Bill Russell’s No. 6 Joins Rare Class of Retired Jersey Numbers (Published 2022) (2024)

Bill Russell, who died last month at 88, is getting a rare honor: His No. 6 will be retired, not just for his team, the Boston Celtics, but for the entire N.B.A. Among major sports, only Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in baseball and Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99 in hockey have been retired leaguewide.

That raises some questions, which we will endeavor to answer.

What about the N.B.A. players who are currently wearing No. 6?

These players, among them LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, may continue to wear No. 6 until they retire. But no new players will be issued the number. The same rule applied when Robinson’s number was retired baseball-wide in 1997. Mariano Rivera of the Yankees was the last player still wearing No. 42 every day when he retired in 2013.

There have been other N.B.A. greats who wore No. 6, right?

Yes, quite a few, including Julius Erving. But the leaguewide retirement honors only Russell.

Will anyone join Russell, Robinson and Gretzky?

There has been a push for baseball to retire Roberto Clemente’s No. 21 leaguewide to honor his humanitarian work. In particular, many Puerto Rican players have said they would not wear the number. Commissioner Rob Manfred has said that Clemente is honored in his own way with the Roberto Clemente Award, given for sportsmanship and community service.

What teams have retired the most different numbers?

In the four most venerable men’s leagues, the Yankees (21, with more planned this year), Boston Celtics (23), Montreal Canadiens (15) and Chicago Bears (14). Many W.N.B.A. teams have retired the numbers of their best players, including the Los Angeles Sparks, who retired Lisa Leslie’s No. 9.

What are the lowest cardinal numbers that no team has retired?

In baseball, 38; football, 2; men’s basketball, 26; and men’s hockey, 25.

What things other than numbers have been retired?

A number of teams have retired a symbolic microphone for a legendary announcer, such as Vin Scully for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chick Hearn for the Los Angeles Lakers. Some baseball players who competed before the dawn of uniform numbers are honored numberless: Rogers Hornsby by the St. Louis Cardinals and Grover Cleveland Alexander by the Phillies, for example.