Grip on Sports: There will come a day when a Yankee player will be wearing No. 139

A GRIP ON SPORTS • My doctor told me I needed to keep my blood pressure down. His recommendation: quit writing about the Mariners. But it’s baseball season, doc. I have to. Either that or focus on, I don’t know, the Yankees or something. Read on.

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• Yesterday, the New York Yankees held a ceremony only they can hold.

The most successful franchise in American sports retired Derek Jeter’s number – and gave him a plaque in Yankee Stadium.

How’s that song about New York go, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere?

Jeter has made it there. And now he can make it to Cooperstown in a few years.

But something happened yesterday that may have gone relatively unnoticed. When Jeter’s No. 2 was officially retired, it meant no future Yankee would ever get to wear a single-digit uniform number again.

Really.

From 1 through 9, the Yankees have retired every number.

Now I make fun of the Mariners from time-to-time about their infatuation with the past. And rightfully so. In their 40 years, they’ve won exactly zero titles. Yes, they won 116 games one season. But the Yankees made it to the World Series that season – even if they didn’t win one of their 27 titles in 2001.

So New York has a right to celebrate the past.

And yet there are few numbers the Yankees have retired that seem a little bit of overkill.

Which ones? OK, 1, 6 and 9.

We’ll give Jeter his No. 2. He was The Captain (capitalization required), after all. And he did have 3,465 hits, most in Yankees’ history. (He also had more than 3,000 at-bats more than any other Yankee and struck out 130 times more than any other New York player.)

The Nos. 3 (Babe Ruth), 4 (Lou Gehrig) and 5 (Joe DiMaggio) are givens as well. So are 7 (Mickey Mantle), 8 (Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey). All of those guys are in the Hall of Fame as players.

It’s 1, 6 and 9 I have trouble with.

No. 1 is Billy Martin’s number.

We know Martin’s number is not retired as a player. The fiery second baseman hit .262 in seven years with the Yankees and was unceremoniously dumped in the 1957, sent to the Siberia of the American League, Kansas City.

He did return, however. He was named Yankees’ manager in 1975, leading them to a World Series title in 1977, the only one he earned as the skipper.

Then George Steinbrenner fired him in 1978. Brought him back in 1979. Fired him again. Brought him back in 1983. Fired him. Brought him back in 1985. Fired him. Brought him back in 1988. Fired him.

So why is his uniform number retired. Guilt. Has to be. Steinbrenner treated Martin so badly, he had to do something to gain favor with the New York masses. So he retired his number. Idiotic.

Guilt is also the reason the No. 9 is retired as well. Has to be. No. 9 was worn by Roger Maris.

Maris was a competent professional. He hit 275 home runs in his career, 203 of them as a Yankee. He was twice the American League MVP, in 1960 and 1961.

It was that latter season where the guilt comes in. That was the year Maris hit 61 home runs, eclipsing the Ruth sacrosanct record of 60 from 1927. Not only did he break a record Yankee fans didn’t really want to have broken – and he heard about it daily – he did it instead of Mantle, who finished with 54 that year. And Maris heard about that as well.

Maris was good. Really good. But did two decent years – his OPS never exceeded 1.000 in either ’60 or ’61, a mark Ruth passed 14 times, Gehrig 13 and Mantle eight – warrant having his uniform number retired? Only if it was stained by guilt.

The other number that is retired is Joe Torre’s 6. I understand the love Torre earned with the Yankees, winning four World Series titles. But the Yankees have won 27 of them. Casey Stengel won seven titles with the Yankees. So did Joe McCarthy. Stengel’s No. 37 is retired. McCarthy’s number is not. But it would be, if he had worn one.

After all, that’s what the Yankees do.

Not only are 1-through-9 retired, including No. 8 twice, New York has retired 22 numbers. Twenty-two.

There is one thing I wonder, though. What if Bryce Harper, who wears 34 as a homage to Mantle, tells the Yankees a couple years down the road he will sign with them for $10 million a year as long as he gets to wear No. 1? Or No. 6? Or 9? Will the Yankees bite? Or will 34 become the 23rd retired number in 2030?

• Saw something yesterday from baseball statistician Bill James.

According to James on Twitter, the American League began in 1901. After yesterday, more games had been played in its history with the designated hitter than without.

Amazing.

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WSU: So which Cougars will make the All-Pac-12 football team this fall? Jacob Thorpe has his thoughts on that, as well as the rest of the projected first-team. … Oregon dominates the conference’s track and field titles, though the Ducks have changed how they win. … An Arizona walk-on who started all last football season was given a scholarship.

Whitworth: The Pirates’ successful softball season came to an end yesterday.

Chiefs: Seattle won its first WHL title yesterday, besting host Regina 4-3 in overtime in game six. It’s on to the Memorial Cup for the Thunderbirds.

Indians: The oldest former Spokane Indian died earlier this month. Jim Price has Hank Weaver’s obituary.

Mariners: Sorry doc, but I had to write about the Mariners last night. On Mother’s Day, no less. We looked at their injury luck. It’s not good. … The M’s lost again yesterday, though the pitching was better. But Kevin Pillar’s ninth-inning home run off Edwin Diaz gave them a 3-2 defeat. The getting-healthier Blue Jays swept the four-game series in Toronto. … Another day, another transaction. But it doesn’t look as if Jerry Dipoto is looking to other teams for help.

Seahawks: The rookie mini-camp ended Sunday and there were lots of players who made good impressions on Pete Carroll and the Hawks’ hierarchy. … Kenny Lawler has been here before and it showed.

Sounders: Portland is also struggling and drew with Atlanta at home. … San Jose was shut out in Colorado. … Los Angeles actually picked up a win.

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• Why the Yankees today? Because no one does over-the-top like they do. And it was all televised on their in-house network, ESPN. Until later …