A busy year at Monument Park once meant adding one or two plaques to its walls. And every so often, a Yankee uniform number would be retired.  But last year, that changed. The Yankees accelerated the pace of curating their past, dedicating plaques to Paul O’Neill, Goose Gossage, Tino Martinez and Joe Torre, and retiring Torre’s No. 6.  The 2015 veneration schedule is equally long. Plaques will be mounted for Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Willie Randolph. And all but Randolph will have their numbers retired.  “And we owe Mariano Rivera a plaque,” said Deborah A. Tymon, the Yankees’ senior vice president for marketing. Not to mention the ceremonies that still await Derek Jeter.  This sort of bulk honoring draws loyal fans, so why not stage a bunch of these events? On the other hand, all these special days seem a little calculated in the midst of the down cycle in which the Yankees now find themselves. It may not be the worst of times in the Bronx, but two straight failures to reach the postseason have left a lot of Yankees fans feeling a little angry and disoriented. So enter the recent, happier past as a way of changing the subject, at least for a little while.  “You can say that it’s a vivid reminder of how strong the brand is, and while it’s a down time now, it’s resilient,” David Carter, executive director of the Marshall Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California, said when asked about the heavy load of ceremonies the Yankees now hold. But, he added, the events can also prompt a cynical sentiment like “Why do you continue to hit us over the head with how great you used to be?”  Last year’s ceremonies in the Bronx showed that such days were crowd-pleasers on par with Old-Timers’ Day or playoff games. Indeed, one of the ceremonies in 2014 was conducted on Old-Timers’ Day, and the Yankees plan to use the same occasion for another this year.  In 2014, the ceremonies honoring O’Neill, Gossage, Martinez and Torre produced crowds that averaged 47,407, a 13 percent jump over the full-season average at Yankee Stadium, according to Baseball-Reference.com.  In addition, 48,110 fans attended a day of reverence for Jeter in his final season, but he will surely get another ceremony, perhaps this season or next, when he will have his number retired and a plaque presented. Jeter could even join the elite few honored in Monument Park with an actual monument, but even his elevated stature would probably not earn him anything close to the 7-foot-by-5-foot bronze homage to George Steinbrenner.  Tymon said the major reason behind the Yankees’ significant expansion of the population of Monument Park was the backlog of worthy candidates.  “Internally, we believed certain things were overlooked,” she said. Still, even Tymon alluded to a need to market the Yankees during a “transitional phase” for the team.  “We’re trying to address all our fans — to get them excited about where we are, where we’re going and to address our history,” she said.  She said she did not know if the team would continue to honor three or four players a season, but she added, “We certainly have an amazing number of Yankee greats that need to be recognized in some way.”  Nevertheless, the pool of worthy figures will eventually dwindle, and, as useful as he was to the Joe Torre Yankees, Luis Sojo does not deserve a plaque.  Actually, it is hard to imagine anyone on the Yankees’ current roster deserving of a plaque or retired number in future years. C. C. Sabathia? He would need to end his contract with a couple of very solid seasons. Alex Rodriguez? The Yankees might burn his locker the day he leaves the stadium for the last time.  But a list of true worthies would include Mel Stottlemyre, Graig Nettles, Tony Lazzeri, Bobby Richardson, Jack Chesbro (a winner of 41 games in 1904!), Tommy Henrich and Dave Winfield. And there are more.  “They did the Allie Reynolds plaque but didn’t do Vic Raschi or Eddie Lopat,” said Marty Appel, a former public relations director for the Yankees and author of “Pinstripe Empire,” a history of the team.  “And who was more of an embodiment of Yankee tradition than Hank Bauer?” Appel asked. ‘That’s all part of the debate, which is fine.”  Appel recalled that after Casey Stengel’s death in 1975, Gabe Paul, then the Yankees’ general manager, told him to order a plaque for Stengel, who led the team to seven World Series championships as its manager, and another for one of Stengel’s predecessors, Joe McCarthy, who had long been overlooked. McCarthy too, had won seven titles with the Yankees.  Meanwhile, as Monument Park fills up, the collection of retired numbers on the wall beyond left-center field at Citi Field is stuck at four: Tom Seaver; two managers, Stengel and Gil Hodges; and Jackie Robinson, whose No. 42 is retired in all of Major League Baseball’s parks. Maybe the Yankees’ newfound aggressiveness will get the Mets thinking. Or maybe not.  The Mets could, if they wanted to, pay tribute to three 1980s franchise game-changers: Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry. They could have a combined ceremony in which they retired their consecutive numbers: 16, 17 and 18.  They could also honor the No. 31 of Mike Piazza, who was the anchor of more recent Mets teams, including the one that faced the Yankees in the 2000 Subway Series. But Piazza’s day seems to be awaiting his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  And then there is the franchise’s pair of 8s: Gary Carter, who was a cornerstone of the 1986 championship club, and Yogi Berra, who managed the Mets all the way to Game 7 of the 1973 World Series.  Carter’s death three years ago should have already compelled the Mets to retire his number. But they haven’t.  Instead, the Yankees continue to make sure their history is always in view.  An earlier version of this article misstated the year Jack Chesbro won 41 games for the Yankees. It was 1904, not 1908.  A version of this article appears in print on February 20, 2015, on page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Plaques, Yes. Pennants, No.. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
The Yankees have missed the playoffs the last two years, but for the second straight they will add four plaques to Monument Park in celebration of better days.