Yankees to retire Joe Torre's No. 6, soon they'll be out of single-digit numbers

Joe Torre will join Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and a handful of other greats on the list of New York Yankees who have had their numbers retired. The club announced Thursday that Torre, who won four World Series as their manager from 1996 to 2007, will be honored at an Aug. 23 ceremony that will make his No. 6 the 17th number retired by the Yankees.

General manager Brian Cashman said in December, shortly after Torre was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, that the Yankees would retire his number. The team just hadn't announced details until now. Since his Hall of Fame induction comes in July, it looks to be a special summer for Torre.

This means Torre will be the third Yankee manager to have his number retired, after Casey Stengel and Billy Martin. It also means that the era of the single-digit Yankees will soon be coming to a close.

At the moment, Torre's No. 6 and Derek Jeter's No. 2 are the only single-digit numbers unretired. Jeter's No. 2 getting retired is a sure thing — unless maybe he quits the team midway through his farewell season, curses the whole Steinbrenner family and joins the Indians. Odds are pretty good that's not happening.

Here are the single-digit retired Yankees, a who's who of baseball history:

1 — Billy Martin
3 — Babe Ruth
4 — Lou Gehrig
5 — Joe DiMaggio
7 — Mickey Mantle
8 — Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey
9 — Roger Maris
* Dickey wore No. 8 first, then passed it down to Berra, his protege. The Yankees retired it in 1972 to honor them both.

The other retired Yankee numbers are as follows:

10 — Phil Rizzuto
15 — Thurman Munson
16 — Whitey Ford
23 — Don Mattingly
32 — Elston Howard
37 — Casey Stengel
42 — Mariano Rivera
44 — Reggie Jackson
49 — Ron Guidry

Bernie Williams' No. 51, Jorge Posada's No. 20 and Paul O'Neill's No. 21 aren't retired, but the Yankees haven't let anyone wear them since those players retired, except when LaTroy Hawkins briefly wore No. 21 and then switched because fans were angry. That could mean those three numbers will be retired one day.

The Yankees also announced Thursday that they're planning to honor O'Neill, Goose Gossage and Tino Martinez with plaques in their Monument Park. They'll all be honored this season. Bernie Williams will get a plaque too, but in 2015.

More from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Mike Oz

is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz