Baseball jersey question (numbers and pitchers)

Factual Questions
1

I guess this is a multiple part question:

  1. Are there any current pitchers in MLB that wear a single digit number (1 through 9)? If so, who is it?

  2. If no current MLB pitcher wears a single-digit number, when was the last time a player wore a single digit number? Who was it and when? (It couldn’t be Babe Ruth and number 3, can it?)

  3. What is the lowest number a current pitcher wears? (I remember a Blue Jays pitcher wearing 10, but that’s just a guess and a vague memory).

  4. Finally, why is a single digit number for a pitcher so rare? Is there a baseball superstition that is buried out there?

Thanks for any answers in advance.

CM

2

I know there is a guy on the Phillies, Rick White, who apparently wears 00. I don’t really want 00 or 0 to be part of this discussion.

The lowest number I found is 13, worn by Billy Wagner of the Mets and one other player.

That’s all I could find.

3

Scott Sauerbeck of Oakland wears #11

4

having nothing better to do, i glanced through the 40-man rosters of every mlb team. the aforementioned Scott Sauerbeck’s #11 appears be the lowest currently.

5

… by which I meant to say that Scott Sauerbeck’s #11 is the lowest uniform number of any current major league pitcher. Josh Towers of Toronto wears number 7, but he has been in the minor leagues since late June.

I wrote an article in 2001 observing the fact that two pitchers that season were wearing sigle digit numbers - Wayne Gomes of the Giants and Rob Bell of the Rangers. A SABR researcher helped me discern that from 1960-2000, only nine pitchers worse single digits uniform numbers.

6

David Wells wore #3 for the Red Sox last year for a couple of months before trading with Edgar Renteria for #16.

The general consensus around baseball (and especially equipment managers) is that single-digit numbers are for everyday players, and a lot of pitchers are superstitious enough to think that wearing a single digit is bad luck.

7

I forgot to add that some teams are running short of single-digit numbers because of retirements. For example, the Yankees have retired 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9, and it’s a pretty safe bet that 2 (Derek Jeter) and 6 (Joe Torre) will be retired eventually.

The Cardinals have retired 1, 2, 6 and 9, and 5 will probably be getting retired in 10 or 15 years.

8

The Yankees and Indians were the first teams to start wearing numbers regularly, in 1929, and hence long after Ruth ceased to pitch regularly. However, he did pitch single games in 1930 and 1933, and probably would have worn his normal 3 then.

9

Matt Young was a MLB pitcher who wore #1 but for only part of a season (1990 i think) while he was still a Seattle Mariner. I own about 20 books on the topic of Baseball history and I swear that one of them (forget which one) stated Matt Young is the only pitcher in the modern era to wear #1 on his jersey. A quick internet search has not yet revealed this tidbit of information, but I swear I’ve read this.

Matt Young is also among only a few pitchers to strike out four batters in a single inning. Joe Nuxhall is only other pitcher I can recall right now who has also done this.

10

Here’s a list. It’s been done by over 40 pitchers, the most recent listed being Brad Lidge and Mike Stanton in 2004.

11

1990 Seattle Mariners roster. Matt Young also wore #30 in 1990; I do not know when or why he switched jersey number that season. AFAI (still) K, he’s the only MLB modern era pitcher to wear #1.

Thank you,** Colibri**. I knew there a were few others, though 40 is more that I would have initially guessed.

12

Pitchers wear high numbers for one simple reason: there’s so darn many of them.

When Spring Training comes around, a major league club brings in the existing team members and also invites a bunch of minor leaguers to try out for the team. When they hand out spring training jerseys, the guys already on the team wear their normal numbers. Then they assign jersey numbers to the various invitees, among which are a whole lot of pitchers.

They don’t hand out certain numbers to the guys who are trying out. Some examples:

• numbers already assigned to players on the 40-man roster
• certain other unassigned numbers that they hold back for one reason or another, like #24 in Seattle. That was Ken Griffey Jr’s number. He’s no longer in Seattle, and the number isn’t retired, but it just wouldn’t be right to give his number to somebody else. Likewise Jay Buhner’s #19, or Edgar Martinez’ #11. I think the Mariners also hold back Alvin Davis’ number, but I can’t recall what it was. Ichiro wears #51, Randy Johnson’s old number, but he and the team first asked Johnson if he minded. If Ichiro hadn’t already been a superstar in Japan before coming to Seattle, he probably would have been asked to pick a different number.

I would imagine that preference is given to the player with more seniority if two players want the same number. A player with previous major league experience will probably want to wear the same number he wore with his previous team. If it isn’t available, he will often pick another number that is somehow related to his previous number. For example, Alex Rodriguez wore #3 in Seattle, but obviously couldn’t wear that number in New York, so he picked #13. Heck, Randy Johnson couldn’t have #51 when he went to the Yankees, despite his status, because Bernie Williams had it. So he picked #41.

So when you’ve got a bunch of minor league pitchers in spring training, there are a lot of people ahead of them for first pick of jersey numbers. They may want to wear whatever number they wore in high school or college, which was probably a low number, but it isn’t available and so they take what they’re offered: a high number. If they happen to make the big league club, they’ll likely wear whatever number they wore in spring training. And then carry that number throughout their career.

I think there’s also a bit of ranking involved for the rookies: the lower your number, the better chance you have of making the team. By that, I mean that the team assigns lower numbers to the players they think have the best chance of making the cut. Every once in a while, an unlikely prospect has an outstanding spring training and makes the big club. Baseball superstition makes him think “57 is a lucky number!” and so he wears the same number on his big league uniform.

13

Thanks all, for the great replies.

I had no idea about Matt Young, wearing #1 with the Mariners. That’s pretty cool.

**anson2995 ** points out that between 1960 - 2000 only 9 pitchers wore single digit uniform numbers. That’s pretty amazing.

And I thought I remembered Wells wearing 3 with the Red Sox, but I wasn’t able to confirm it. Why would he switch? He was such a big fan of Ruth, it made perfect sense. I wish he would have kept it.

Perhaps if there is an answer, it may be **brianjedi’s ** idea that

Perhaps superstitious equipment managers control access. It could be as simple as that. So unless someone makes a big stink about it, odds are pitchers will be saddled with a double digit number. I know that there are numbers that are not officially retired from a team but are never handed out.

But it doesn’t appear that there is any rule against it (unlike the NFL’s numbering system), so perhaps one day we’ll see a few single digits on the mound.

I don’t know why I wonder about these things, but I’m glad there are people that can help me answer them.

Thanks!

14

The Yankees didn’t start using uniform numbers until after Ruth stopped pitching regularly.

15

When the Yankees started putting numbers on the backs of their uniforms, they assigned the numbers based on batting order position; that’s how Ruth and Gehrig got 3 and 4, respectively. Pitchers would certainly then have been no lower than 9; probably the backup position players got the numbers immediately above 8, and the pitchers, the numbers after that.

I don’t know exactly when players gained the freedom to choose their own uniform numbers, but I’d wager the high numbers on pitchers probably derive from that long-ago origin.

16

Yes, but Ruth contined to pitch for them from time to time, even after the Yankees used number: looks like he appeared in two games for them after they were adopted.

BTW, Ruth won every game he pitched as a Yankee.

17

It was mentioned that David Wells wore a single digit number before selling it to Edgar Renteria in 2005. It was #3, a number Wells picked up because his hero was none other than The Babe. He couldn’t wear it in NY obviously two years earlier, and when he went to San Diego it was already taken by Khalil Greene, so instead he wore #13 (once again some similar number).

And the team he wore #3 for in honor of Babe Ruth was none other than the Boston Red Sox… don’t worry, the curse was broken the year before anyways.