In general, I’m not a big fan of retiring numbers. Particularly for teams like the New York Yankees, who have retired so many of them, it seems like teams should be concerned about someday running out of numbers for players to wear. Still, it’s the way that teams have decided to honor past players who have a significant place in team history.
The Chicago Cubs have retired five numbers: Ernie Banks (#14), Billy Williams (#26), Ron Santo (#10), Ryne Sandberg (#23) and Fergie Jenkins/Greg Maddux (#31).