Should the Cleveland Indians retire Albert Belle's number? Why?

Answer 1

Absolutly. Albert Belle was the key player that rejevenatled Cleveland and brought them out of 40 years of dispair. He may have been a jerk, but in Cleveland, we love a winner and that's what he did. For at least 3 of those 6 years, he was the best hitter in baseball. For one of those years, he was one of the best hitters of all time. Albert Belle's 95 season where he was robbed of the MVP award because sports writers hated him so much is still legendary material. 50 homeruns and 50 doubles in a strike shortened 144 game season.

Cleveland fans forget now how great he was. I remember the city stopping everytime he came up to bad. We expected him to hit a game winning homerun everytime up, and he did time after time. I believe 7 times alone that year. Including probably the second biggest homerun in Indians history when he tied game one of the division series up in extra innings with a solo blast (only to be exceeded by Tony Penas soloshot in the 13th on a 3-0 count)

Belle is absolutly deserving to have his number retired. I doubt we will see a great hitter ever pass through Cleveland again. Those were our glory years, and boy were they fun.

Answer 2

Albert Belle performed with the Baltimore Orioles from 1999-2000 after fililng for loose employer. After 2 seasons Belle retired because of the fact of degenerative osteoarthritist (arhtritst of thehips) . in spite of the undeniable fact that he remained on the O's 40 guy roster for the subsequent 3 years (for coverage purposes) FYI degenerative osteoarthrist is the comparable reason Bo Jackson retired

Answer 3

No. Any number that is worn after a player leaves the team should not be retired. The worst example is the Yankees finally
retiring Roger Maris #9 even though Graig Nettles wore the number for quite a few years. The Indians should have retired
#20 for Frank Robinson.

Answer 4

Being a Cleveland Indians fan I feel they should absolutely not retire Albert's number. Aside from his corked bat and multiple off the field incidents, he just didn't put up the numbers required to have your number retired. He was one of the top RBI men in the league in his prime, but he is not in the class of a Bob Feller, heck he's not even Manny Ramirez.

Answer 5

Yes. The reason is because he was a great player. He put yp the numbers and lead the Charge for a world series. A player's personal life should not come into effect on such matters. Hence why he should be in the hall along with Pete Rose.

Answer 6

No, for two reasons. No. 1, he only played in 6 full seasons for the tribe and never won a title. No. 2, he was such a head case that I think the Indians would come under fire for honoring a guy who acted like he did. Didn't he cork his bat too? No longevity, no titles, no class!

Answer 7

Yes,

He was a great player and never was juiced up or on the "Roids"; He deserves it for his on the field skill. Who cares if he was not nice. Look at Ty Cobb, he's in the hall of fame and did much worse then Belle ever did. look at these stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/belleal01.shtml

He was arguably the greatest Indian player ever and most fans still love him.

Answer 8

No. Not only was the guy an asshole, but he was really nothing special on the field. Sure he was a good player, but not good enough to retire his uniform.

Answer 9

No. He was a good hitter for the Indians but not a GREAT hitter. Plus with his attitude issues, it would just send out the wrong message.

Answer 10

No because he's not Sandy Koufax or Mickey Mantle