A Numbers Game

Well, I have finally found something that irked me enough to make me post. It is something so trivial, so banal, so... stupid that I could not pass up the chance to rant. Uniform numbers are one of the more important superstitions in sports. While some people could seemingly care less about them, others are amazingly attached to a particular number for one reason or another. This brings me to two number related issues that have popped up this week. First, we have the great Yankee controversy over the number 21.

Paul O'Neill, a much beloved Yankee from the days of the last dynasty, will always be remembered for his intensity and his true warrior spirit. When Morgan Ensberg arrived in Tampa as a non-roster invitee in February, he was assigned the number 21. This had marked the first time since Paul O’Neill had retired following the 2001 season that the Yankees even allowed the number to be worn. When Ensberg made the team at the end of spring training, he decided to give up the number that had been assigned to him rather than continue to be booed by Yankee fans. He said he would not wear Paul O'Neill's number, and many fans appreciated that simple gesture. Just as it seemed like a great controversy have been averted, LaTroy Hawkins, a newly signed free agent (one year deal I might add), snapped up the number in order to honor the late, great Roberto Clemente. This led to some predictable booing and chants of "Paul O'Neill" at the stadium during the team’s first homestand.

According to Peter Abraham, LaTroy has bowed to pressure and changed his number to 22 (the Roger Clemens lobby is significantly less...existent). Abraham chides Yankee fans for behaving without class. While I do agree with the general theory that booing your own player is counterproductive unless he is dogging it, I think Peter is wrong on this one. LaTroy showed a frightening lack of foresight in taking a number that had just become available because a teammate opted to show respect for its previous wearer. Maybe Paul O'Neill was not good enough to justify retiring his number, but it is obvious that a lot of fans disagree. A new player, especially a mediocre relief pitcher, should probably avoid such obvious pitfalls if he wants to be loved by the fans. LaTroy makes a lot of money being a marginally useful player; I cannot really summon up outrage at the fact that he had to be exposed to the horror of verbal taunts for doing something so obviously shortsighted.

While we are on the subject of uniform number lunacy, this Jackie Robinson thing is giving me a bit of a headache. Junior Griffey started this whole thing as a personal tribute to Robinson, and asked his widow last year for permission to wear 42 for one day. I can respect that, especially the part where he asked permission. At this point though, anarchy has taken over. There is no rhyme or reason to who wore 42 the other day. The entire "Just Rays" team wore the number, including random white guys (yes, I'm being racist, sue me. EDITOR'S NOTE: Please don't sue us!). Meanwhile, four Yankees wore 42, including Robinson Cano, who was named after the Dodger great (and wears 24 as a tribute to him). Also sporting the number was of course, Mariano Rivera, who incidentally will be the only player in baseball wearing 42 today. If Major League Baseball mandates that everyone wears the number for one day, fine. But this manner of “tribute” is just plain silly, and vaguely annoying to boot. Incidentally, Fellow Official Scorer David finds it hypocritical that you can honor a player both by making sure no one ever wears his number again and by having everyone wear his number for a day.

Some interesting number-related phenomena for you to consider:

• The Yankees were the first Major League team to sport uniform numbers when they did so in 1929. Originally the numbers corresponded to the batting order (Ruth - 3, Gherig - 4)
• Ricky Henderson, upon being traded to the Blue Jays in 1993, paid teammate Turner Ward $25,000 to give up the number 24 that Henderson had always worn.
• When Roger Clemens was traded to the Yankees following the 1998 season, he couldn’t get his traditional 21 because it was being worn by none other than Paul O’Neill. He originally opted for the reverse number 12, but eventually decided to just move up one and go with 22.
• When the 2007 season began and the Yankees were in the running for Clemens’ services once again, Cano changed his number from 22 to 24 to make way for Clemens return.
• When Ensberg decided to give up the number 21 he wanted to wear 14 instead. He reportedly offered fellow benchwarmer Wilson Betemit $5000 for the number to no avail.
• Assuming that the Yankees are not issuing the number 6 (which will likely be retired one day) the lowest number that could be worn by a player signed by the Yankees today would be 21.
• Turk Wendell was so superstitious about his number, 99, that when he was given a three year, ten million dollar contract by the Mets following the 2000 season, he reportedly asked to be paid one cent less so that his contract would be worth $9,999,999.99.
• Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns and known for his shenanigans, once secretly signed dwarf Eddie Gaedel (who was 3’7” and had a strike zone measuring 1.5 inches high). Gaedel had one plate appearance in the second game of a doubleheader in 1951. He walked on four consecutive pitches and was removed for a pinch runner. His uniform number was 1/8.
• Ty Cobb, considered by many to be one of the greatest (and most racist) baseball players of all time did not have his uniform number retired by the Tigers. He retired in 1926 and never wore a number on his uniform.
• When pitcher Andy Messersmith signed with the Atlanta Braves in 1976, owner Ted Turner asked him to put the word “CHANNEL” on his uniform instead of his name. When combined with the 17 that Messersmith wore, the jersey read as a free advertisement for the channel on which Braves games aired. Major League Baseball quickly ended this shenanigan.