Twisting the Numbers: A Look at Retired Pittsburgh Numbers

Between the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins, these three teams have retired 15 jersey numbers from past players. The Buccos lead the way with nine retired numbers and then the Steelers and Pens have three each. Starting with the football team, here are the three players who had amazing careers with the Steelers and now no other player can ever wear their jersey digits again.

• Franco Harris, #32
• Ernie Stautner, #70
• Joe Greene, #75

For the Pittsburgh Penguins:

• Michael Briere, #21 (Briere had his jersey honored posthumously as he was tragically killed in a car crash following his rookie season)
• Mario Lemieux, #66
• Jaromir Jagr, #68

Finally, the Pirates:

• Billy Meyer, #1
• Ralph Kiner, #4
• Willie Stargell, #8
• Bill Mazeroski, #9
• Paul Waner, #11
• Pie Traynor, #20
• Roberto Clemente, #21
• Honus Wagner, #33
• Danny Murtaugh, #40

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, all three players with retired numbers are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Mario Lemieux was a no-brainer for the hockey hall of fame and Jaromir Jagr’s NHL career began in Pittsburgh in 1990 after being drafted by the Pens in the first round and fifth overall during the 1990 draft. Currently and incredibly, Jagr is still on the ice playing overseas professionally in a league called WSM Liga in the Czech Republic and on April 18 of this year he scored a goal surpassing Gordie Howe as the oldest player in professional hockey history to score. Jagr, who is now 52 years and 63 days old skated past Howe who scored at the age of 52 and 6 days.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates and their nine players who wore numbers never to be seen again on the back of a jersey bearing the Pirates logo, all but two have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The only two not hall of famers are Billy Meyer and Murtaugh. There is an enormous difference between the two in that while both served as managers of the team, Meyer suffered through one of the worst records in history while Murtaugh won a World Series title. Not once but twice. Murtaugh was also a huge fan favorite and Meyer must have been as well to have his number put to rest. 

Now here’s the twist to this story…of the numbers retired above, who on the other teams in Pittsburgh wore those same numbers but played in a different sport? In other words, the Steelers’ retired numbers are 32, 70, and 75. But were there players on the Pirates and Penguins who wore those same numbers?

For the Pirates, #32 has been worn 76 times, often by the same player at various stages of his Bucs career. Some of the more prominent players who wore that number were Dan Miceli, Doc Medich, Bob Miller, Vernon Law, and Ed Ott. Only 10 players have worn the number 70, the first coming in 2011 when Jared Hughes had it on his back. The last #70 was last year when Osvaldo Bido took the field with the number. As for Joe Greene’s historic number, only six Pirates did the same. Rich Loiselle, Alex Presley, Corban Joseph, Austin Davis, Luis Ortiz, and Alika Williams. 

The Penguins? There were a handful of Pens players taking to the ice with #32 on their backs. Just a few were Dave Hannan, Dave Goertz, Greg Cozier, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, and Mark Streit. 12 in all. Ernie Stautner’s number could be found on just one former Penguin, Louis Domingue. The same with 75 who was worn by Ryan Reaves.

Let’s take the Penguins retired numbers and try them on the Pirates and Steelers! Everyone who is anyone and is a Pirates fan should be embarrassed if they do not know who wore number 21. That’s a big duh. Roberto Clemente and his #21 is retired and there has been chatter about Major League Baseball retiring that number across the league the same way they did with Jackie Robinson’s #42 which no player is permitted to wear. But doing the same for Clemente’s number is still a pipedream at this time. The great Mario Lemieux and his famous 66 was worn by 16 Pirates including Jeff Ballard, Elias Diaz, and Dovydas Neverauskas. Then there is Jagr’s 68. Nine Pittsburgh Pirates have sported the number 68. Jim Dougherty, Wyatt Toregas, Vic Black, Clay Holmes, Jake Elmore, Brandon Waddell, Hoy Park, Cam Vieaux, and Angel Perdomo.

Now the Steelers as related to the Penguins and Pirates retired numbers. There have been some very notable Steelers wearing Roberto Clemente’s famous number. How about Robert Golden, Mewelde Moore, Ricardo Colclough, Amos Zereoue, Deon Figures, Tony Dungy, and Jim Bradshaw (no relation to Terry). Wearing #66 has been David DeCastro, Alan Faneca (Hall of Famer), Jim Sweeney, Ted Petersen, and Bruce Van Dyke (an excellent linebacker who came just before Lambert, Ham, etc.).

Now we have the final Penguins retired jersey number and it is Jagr’s 68. Wearing a 68 on their Black and Gold unis were Kelvin Beachum, Chris Kemoeatu, Keydrick Vincent, Brenden Stai, Lorenzo Freeman, and “Hollywood Bags” L.C. Greenwood (damn if he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame…a travesty that he is not), 

With nine retired numbers, the Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys put to rest have some big names attached to them in football and hockey. Let’s start with the Steelers.

• #1-Remember quarterback Anthony Wright? One of the greatest kickers ever wore the number 1 and it was Gary Anderson. Then there is Dave Trout.
• #4-A man who nearly became the Steelers offensive coordinator also played for a bit with Pittsburgh and wore number 4. Byron Leftwich. Punter Josh Miller sported the number. Jordan Berry was another.
• #8-Not many Steelers wore Willie Stargell’s number. Five to be exact and the only name that stands out is that of Tommy Maddox. 
• #9-Maz was a hero in 1960 winning the Pirates a World Series title with one simple swing of the bat. No Steeler was wearing that number 9 in 1960 but Matt Bahr took it on in 1979 and then another kicker Norm Johnson assumed the number in 1995. Punter Daniel Sepulveda who might be best known for his colossal block in college played for Pittsburgh from 2007-2011 and wore jersey number 9. Now Chris Boswell is a great kicker wearing the number. 
• #11-This number has been worn by several Steelers but none that had much success. Mike Quinn and Kent Graham did but were both busts at quarterback. 
• #20-Lots of Steelers wore this number more recently Cam Sutton. Bryant McFadden was an excellent secondary player as was Dewayne Washington. Erric Pegram was a solid running back so was Dwight Stone. Of course, the Rock, Rocky Bleier won Super Bowls wearing #20 and Paul Martha took the number in the mid-60s. 
• #21-The Roberto Number. Let’s spit out the Steelers names wearing the legendary 21…Joe Haden, Robert Golden, Ricardo Colclough, Amos Zereoue, Donnell Woolford, Deon Figures, Eric Williams, Tony Dungy, and Jim Bradshaw.
• #33-Another long list for this number including Isaac Redman, Russell Stuvaints, Bam Morris (who if not for drug problems would have been a Steelers great), Merril Hoge, Harvey Clayton, John “Frenchy” Fuqua (complete with his fish filled high heels and fur coats), and Fran “Hey Diddle Diddle Rogel Up the Middle” Rogel.
• #40-No big names here but some familiar for the older generation like me that will be remembered: Randy Reutershan, and Richard Shelton.

What about the Penguins? Let’s run down the list of Pirates retired jerseys again but for hockey now.

• #1-Former goalie and GM Jim Rutherford. Then there is Bob Johnson, Denis Herron, and Brent Johnson. 
• #4-How about Marty McSorley? Phil Bourque, Chris Dahlquist, Larry Murphy, and Greg Andrusak. 
• #8-You have to like Rick Kehoe here and what about Dave “The Hammer” Schultz (boy do I remember watching him beating up opponents). Mark Recchi wore #8 and so did Terry Ruskowski and Bob Stewart.
• #9-We start with Andy Bathgate and add Mark Johnson. Then there is the outstanding Ron Francis and we saw Greg Johnson wearing #9.
• #11-With this number and for the Pens comes Nick Harbaruk, Bernie Lukowich, Vic Hadfield, Darius Kasparaitis, Jordan Staal, and Alex Nylander to name a few.
• #20-How about Yves Bergeron for starters? Pete Mahovlich wore #20. So did Rober Lang, and Gary Rissling. Bryan Smolinski. Greg Johnson wore #20 as well, so did Kasper Bjorkqvist.
• #21-Interesting that we have two number 21s retired…Clemente and the Penguins Michel Briere. For Briere who tragically lost his life in a car accident but more bizarre is that when he died his age was his number…21. His number remained unworn after his death until 1970 then was officially retired in 2001. Keith McCreary is the only other Penguin to wear number 21. 
• #33-Playing on the ice for the Pittsburgh Penguins wearing 33 was Bob Simpson, Bob Gladney, Doug Bodger, Marty McSorley, Zigmund Pallfy, and Alex D’orio.
• #40-Finally, we have our last number on the list from the Pirates and only eight players in history wore number 40 for the Pens. Andy Chiodo was one. Alexander Pechurskly another. There was also Oskar Sundqvist. 

How about current players from the three teams? Let’s start with the best team in Pittsburgh, the Steelers and if anyone is wearing a Penguins or Pirates retired number. There is nobody wearing jersey #1. Kyle Allen is wearing number 4…for now. #8 is being worn by Matthew Wright who has been in Steelers camp before but will be gone by the end of the summer because he will not be replacing Chris Boswell who owns the 9. At 11 is newcomer Van Jefferson and #20 remains unassigned.

Darius Rush is in camp coming off an injury with much promise and wears Clemente’s number. 33 will be on the back of David Perales a longshot to make the team at linebacker. Our last number of 40 will be seen worn by another player who certainly won’t make the team, Tyler Murray yet another linebacker. 

As for the retired Penguins numbers, we’ve covered 21 but 66 and 68? Rookie Mason McCormick is a threat to win a position on the offensive line and will be wearing jersey 66. Anderson Hardy is an offensive tackle wearing 68 but certainly won’t be making the team.

Switching to current Penguins wearing retired Steelers or Pirates numbers, here’s what we have. No one wears a retired Steelers number. We do have a #8 and that belongs to Michael Bunting. Lars Eller wears number 20. That’s it for the Pens on jersey numbers.

The Pirates? Let’s finish with the only team that is currently playing regular season games. What players are wearing retired Steelers or Penguins jersey numbers? Henry Davis is wearing Franco Harris’s number. That’s it! No one wears a #70, 75, 21 (obviously), 66 or 68. 

So, there you have a mish mash of jersey numbers which may have left you dizzy and confused but it was an interesting twist to jersey numbers in Pittsburgh professional sports. Are there any current players from these teams whose number should be retired one day? Sidney Crosby might get a vote for sure. I don’t think Ben Roethlisberger did enough to warrant his number being put to rest. We all love Andrew McCutchen but while he has been an outstanding player he is far from being a hall of famer. 



I hope you enjoyed this dive into numbers and that your brain isn’t hurting after reading all this, but any comments or suggestions are welcome at totalsportsrecall@gmail.com.