Melbourne Meteors Retired Numbers

[Bob_Meteors]

The Melbourne Meteors are proud to retire the numbers 49 and 64 to honor outfielder Stéphane Salomon and infielder Tamirat Sifiye.

The first overall pick in the 2101 IBL draft, Stéphane Salomon is rare among Meteors for being a very good player who was never traded. He is one of a small group of players to play for all three iterations of the franchise - the Tokyo Samurai, Brisbane Bandits, and Melbourne Meteors. He hit .243, slugged .478, hit 258 home runs, and accumulated over 50 WAR in 11 seasons. He also earned four Silver Slugger awards (three at center field, one at right field) and one Gold Glove at center field. He sits 19th in WBA history for career isolated power, and owns the Melbourne franchise record for WAR, runs, home runs, RBIs, and games played.

The 11th overall pick in the 2103 IBL draft, Tamirat Sifiye spent only part of his career with the Melbourne franchise. In his ten total seasons there, he hit .315 and accumulated 41.63 WAR. He was eventually traded to the Buenos Aires Dolphins, for whom he gathered another 25.26 WAR, in a trade that the Meteors GM now acknowledges as his "biggest mistake". However, Sifiye remained on good terms with the Meteors, and at the close of his career, was traded back to Melbourne, where he played the final six games of his career. Sifiye is 13th in WBA history for career on-base percentage (exactly .400), eighth all-time in hits (2,491), seventh in runs (1,448) and third in stolen bases (611), and is the Melbourne franchise leader in career batting average (.314). He also finishes with 79.33 total WAR, ninth all time, and since a majority of his WAR was for Melbourne, he will wear a Meteors jersey and cap into the Hall of Fame if and when he is inducted.