better either give up the number or get used to "Paul O'Neill" chants.
I'm glad he's decided to give up the number, he finally understands how much that number means to Yankee fans and that even though he wanted to honor Clemente, a No. 21 Yankee jersey is a Paul O'Neill jersey to us. Well done Latroy, and you should be happy to know that all Yankee fans will be behind you from now on. In fact, he strangely may become a fan favorite because of all this. The next time Hawkins come into a game give the guy a standing ovation.
Hopefully Hank and Hal took notice of this as well and will decide to retire the number so that this isn't an issue in the future. How about a June 21st Paul O'Neill day? It couldn't be a better day; the Yanks face O'Neill's first team, the Cincinnati Reds, and it's a weekend day game.
16 Comments:
thats my DOG!!!!
atta boy Latroy, the curse is lifted.
Def deserves the standing O.
RETIRE 21!!!
Yep, I'm so glad he did this. He's going to become very well liked by the fans now.
Unless he sucks...lol..
Now if we can just get him off the team....all will be well again.
He's been good since that game vs. the Rays at the Stadium so I'm not ready to get rid of him yet.
now i am a huge Yankee fan but stories like this just embarrass me. it sounds like a freakin girly soap opera with "Ohh he's wearing a number worn by a player fans liked seven years ago." so fans boo him and chant paul o'neills name. it sounds like a child who didn't get his way so he just screams until he gets what he wants.
Did you read that whining idiot Peter Abraham's blog post today about this? He called it "shameful". First of all, what's shameful about it? We booed, nobody threw anything at the guy.
The guys gotta give it a rest with his preachy bullshit, and understand that we fans love Paul O'Neill and were trying to make a statement, and I think we achieved that.
Zone,
Fans didn't like it, so we let our voices be heard. Don't really see how that makes this a "girly soap opera," but OK.
There's no reason to be embarrassed though. If someone had sent him death threats that's one thing, but this was just booing.
anonymous,
I wouldn't call Peter a "whining idiot," he runs a great blog, and he's entitled to his opinion, just like anyone else is. But I do disagree with what he wrote. Tyler Kepner wrote something similar too.
Greg,
It just bothers me how entitled Yankee fans think they are to certain, silly things. I mean booing a player who relies a lot on the mental aspect of the game (coming in middle of the game situations trying to preserve a lead) is certainly in no way helping a team. And for what, to show their allegiance to a great player? I mean the attempt is heart warming, but I just completely disagree with booing players on your own team (unless of course it's Kyle Farnsworth).
I respect your opinion, but I don't see how this makes us "entitled."
We're fans, the only way we can express how we feel is by booing or cheering.
I really think people are too sensitive about this kind of stuff. It's just booing.
It's just a number.
But that's the thing Mike, to a lot of Yankee fans it's not just a number, it's Paul O'Neill's number.
Goose Gossage is in the Hall and noboby says anything about a coach wearing 54.
Our beloved Bobby Murcer wore 2 so lets boo Jeter?
There will be plenty of times to boo Hawkins this season.
I can't get wound up over a number.
Pete Abe is such a hater... haha i play around with him alot on this topic but he really goes out of his way to diss Paulie sometimes, it does get old.
Mike,
I understand where you're coming from and I don't fault anyone for not caring about the number. All I meant was that there is a large group of fans, myself included, who do care about the number. Personally, I liked the "Paul O'Neill" chants better than the boos.
The reason so many fans love O'Neill is because they feel he was the heart and soul of those four championship teams. If players who were on those teams say that about Pauly.
Here's what O'Neill had to say:
(this is from Peter Abraham's 4/17 article)
"What can I say? The fans have always been unbelievable to me there," O'Neill told The Associated Press from his home in Ohio. "I don't really know how to explain it. It makes you feel good that the fans still think of you as wearing that number. ... Obviously, I have nothing against LaTroy for wearing that number."
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