Childish yes, embarrassing yes, but a legitimate question I have- other than American football, do any other sports have players who wear this number?
69 - Bronson Arroyo
Wow! I was a fan of his and don’t remember that at all, but then again, I don’t remember his stint with the Pirates- thanks:)
According to Basketball Reference, only one player has ever worn the number 68 in NBA/BAA or ABA history: Milt Schoon, center for the Detroit Falcons in 1947.
No one has ever worn number 69 in the history of those two leagues.
70 has been mostly used in the early days of the league, with five players using the number between 1949 and 1960. It wasn’t used again until 2000, when Dennis Rodman wore it during the last year of his career, a 12-game stint with the Dallas Mavericks. And Luigi Datome wore it for 18 games with the Boston Celtics in 2015.
Incidentally, aside from the obvious “69” joke, I don’t find your question childish or embarrassing at all. There’s really no legitimate reason why someone shouldn’t use these numbers in the NBA, but with the exception of the Boston Celtics (due to the overwhelming number of retired jerseys they have), you don’t often find people wearing jersey numbers higher than 55 in the league.
In hockey, Jaromir Jagr has worn the number 68 throughout his career and with numerous teams.
Also Braden Holtby, a goalie, currently wears 70 for the Capitals.
ETA: There were four players in the NHL wearing the number 68 and eight players wearing 70 at the beginning of the season.
And a follow up, is the lack of this particular numbers’ widespread usage due to teams not allowing it, players not requesting it, or a bit of both?
Baseball-reference lists 82 players as having worn 68, the most prominent of which is Yankees reliever Dellin Betances. (Some better-known players have worn the number, but only briefly)
It also lists 10 69s, with the above-mentioned Bronson Arroyo being the one who wore it longest.
And finally, 39 70s, with George Kontos (who played mostly for the Giants) wearing it most.
thanks all, and maybe I made the title too cutesy to be completely understood- was mainly asking about 69, not 68 or 70, due specifically to its sexual connotation.
Bixente Lizarazu used #69 on his shirt for his final stint with Bayern Munich.
Nicky Hayden used number 69 throughout his motorcycling career. It was his father’s racing number as well. His father joked that he used it because it could still be read when he frequently ended up upside down in the dirt. The number was retired from MotoGP after Hayden’s death in a (bi)cycling accident.
Lockie Ferguson wears 69 for Auckland but wasn’t allowed to for the Black Caps.
There are a few reasons why you don’t see higher numbers, generally, in some of the U.S. sports.
In basketball, traditionally, players wore uniform numbers which used the digits 0-5. I took some training as a basketball referee when I was in high school, and my recollection was that referees used hand signals to signal to the scorekeeper which player committed a foul – and, thus, numbers which only used the digits 0-5 tended to be used.
In baseball, higher numbers were traditionally issued during spring training to players who weren’t likely to make the major-league roster. In the past, it was unusual to see any player in MLB (during the regular season) with a number above the 50s.
In hockey, the tradition had been that the starting goaltender wore #1, the reserve goaltender wore #30, and the other players wore numbers from 2-29.
In more recent decades, all of those traditions have become less followed, I suspect, but the fact that they were largely followed for many years probably helps explain the historical lack of #69s in those sports.
Edit: Source: What's in a sports number? It's a matter of rules, and whimsy
It is largely because in most sports there is simply no reason to use numbers that high. Traditionally in basketball, hockey, and baseball players have had numbers in the bottom half of the hundred - after all there aren’t that many men on a team. Even in hockey with famous high numbers like 99 (which you can’t wear anymore) and 66, most numbers are lower than 69.
Football has had many #69s. Football numbers, however, go much higher, and in the NFL are assigned based on primary position. Only linemen may wear uniform numbers in the 60s; linemen can be in the 50s and 70s too (though the 50s are almost always used by linebackers.)
For the NFL only the center can have 50-59 but they don’t have to change if they move to another non-eligible position so it’s a pretty dumb rule.
Gretzky 99, Eric Lindros 88, Sidney Crosby 87, Malkin 71 the list goes on. It seems, though I could be wrong, mostly superstars get the big numbers.
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Dennis Rodman also mentioned in his book that any uniform numbers over (I think) 59 needs league approval. Though that may have changed since the publication of that book.
John Maddon famously wears number 70 as Cubs manager, and former Cub closer Wade Davis normally wore uniform #17, but switched to #71 while with Chicago, in deference to Kris Bryant.
In college and high school basketball, digits 6-9 are not allowed; originally, it was for that reason - so the officials could signal a player’s number using both hands. Over the years, they switched to a one-handed method (which drove some scorekeepers, myself included, crazy sometimes, as you usually couldn’t tell if 3, 30, or 33 was signaled), although I think they are going back to the two-handed system now.
Baseball Reference lists ten players who wore 69 in MLB.
Russell Arnold used to wear it for Sri Lanka in One Day Internationals (cricket) I remember.
I also think by restricting the use of it just highlights it.