Retiring jerseys in sports is an extremely funny thing. Some teams are quite stingy while other teams love handing out the honor like cheap candy. Some sports like football have to remain calm so they have enough numerals for a full roster while other sports like baseball tend to go all out.

For that reason there will be no Major League teams featured here today. There are just so many numbers and so many names across the entire league. Plus, it’s baseball and who really cares, right?

NFL

Carolina Panthers
Sam Mills

The Panthers have only been around since 1995 so it’s easy to cut them some slack. They’ll also be able to line up several jerseys in the coming years from Steve Smith, Luke Kuechly, Cam Newton, Thomas Davis, and eventually Christian McCaffrey, I’m sure.

To date, Carolina has only retired Sam Mills’ jersey after he passed away from intestinal cancer in 2005. He spent the last 3 years of his long career with the Panthers and transitioned to a coaching role with the team before sadly dying so young.

Cincinnati Bengals
Bob Johnson

Cincinnati has been playing professional football since 1968 and has only mustered the effort to retire one jersey. The Bengals made center Bob Johnson their first-ever draft pick and he spent his entire 11-year career with the team. No one will confuse Cincinnati with being a sterling football franchise but surely there should be jerseys in the stadium for Anthony Munoz, Ken Anderson, and Chad Johnson?

New Orleans Saints
Jim Taylor
Doug Atkins

Young kids these days don’t realize what a sad, sad franchise the Saints had been prior to Drew Brees’ arrival. I personally was not knowledgeable about either Taylor or Atkins as they both played in the era before color television and are both deceased.

Taylor played his final season with the Saints–and I guess since he was a star with LSU in college and a Hall of Famer with the Packers–they decided to retire his jersey. Atkins played a whopping 3 years with the Saints at the end of his career, and yup that was enough for them too.

Washington Redskins
Sammy Baugh

Like many clubs, the Redskins have a ring of honor inside their stadium but only one officially retired jersey. That comes from former quarterback Sammy Baugh who played his entire 16-year career with Washington and retired after the 1952 season.

The Redskins have won 3 Super Bowls, 5 conference championships, and 8 division titles since Baugh left and haven’t been impressed enough to hang another jersey up.

NHL

Arizona Coyotes
Shane Doan

Technically, this franchise has been in existence since 1972 but they’ve been in Phoenix only since 1996. It’s largely been a super rough time for the Coyotes in the desert, though. Shane Doan was a really nice player for them playing his entire 21-year career with the team and serving as captain from 2003 until 2017. Still, he never reached 80 points in a single-season and had his jersey retired for being the guy-who-worked hard and played a super long time for one team.

Florida Panthers
Roberto Luongo
Bill Torrey
Wayne Huizenga

You know things are rough when you’ve been around since 1993, which sure isn’t a long time for these things, and the only player you’ve retired is a goalie. Luongo spent 11 years with Florida across 2 separate stops, although he was at his best in between while with Vancouver.

You probably know Wayne Huizenga from being the former owner of the Miami Dolphins or maybe the Florida Marlins. He also founded the Panthers and they decided to raise 37 (his birth year) to the rafters. The team has also retired 93 in honor of former general manager Bill Torrey who was with the franchise in that role for their first 9 years. I’m not making this up.

Minnesota Wild
Their Fans

The Wild have only been operating for a couple decades now and are another team we could cut some slack. However, the team thought it was a good idea to hang a banner in the rafters for…their fans!??

Truly special. 

The thinking here is that the Minnesota Wild fans are #1! Hey, if the banner says so I guess we all have to live with that truth. I was going to say the Canadiens fans but I guess not.

Ottawa Senators
Daniel Alfredsson
Frank Finnigan
Chris Phillips

I have no qualms with the Alfredsson retirement as he spent 17 of his 18 years in Ottawa and totaled 1,108 career points. The Senators also retired Frank Finnigan’s #8 who was a player in Ottawa back in the 1920’s and was instrumental in helping get the franchise back in 1992.

The retirement of Chris Phillips’ jersey is funny. The former No. 1 overall pick became a stay-at-home defenseman and didn’t really live up to the hype as he never made an All-Star game. But, he played his entire career with the Senators so up you go, son.

NBA

Charlotte Hornets
Bobby Phills

The Hornets didn’t exist from 2003 through 2013 and they’ve had an absolute dreadful return to the NBA only finishing over .500 once in recent years. Still, Charlotte had some decent and fun teams in the mid-90’s but when you look back there aren’t many legit options for jersey retirement.

Alonzo Mourning (3 years), Larry Johnson (5 years), and Glen Rice (3 years) never stayed very long. Del Curry was a sharp-shooter but far from an All-Star. Would you give Mugsy Bogues a shot? Kemba Walker certainly would have the best case once he retires after spending so many years in Charlotte.

For what it’s worth, Phills was a veteran defender who was killed in a January 2000 car crash at 30 years old while playing for the Hornets.

Dallas Mavericks
Derek Harper
Brad Davis
Rolando Blackman

The early years for the Mavericks were dark and full of terrors. Derek Harper was a very good player and stayed in Dallas for a total of 11.5 seasons. Brad Davis was an okay guard who spent his final 12 seasons in town. Rolando Blackman is the best of the bunch with 4 All-Star appearances and a strong decade as a potent scorer.

Of course, Dirk is going to get his jersey retired soon.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Malik Sealey

This disaster of an organization took Kevin Garnett and his 13-years with the team, watched him carve out a Hall of Fame career, and he’ll be having his jersey retired by the Celtics next season. Due to disagreements with ownership, Garnett refuses to allow the Timberwolves to raise his jersey to the rafters.

For now, it’s only Malik Sealey who died in a car crash 5 months after Phills in 2000 and on his back from Kevin Garnett’s birthday party.

New Orleans Pelicans
Pete Maravich

The New Orleans Hornets aka New Orleans/Oklahoma City Horntets aka the New Orleans Pelicans have a short history. This is funny because Pete Maravich obviously never played for the franchise but they decided to retire his number before their first game upon their move to New Orleans due to Pistol Pete’s contributions to the game within the state of Louisiana.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Nick Collison

Collison spent his entire career with the Sonics/Thunder and earned the nickname “Mr. Thunder.” He averaged 5.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game over his career, never breaking double-digits for a season in either stat. What can you say when fans have such love and admiration for a role player?

Orlando Magic
6th Man

Who has time to retire Shaq or Penny’s number when you can raise up a banner for your fans?