Players who look BETTER or WORSE after a number change

[Mingjai]

I think Ray Bourque's switch from 7 to 77 was an upgrade.

 

 

 

So was Paul Coffey's.

 

 

 

Interestingly, 1987-88 was a huge season for 77s in the NHL--Bourque and Coffey both switched to 77 that year and were joined by Sabres rookie Pierre Turgeon wearing the number. Prior to that year, 77 was a rare number in the NHL. One of the earlier wearers of 77 was Phil Esposito, whose switch from 7 to 77 ironically seems like more of a downgrade.

 

 

 

[Chello]

Edit: Ha! Somone already posted Matt Cain already lmao. Let me edit to show Bruce Bochy. I know, I know he's not a "player" but it was interesting in 2011 he switched his number to accomodate Carlos Beltran's number 15 even though he was a trade rental. 

 

 

 

 

[DCarp1231]

44 minutes ago, Chello said:

Edit: Ha! Somone already posted Matt Cain already lmao. Let me edit to show Bruce Bochy. I know, I know he's not a "player" but it was interesting in 2011 he switched his number to accomodate Carlos Beltran's number 15 even though he was a trade rental. 

 

 

 

 

Didn’t Don Mattingly do the same when the Dodgers acquired Shane Victorino? Changing from 8 to 88?

[Around the Horn]

Travis d'Arnaud: 

7 was an upgrade (though 15 wasn't a bad number for him)

 

 

18 was an absolute downgrade and the number he played the worst in.

I don't really know what to make of him wearing 37 with the Rays

[BC985]

Yadier Molina

 

To

 

 

A single digit is very fitting in regards to the place he’ll hold in team history. 

[Reyes47]

Easily Josh Gordon

 

From 13 to 12 is an upgrade 

But from 12 to 10 is a downgrade not

necessarily because 10 is a bad WR number i actually like it a bit better than 12 but because Gordon already committed to 12 and probably feels silly now

Another downgrade would be AB from 84 to 17. He’s just owned 84 for so long it was really strange seeing him in 17 which i already hate the look of 17 already. It just strangely enough doesn’t fit his frame at all despite being sleeker than 84

Last one is Chubb as an upgrade going from 31 in the preseason to 24 which looks much better though i still consider 24 as a DB number than a RB one

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

 

Rusty Staub preferred number 10, which he had worn with Houston and Montreal. But in his first stint with the Mets he wore number 4, as number 10 was taken.  He reverted to number 10 upon his return to the Mets.  But I preferred him in number 4.

 

   

 

 

An oddity is that Staub made a brief return to the Expos before he came back to the Mets.  But by that time number 10 had already been claimed by Andre Dawson, so Staub wore number 6.  I think that even that number looked better on him than his preferred number 10.

 

 

    

 

 

P.S. - I love those red front numbers!  The Expos had that feature at home for 1979 only.

[sc49erfan15]

After (finally) watching the Dennis Rodman 30 for 30 last week, I felt like he's a great candidate for this thread.

 

#10 suited Rodman fine in Detroit and San Antonio.

 

 

#91 was a perfect choice for Chicago. By then, he'd become the outsized personality that he was and wearing a weird number just made sense.

 

 

...but #70 in Dallas and #73 in LA just seemed odd for the sake of being odd.

 

  

 

91 > 10 > 70/73.

[FroBroStudio]

Worse til Wade came back to Miami

 

[DCarp1231]

Just like his career, Carmelo Anthony’s jersey number only gets worse as time goes on:

 

[TheRealPepman]

Sheed going from 30 to 36 was incredible. Too bad he reverted back to 30 for the 2008-09 season.

[TheBigFiz21]

On 11/19/2019 at 5:11 PM, DNAsports said:

Just like his career, Carmelo Anthony’s jersey number only gets worse as time goes on:

 

I think in hindsight, 7 was not bad for a number change. I do wonder how Blazers fans would feel if he went with 7 considering Brandon Roy's tenure from the late 2000s/early 2010s

[Dnice]

I'd rather Amare stick with 32...especially the top frontcourt players weren't using 32,33 and 34 like years before.

 

 

 

 

[Crabcake]

I’m so glad there’s a thread for this and I’m not crazy for being the only one who thinks about stuff like this. 
 

First player that came to my mind was Marlon Humphrey. I thought 29 suited him very well:

 

but it’s Earl Thomas’ signature number, so he switched it up this season to 44. And dang it if it’s not perfect for him. 

 

I definitely think of DBs having numbers in the 20’s, but I like when stars branch out and carve their own niche. 

[DCarp1231]

26 minutes ago, Crabcake47 said:

I’m so glad there’s a thread for this and I’m not crazy for being the only one who thinks about stuff like this. 
 

First player that came to my mind was Marlon Humphrey. I thought 29 suited him very well:

 

but it’s Earl Thomas’ signature number, so he switched it up this season to 44. And dang it if it’s not perfect for him. 

 

I definitely think of DBs having numbers in the 20’s, but I like when stars branch out and carve their own niche. 

At first I wasn’t too sure about Mark Ingram wearing 21, but I think it works for him better than 22:

 

[prof]

Jeff Gordon downgrade

[DCarp1231]

Frank Gore is a curious case of looking good in any number he wore. Initially I was on the side of 21 being his worst number choice, but the longer I looked at pictures the more I liked all the numbers:

49ers

 

Colts

 

Dolphins

 

Bills

 

While looking at Buffalo Gore photos, it appears he wore 28 as well for a short time. Presumably this preseason:

[Wentz2Jeffery]

9 hours ago, prof said:

Jeff Gordon downgrade

He only drove the 88 in a few races while he came out of retirement while Dale Jr was hurt 

[tBBP]

Has Devin Hester been mentioned?

 

This is how most remember him...

 

 

But then he ended up going to Atlanta, and...that 17 was not working for him:

 

 

I wasn't even aware this happened, but sure enough, it did:

 

 

And then, as his final hurrah, he returned to 17....

 

 

23 will always be Devin Hester to me.

[TornadoGTS]

53 minutes ago, Buc said:

Has Devin Hester been mentioned?

 

This is how most remember him...

 

But then he ended up going to Atlanta, and...that 17 was not working for him:

 

I wasn't even aware this happened, but sure enough, it did:

 

And then, as his final hurrah, he returned to 17....

 

23 will always be Devin Hester to me.

 

You probably already know this but just as a sidenote, he was essentially "grandfathered" in when in Chicago since he started as a CB then transferred to WR, but once you go to a new team those positional number rules kick in. He no doubt would've like to have kept 23 at all those other stops. I would say in that situation, given his status/accomplishments, let him keep 23 as an exclusion to the rules, but obviously that's subjective and would open Pandora's box.