Absolutely ridiculous to retire a number. There is a limited amount of them digits. Remove them from circulation for 10-15 years and move the hell on.
When Dale Earnhardt passed away, I was fine with them retiring the number (the rumors of it anyway) until many years later when Jr drove it in the minor series. I wanted the number to come back because people would talk about ole #3 again. If the number is out of sight, it slips into out of mind a little bit. I'm not saying the players are forgotten, not at all, but they are MORE remembered if we see their numbers.
Stop freaking retiring numbers!