Anything and everything you ever wanted or needed to know about the Giants retired numbers is right here in this chart from my personal data archive.
- What other players wore the numbers before they were retired
- When the numbers were retired
- What numbers were un-retired
- What other numbers the players with retired numbers wore
For instance, Malik Nabers wearing the #1 since being retired in Ray Flaherty's honor in 1935 isn't a unique circumstance. The Giants also reissued the #1 in 1946 & 1947 for Frank Cope.
The Giants also had once retired the #3 for Len Grant in 1938, but after putting it back into circulation in 1966 for Pete Gogolak it has remained in use. Eleven players have worn the #3 since, including Sterling Shepard last season.
Frank Gifford had the longest gap between the end of his playing career (1964) and number retirement (2000). Two players, Milt Plum and Norm Snead, wore the #16 during the interim.
The two most recently retired numbers, #10 for Eli Manning & #92 for Michael Strahan, fall into the the categories of most worn (#10 by 21 players) and least worn (#92 by two players).
Giants retired numbers database - (
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As our Giants' historian, what are your thoughts on the team unretiring a number?
As our Giants' historian, what are your thoughts on the team unretiring a number?
I generally don't like it. I mostly believe when a number is retired it should stay retired. But as you can see, this isn't the first time an exception has been made.
John Mara said two things that made me feel better about Nabers getting to wear #1.
First, he said that many Giant fan have never heard of Flaherty, so this is a way to bring him forward to people's attention. In fact, reading through the thread regarding the announcement, a few BBI'ers said they didn't know anything about Flaherty so they looked him up. I think that is a good thing.
Second, Mara said at the conclusion of Nabers' career the number would go back into retirement. I think that is important, I wouldn't want it to end up like the #3 for Len Grant after Pete Gogolak was granted it and it returned to the rotation. I think that was wrong.