How's this for perfect timing: on the night the Sox clinch a playoff berth (simultaneously eliminating the Yankees from playoff contention), the organization announces that it'll be retiring Johnny Pesky's No. 6. It doesn't get much better than that, sports fans.

Pesky's illustrious legacy and his involvement with this organization has been covered extensively by the area's various media today, but suffice it to say that this was a long time coming in my opinion. Regardless of whether you feel Pesky's worthy of the recognition he'll receive come Friday from a standpoint of his overall career statistics, there's no doubt that his impact and influence on this team and this area has been immense. I, for one, couldn't be happier with the Sox' decision to amend their stipulations for jersey number retirement. The man's inextricably linked to Red Sox history; that alone makes him worthy of admission into the exclusive group of Sox players to have their numbers retired.

It'll be interesting to see who's next on the list to have their number retired; likely candidates include Rice, Dewey, Tiant, Boggs, Tony C, and unfortunately, I'm sure Clemens will get some hype, too. Nos. 14 (Rice), 21 (Clemens) and 45 (Pedro) are all unofficially retired (pending election to the Hall of Fame).