The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their
opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1: I was just wondering, throughout Major League
Baseball, Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 has been retired and no one’s
allowed to wear it.
The Green Phone was created so the fans could voice their opinions. Give us a call and let us know what’s on your mind.
CALLER 1: I was just wondering, throughout Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 has been retired and no one’s allowed to wear it. Well, I was watching the Yankees-Red Sox game and the (announcers) told me (Yankees pitcher) Mariano Rivera was in the bullpen … So he comes out and he was wearing No. 42. So I was wondering why he gets to wear 42 and why he’s so special that the rules don’t apply to him, seeing as he’s not that great. He’s good, but not that great.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 1, we’re all over this. For the record, you are indeed correct. Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 throughout the league in 1997 on the 50th anniversary of the date the Brooklyn Dodgers legend broke the color barrier in baseball. However, according to All-Baseball.com, all players who were already wearing No. 42 at the time were allowed to keep it until the end of their careers. After that, their respective clubs would retire No. 42 for good. Some players chose to keep the number on their backs, perhaps to honor Robinson, but others changed to a different one. Since ex-Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn (also No. 42) retired in January, Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera is the last remaining player to wear the number.
CALLER 2: I’m concerned because you folks never seem to do anything with boys’ volleyball, or very little, in Gilroy. About three weeks ago, they competed in a tournament of 52 teams and came in third. A couple of weeks ago, they competed in a tournament in Santa Cruz with I think 17 or 18 teams and almost won, they came in second. None of this ever seems to reach your newspaper. Boys’ golf is really exciting but it has nothing to do with the school, really. And I think your priorities really need to be looked at. So anyway, I’d like to help you do that if you want.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 2, we’ll be at today’s boys’ volleyball game against Hollister at Gilroy High, so hopefully that will get us on track towards better coverage of the team. Green Phone would like to point out, though, that it’s tough for us to cover every team’s road games. Thus we tend to give more expansive coverage to the games played in the area – whether it be golf, volleyball, gymnastics or any other sport – while trying to recap as best we can the away games or tournament play.
CALLER 4: I just wanted to give a plug for the (Morgan Hill) Grand Prix. My family and I went down and watched it for a while today. I think that’s a great thing and I think it should be here every year. And any other ideas would be great too, for downtown in particular.
GREEN PHONE: Caller 4, you’re not alone. Read on …
CALLER 5: I just wanted to say the Specialized Grand Prix was awesome and please bring it back for another year.
GREEN PHONE: And still more praise for the bike race in Morgan Hill …
CALLER 6: I enjoyed your race uptown, the Grand Prix in Morgan Hill. Just a suggestion, it would have been nice to have put up the order of events at the end of the announcer’s booth and everyone would have known what race was going, when and what time. Anyway, thank you. It was a fun race.
GREEN PHONE: Callers, the Green Phone thinks the Grand Prix was pretty cool, too. And we’re happy to report that Specialized is planning on putting it on again next year.
CALLER 7: I wanted to thank you for your coverage of women’s basketball this season. I really appreciate it. That’s all.
GREEN PHONE: Our pleasure, Caller 7. It was exciting (and for at least one of us in the office, profitable) to watch and report on both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this year. Baylor’s run to the title was particularly inspiring.
