Steve Heinze, when he joined the L.A. Kings, wore the number 57.
Many athletes who have grown up in Hawai’i and (aren’t football players where numbers can’t be played around with as much) try to wear #50.
Turk Wendell, a baseball pitcher, wore number 99 starting in 1997.
This is still a rule in NCAA basketball.
Red Grange wore number 77, that does seem unusual for a halfback. Maybe he played both ways? (Now, now people, this saying does have a different meaning in sports.)
Carlton Fisk wore #72 with the White Sox.
I believe the story behind #72 was that when Fisk went from the Red Sox to the White Sox, his number 27 wasn’t available, so he switched the numbers to 72.
That was off of the top of my head. My research indicates that Jacob Brumfield wore #94 during the half season that he played with the L.A. Dodgers.
Of course I could have just read BobT’s post and then I would have seen that there was a #96 in MLB. Sorry.
Albert Belle wore #88 when he went from the Indians to the Orioles, since #8 belonged to Cal Ripken, Jr.
Most September callups get high numbers, since they’re probably not going to be staying with the club. Exceptions would be when a player gets called up the September before his rookie season and therefore gets to request a number.
George Mikan was the original #99. He wore it in college at DePaul, and when he was a pro with the Minneapolis Lakers. He played in the 40’s and 50’s, so he would be one of the earliest players I can think of with a “strange” number.
George Plimpton wore “0” for the Detroit Lions. That shouldn’t count, but the reason he had the number was because it belonged to a Lions Player (possibly John Olzewski) whose nickname was “The Big O” (it had different connotations in 1963) and wore it on the field.
Mets by the Numbers – the best site on the web for uniform numbers, though obviously limited in scope – has several players with 50 or above. Turk Wendell’s 99 is the highest; next is Kenny Rogers’s 73. Rogers wore it because his number, 37, was retired by the Mets, so, like Fisk, he reversed it.
Tony Clarke wore 00 for the Mets for a little while, and Rey Ordonez wore 0 for a time, until the razzing from the fans made him change it to 10.
I vaguely remember a catcher with a single digit number who changed it to 0- so that his catcher’s gear wouldn’t obstruct the number. Santigo, maybe?
Football rules dictate that offensive linemen must have numbers between 60 and 79. No one else on the offense can wear these numbers, although the defence can. This is so the refs can tell who is elligible to receive a pass.[sup]1[/sup]
Otherwise, there are no restrictions, there are just customs such as you list above. Another is that linebackers often have numbers in the 50s. Red Grange wearing 77 probably was before the rule was put into effect.
[sup]1[/sup] On rare occasions, a formation will put an interior lineman on the outside of the line (i.e. with no one else lined up on the line of scrimmage further outside him). He has to report to the referee before the play to be elligible to receive a pass.
Benito Santiago, wore number 9 from 1987-1991 and number 09 from 1991-1994.
This was implemented in 1973.
The rule also forbade the use of 0 and 00 as jersey numbers, in addition to codifying the traditional numbering system. The “Tackle Eligible” play used to be much trickier, when all the tackle had to do was line up on the end of the line. Last week I heard a ref announce over the PA that a tckle had registered as eligible. I was wondering what the hell the point of putting him in was.
Defensive numbers originaly corresponded to their offensive counterparts (up until about 20-25 years ago, DEs had numbers in the 80s, just like ends on offense). When I was in High School, linebackers wore numbers between 20 and 49, because everyone was still expected to play both ways.
And don’t forget ? which has been worn by Max Patkin and the Phillie Phanatic, who don’t qualify as amateurs… 
In the Three Stooges short Three Little Pigskinbs, in which Moe, Larry and Curly screw up a football game as nobody else could, they wear distinctive numbers: Moe wears H2O2, Larry wears 1/2, and Curly wears ?
Slight nitpick – NFL centers can wear numbers in the 50s. I’m not sure that offensive guards and tackles can’t wear numbers in the 50s, but none that do come to mind.
Yup – there were still quite a few of these DEs still playing in the NFL in the 1980s. Former Patriot DE Julius Adams comes to mind (#85).
…
In the modern NFL numbering system, some positions have back-up numbers (see below) for cases when the main number series for a given position is used up. These back-up numbers are most often assigned during preseason, when NFL rosters are at their largest and number shortages at some positions are common.
Especially frequent now are occurences of wide receivers wearing numbers between 10-19. Keyshawn Johnson (#19) sort of revived this in the late 90s. Nowadays, it seems most NFL teams have at least one wideout so numbered.
Here’s how the NFL numbers players by position (back-up numbers in parentheses):
punters, kickers, quarterbacks: 1-19
halfbacks, fullbacks: 20-49
centers: 50-79
offensive guards and tackles: 60-79
tight ends: 80-89 (40-49)
wide receivers: 80-89 (10-19)
defensive tackles, defensive ends: 70-79 and 90-99
linebackers: 50-59 (90-99)
cornerbacks, safeties: 20-49
OF So Taguchi of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team wears 99. Sometimes a player who has recently been called up from the minor leagues wears a high number.
I completely forgot about So. :smack: