"I know it's for sociological reasons, but why should that penalize my grandfather? I don't understand that reasoning," she says. "Sociologically? Helping other people? Frankly, if Babe Ruth didn't save baseball, there wouldn't be a game for Jackie or anyone else to even play. Remember, after the [1919 Black Sox] scandal, everyone was disillusioned with baseball, and here comes my grandfather with his mighty bat, and he brought thousands of people back to the ballpark."
But wouldn't retiring the Babe's number dilute the honor bestowed on Robinson?
"Why would it water [it] down? I would think Babe Ruth would enhance it," she says. "If it was my grandfather's number who was retired first, I would welcome Jackie Robinson. I would think of it as enhancement. I don't understand that thinking at all."
So do we then retire No. 7 (Mickey Mantle) and No. 24 (Willie Mays) and No. 44 (Hank Aaron) and ...
"Why didn't they think of that when they did Jackie? There's no criteria written down," Tosetti says. "I think what Jackie did was very, very important. I think what my grandfather did was just as important. I can't argue anyone else who's coming along, but worrying about other players didn't stop them from doing Jackie.
"Making it stop before Babe is highly unfair and not right. If you put the two men together, one of them isn't as important as the other. There wouldn't be a game to be played if there was no Babe."
You can see just how thorny the issue is. For its part, MLB has no plans to retire any other numbers, nor has it ruled out the possibility. "It's under advisement," a spokesman told me.
Ruth isn't the only former player with a campaign built around him. For nearly three years, a Roberto Clemente faction has presented its own compelling case, bending baseball's ear, collecting signatures and rallying support to retire No. 21. They have already shared more than 22,000 signatures with MLB - to no avail thus far.
"I'm going to keep going," Tosetti says, "as long as it takes."
If Tosetti gets her way, Freddie Bynum will have to find a new number. So will Gary Sheffield, Ken Griffey Jr. and Evan Longoria. Not to mention every member of the Babe Ruth Museum's slow-pitch softball team. Michael Gibbons, the museum's director, wholeheartedly supports Tosetti's efforts but points out that every player on the museum's team wears the same number - No. 3.
"If they wipe No. 3 off," he says, "I guess we'd all have to go numberless."
rick.maese@baltsun.com
