E-Mail This Article to a Friend The Red Sox’ impending numbers-crunching game BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

So there I was in the Shea Stadium concourse, when who should come running through (presumably to the locker room, late for the game) but Pedro Martinez, dressed in his Mets jersey and hat but also wearing pajama bottoms. I called him over and congratulated him on his fine season so far, but then he went into a minor rant about how the folks up in Boston didn’t appreciate him. I assured him that was not the case — that the fans for the most part still held him in high esteem. "Then why," he asked, "won’t [management] retire my number?"

A premature query to say the least, but given that this was, of course, a dream, why should everything make sense (particularly the PJ bottoms)?

Few of these columns are born of slumber-induced fantasy sequences, but this one raised an interesting question: how are the Red Sox in future years going to handle the jersey-numbers conflicts that will slowly but surely arise?

Let’s go back a few years. Wade Boggs, who later this month will be inducted into Cooperstown’s hallowed halls, wore #26 for 11 (mostly) proud years in Boston. Yet once he was deemed expendable and cast off to the scrap heap (where he would ultimately collect a World Series ring in the Bronx), his number was barely cold before it was handed off to the immortal Wes Chamberlain less than two years later. In fact, 11 former Soxers have now worn #26 since Boggs did, and that seems a slap in the face to a five-time batting champ. After all, slugger Jim Rice has been retired for 16 years, and no subsequent Sox player has been given his #14 — and Rice doesn’t seem headed for the Hall of Fame anytime soon.

Rice’s former teammate, Dwight Evans, received similar honored treatment — for a while — from the Sox after his 19-year career, and no one wore #24 from the time Dewey left town in 1990 to 1996, when free-agent signee Kevin Mitchell put it on. Since then, three more Red Sox have worn #24 — which seems just plain wrong — though it’s not surprising that the current wearer, Manny Ramirez, requested and got it (given that then-GM Dan Duquette gave Manny whatever he wanted short of the executive-bathroom key during his contract negotiations in 2000).

Why did Rice get the special treatment, and not Dewey? Or Boggs, for that matter?

Don’t forget that no one has worn the classic #21 since Roger Clemens left town nine seasons ago. Seems as if the Sox organization is keeping it closeted until it can retire it when the Rocket inevitably enters Cooperstown himself. The Sox organization only recently dispensed with its rule that to have his number retired, a player must finish his career in Boston. Now the only stipulations are that the player must be a Cooperstown inductee, and have played 10 years in Boston.

So what is sacred, anyway? Certainly not Fred Lynn’s #19, which has been worn 14 times (most recently by John Olerud and Gabe Kapler) since he skipped town for free agency in 1980. Nor is Tony Conigliaro’s #25, despite the clamoring from some fan factions for that number to be retired. Thirteen Sox players have worn #25 since Tony C was cut down in the prime of his career by an errant fastball, with Ellis Burks being the latest donner of that hallowed number.

(And don't forget that the organization let nine players wear #27 after Carlton Fisk left town in 1980, but it wasn't actually retired until 2002, a few weeks after Pudge's enshrinement in Cooperstown.)

But how long will the Red Sox wait to give out two other cherished numbers from recent history? Pedro’s #45 will likely be held out of commission for as long as Clemens’s is, even though both of them left under a bit of a cloud of controversy. But will it ultimately be retired by the team? Not under the current standards (Petey only pitched seven years here), but in this day and age of unmitigated free-agent team-hopping, how much longer can the organization go without further revising the rules? After all, Martinez won 117 games and three Cy Youngs here and led the team to a world title ... does that count for zilch, or can the rules be bent in this case?

And what about #5? Tough one, that. Nomar Garciaparra played for eight-and-a-half semi-turbulent years here, but he still made his mark and deserves to have his jersey number kept out of rotation for a good amount of time. But what is a realistic time frame, and will the number eventually be available?

The organization will have some tough decisions to mull over in the coming years. It will have to decide on the fates of the aforementioned jersey numbers, as well as, down the road, those memorable ones now being worn — like #18 (Johnny Damon), #24 (Ramirez), #33 (Jason Varitek), and Curt Schilling (#38).

The Red Sox and their five honored numbers — 1, 4, 8, 9, and 27 — still have a long way to catch up with the Pinstripers (who have retired a ridiculous 17), but Jim Ed, Rocket, Chicken Man, Nomah, and the PJ’d one, Pedro, will all be watching closely in the coming years when it’s time to dole out the new uni’s to the young’uns coming up.

Watch your back.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com