Retiring Number 25

In the Baseball Notes section of Sunday's Globe, Nick Cafardo wrote that "It's neat that Bobby Valentine will wear Tony Conigliaro's number, honoring his former Padres roommate." Cafardo must have meant the Angels, since Tony never played for the Padres. "If I were the Sox," he continues, "this would be a perfect year to have a ceremony where Bobby V takes off his jersey and the number is retired." I heartily agree. If Tony had not been beaned by Jack Hamilton on that fateful August night in 1967, he might today be at least a candidate for the Major League Hall of Fame. Let's forget the number of seasons required to retire a man's number. In the mid 60's, Tony was one of the few reasons I, or most Sox fans for that matter, listened to Curt Gowdy and Ned Martin every night, despite the fact that the team was normally around eighth place. Tony was exciting, cocky, and controversial, in the days when GM Mike Higgins was probably doi...