BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO, BMU, GBRL, and Youth Leagues
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
22 December 2305
Moe Discovers Joe
“You know we have a building with nothing but books and holotapes,” Diamond City Swatters owner Moe Cronin started in our sitdown this week. “It’s called a li-berry. L-I-E-berry. You should check it out for your stories.”
Cronin, but Moe as we’ll call him in this story, is not a man that you paraphrase. You quote him. As owner of the two-time champion Swatters and founder of Swatters, Inc., the official bat supplier of the CBO, Moe knows baseball. You know what else he knows? Joe. As in Joe Cronin.
“Our names almost rhyme,” Cronin said. “I think he might be my grandpaps. Like I was named after him or something. What a coincidence.”
Joe Cronin was a legend in Boston before the Great War. In fact, he was born exactly 400 years ago this year in San Francisco, a pre-War city on America’s West Coast. He later got into baseball and ended up as Boston’s star player and manager from 1935-1945. He became strictly the manager in 1946 and 1947. In 1947, he became the general manager of the Red Sox and stayed in that role until he was named the president of the American League, the league Boston played in, 1959. He stayed in that role until 1973, never having experienced a Boston championship during his career in baseball.
Because of his discovery, Moe has finally learned what the numbers on the Great Green Jewel meant.
“Apparently, they used to retire the numbers of the best players,” Moe said. “Can you believe that? My grandpaps wore number 4. That’s his number right there.” He pointed at the bright 4 that had been repainted by Abbot, the stadium’s painter.
Learning about the reason behind the numbers on the wall, Moe has decided to honor all the retired numbers in baseball history, with a ceremony especially for #4. He has also released the full list of all retired numbers—20 in all, including one new one that he will retire.
“Did you know the Red Sox were in the World Series the day the bombs fell in 2077?” Moe asked as though we had never discovered that fact in the 10-year history of the CBO. “They were going to win it, too, with a fellow named Matt Murtagh. I think he has a great grandchild playing in the CBO, too. A fellow named Maxx. Think that’s a coincidence?” Matt Murtagh wore #11, which will be added to the other 19 numbers.
In all, the following numbers are considered “retired” for the Swatters team: 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 24, 26, 27, 30, 33, 34, 42, 45, and 49.
“It’s an honor to honor Boston history,” Moe said.
Because of the retired numbers, seven current Swatters players were required to change their uniform numbers:
SS Teddy Sturgeon – 4 to 44
RP Dummy Potluck – 5 to 55
3B Allen Bishop – 6 to 7
SS Mrap Phillips – 8 to 38
CF Witcher Craft – 14 to 31
2B Chris Milteer – 21 to 10
C Dirt Potter – 34 to 12
Long-time CL Josh Samm, who has worn #24, was not required to retire his number with the promise by Moe Cronin that his name would also be honored along with the other player whose #24 was retired, Dwight Evans. However, Samm stated that it was not fair to his teammates that he would be an exception, so he agreed to change to #54 with the understanding his name would still be attached to #24 in Diamond City history.
“I want to retire a lot more numbers before I die,” Moe said. “That means we won a lot of championships.”