Sometimes, shame works.

Less than a month ago, Dave Stewart was asked on Twitter by a fan when the Oakland Athletics planned to follow through on his retirement.  His response shocked A’s fans and Baseball alike:

I have no idea what the A’s are doing. At this point they can just retire the number with no celebration as far as I’m concerned. Come to the park and it will be on display with the other retired numbers. If you find out something before I do, please let me know?”

Oakland had announced in 2019 that the team would retire Stewart’s number in 2020, but COVID-19 but a squash to that.  No announcement took place over 2020 and 2021, and it appeared that the Athletics marketing team forgot all about Stewart.

Obviously, they mended fences, and on September 11, during Oakland’s game against the White Sox, Stewart’s #34 (which he shared with Rollie Fingers and was already retired) will be officially honored by the team.  Stewart becomes the sixth man to have his number retired, joining Fingers, Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson.

We are looking forward to seeing this ceremony, and we are happy to see Dave Stewart obtain this accolade.

The Oakland Athletics have had their share of problems over the last few decades, as they are a small market team in an awful stadium, that are constantly the subject of relocation speculation.  Add another one, as the team has upset a former superstar due to their mishandling of his impending jersey retirement. 

In 2019, Oakland announced that they would retire the number 34 of Dave Stewart in 2000, but COVID postponed those plans.  The team never announced any rescheduling, leading to a fan asking Stewart on Twitter when this would be happening.  The former Pitcher responded:

“I have no idea what the A’s are doing. At this point they can just retire the number with no celebration as far as I’m concerned. Come to the park and it will be on display with the other retired numbers. If you find out something before I do, please let me know?”

You would think that the team would have been in contact with Stewart, as this is an embarrassment for the A’s, and a slap in the face their former star.

Hopefully, this will be rectified soon, and we can watch the man with one of the most intimidating glare on the mound do it one more time in the city he became a star.

When the front office quietly signed Dave Stewart in May 1986, the transaction did not attract significant notice within the local community. He was regarded as an underperforming journeyman, having been discarded by a struggling Philadelphia Phillies organization that had explicitly released him. Nevertheless, nobody in the East Bay would overlook his potential for long. By reviving a forgotten forkball at the behest of pitching coach Dave Duncan, Stewart achieved an immediate 9-5 record during the latter part of the season, setting the stage for one of the most relentless and industrious periods in modern American League history.

What followed was a relentless four-year period of terror. From 1987 to 1990, Stewart became the team's core, achieving four straight 20-win seasons and leading the league in innings pitched twice. With a fiery fastball and a tumbling forkball, he led the rotation as the team's primary ace, effectively shutting down opposing offenses while Oakland's potent offense provided the support.

His intimidating, hyper-focused "Death Stare" from the rubber became renowned across the nation and contributed significantly to the Athletics securing three consecutive AL pennants. When the regular-season schedule concluded, Stewart elevated his performance to a legendary, high-stakes level. He demonstrated exceptional skill as the definitive clutch performer during the historic 1989 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, dominating the cross-bay rivals to earn the World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and secure the world championship. Throughout that remarkable peak from 1987 to 1990, he consistently received substantial national recognition, achieving four consecutive top-four finishes in the American League Cy Young Award voting.

His iconic Northern California run ended when he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, winning a second ALCS MVP and third championship ring, then returned to the East Bay for a final season in 1995 to finish his career.

Assessing Stewart’s position within the franchise history prompts a compelling discussion between conventional standards and contemporary evaluations. For advocates of sabermetrics, his ranking continues to be a matter of debate; advanced statistical models indicate a career-high bWAR finish of only sixth and a single top-ten ranking in seasonal WHIP, excluding him entirely from the top fifty in franchise bWAR. However, using only regular-season spreadsheets doesn't fully capture his true worth. His enormous volume of plays, key victories over top rivals, and unmatched playoff success firmly establish him as one of the franchise's greatest legends.

As an Athletic, Stewart went 119-78 with 1,152 strikeouts and was named to the first class of the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018.  The team would retire his number 34 in 2022.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive. As such, it is news to us that the Oakland Athletics have announced that Dave Stewart will have his #34 retired by the team.

This announcement concluded the 30^thanniversary celebration of their 1989 World Series Championship.

Stewart was signed early in the 1986 season after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies and prior to that he had unremarkable statistics over five seasons with the Lod Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers.  Very few fans of the A’s had reason to think that Stewart would do much with Oakland, and frankly most of them likely never noticed he was signed at all, but it was in Oakland where he would live up to everything that the Dodgers originally envisioned when they converted him to a pitcher almost a decade before.

He would finish the season going 9-5, but in 1987 as a fixture in the A’s rotation, he would go on one of the best four-year runs for a Pitcher in franchise history. 

Stewart finished 1987 by leading the AL in Wins (20) and finishing third in Cy Young voting.  He was without a doubt the ace of the Oakland staff and in 1988 he would win 21 Games while leading the league in Innings Pitched (275.2).  More importantly, Stewart took Oakland to the World Series, though they would lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  1989 would again see Stewart win 21 Games and he was the runner-up for the Cy Young.  The A’s returned to the World Series (this time winning) where he won two Games in both the ALCS and the World Series winning the MVP in both.  In 1990, he would win a career high 22 Games, with a third place Cy Young finish.  The A’s returned to the World Series and though they lost to Cincinnati, Stewart was the ALCS MVP on the road to get there.

He would remain with Oakland until he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1992 Season.  As an Athletic, he would post a record of 119-78 and 1,152 Strikeouts.

Stewart becomes the sixth former Athletic to have his number retired as he joins Denis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Dave Stewart for earning this prestigious honor.