High uniform numbers

[bulldogbarks55]

Fisk joined the White Sox in 1981. His number in Boston was 27. When he went to Chicago he just reversed the digits. When Lynn McGlothen joined the Chisox in mid-'81 he took 27. As far as basketball. I've been keeping score for high school basketball since the early 1960s. One of the best things they ever did was to limit the numbers to no digit greater than 5. And to Hurricane David. A lot of high school gyms we play in have very poor acoustics. Verbal commands are not always heard clearly. And some schools use students as scorekeepers. As a minor official the scorekeeper is responsible for the game being recorded correctly. Clear communication between officials and the table is vital. We don't need things like, "Was is 7 or 8?" The current rule works just fine for high school and keeps a sense of order to the game. Besides, what school would order a "91" jersey because a kid wanted to be like Artest, or an "84" so he could emulate a Webber. No, the numbering system in high school and college ball works just fine. Leave it alone. You ever hear of MJ?

[M59]

Allan Mills used to wear #75 because that was his rookie number, and he wanted to remind himself to stay humble, and remember the days when his place on the team was not secure.

Both Rene Gonzalez and Albert Belle wore #88 with the Orioles because...well, there was this guy there who kept hogging their original #8!

On our softball team, I'm "that guy"...except my # is 59, not 69. Since the uniforms have outlasted most of their original wearers (the joys of quality mesh jerseys) nobody on the team gets to pick a number, unless we already have it. As we got charged by the jersey, rather than by the number, when they were made up, I went mostly with double numbers. So we have available 2 7 11 13 14 15 19 22 23 24 25 28 30 32 33 35 39 44 59. (Used to carry a whole lot of players...now we just use the core 12 + the occasional subs!)

And, of course, what about the most (self) important team in the history of sports? What about the Yankee$? At some point, they're going to have to go to triple digits for players, with all they numbers they have, or shortly will have retired!

[Geoff]

As someone who's been watching sports since I think the 1979 World Series is the first sporting event I remember watching, I grew up in an era where high numbers meant you were a rookie in baseball and hockey. I know there have been exceptions to the rule, but usually a high number 50 and above in hockey and 60 and above in baseball was a rookie. It was cool to see the rare non-rookies wear a high number. I won't blame it on Rick Tocchet, but he was the first player to go with a high number that made me scratch my head when he went from 22 (I think) to 92, I hated it because it looked ugly. Then there was Theo Fluery's 74. Now it's common to see all types of high numbers and it takes the uniqueness out of a Paul Coffey 77, or even a Larry Murphy 55. I know in baseball there have been a few 60's that keep their number and it just looks dumb as does a player with any higher number (Barry Zito for example). What do you guys think? I know the younger generation probably doesn't see the issue as they've grown up with it. It's something that I look at and it bugs me, like that mosquito bite! *LOL*

I agree with you, my generation just doesn't understand why it bothers the older generations. I grew up with #99 on the highlights every night. My Pensacola Ice Pilots have had players wear numbers like 89, 77, 79, and 70.

[DrBear]

The only one with a reason I remember was Jim Bouton, who wrote in "Ball Four" that he wore 56 the year he made the Yankees, and kept it, even though the clubhouse guy offered him a lower number (27, if I remember correctly).

"I told him I'd keep 56 because it reminded me of how close I came to not making the club. I still wear 56. I'm still close to not making the club."

[WJMorris3]

Any number above 55 should not exist in basketball...at any level.

In the NCAA, only the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are acceptable on a uniform. It allows officials to use one hand for each number on the jersey when reporting a foul to the table.

I'd argue that I'd rather see the numbers 1 through 15 as the only acceptable numbers in basketball. Signal 1-5 on the right hand, 6-10 on both hands, and 11-15 as one finger on the right hand and one to five fingers on the left.

You'd confuse alot of people by using that method.

You're basically saying 6 and 11 would be the same signal as would 7 and 12, 8 and 13, and 9 and 14.

Currently, we singal the first digit with the right hand and the second digit with the left hand.

Both hands signlaing simultaneously I might add.

So obviously, no number, whether it's the first or the second on the uni, can be greater than 5.

Not quite. 6 is five fingers on the right and one on the left. 7 is five on the right and two on the left.

Hey, it works for international play.

[tBBP]

I agree with everyone else when I say: Hockey & Football = yes. Baseball, basketball, & soccer = no

Though in hockey dont goalies usually only wear 1 or numbers in the 20's?

Or #30's.

Just off the top of my head:

John Grahame (if he's still with the lightning)-47

Jose Theodore-60

Fred Brathwaite-40

Kevin Weekes-80

(somebody help me on this) Jocelyn Thibault-40 (i believe)

I'm sure there's more. I don't realy follow hockey, so the ones I do know I know from my addictions to SportsCenter.

[VitaminD]

I agree with everyone else when I say: Hockey & Football = yes. Baseball, basketball, & soccer = no

Though in hockey dont goalies usually only wear 1 or numbers in the 20's?

Or #30's.

Just off the top of my head:

John Grahame (if he's still with the lightning)-47

Jose Theodore-60

Fred Brathwaite-40

Kevin Weekes-80

(somebody help me on this) Jocelyn Thibault-40 (i believe)

I'm sure there's more. I don't realy follow hockey, so the ones I do know I know from my addictions to SportsCenter.

Thibault was #41; so sayeth the sweater in my closet.

Jeff was right; the convention for goalies was #1, or a number in the 30s (which was how I got #1 until I stopped playing the crease). Typically, defensemen had the single-digit numbers, and the forwards rounded out the rest of the numbers.

Other conspicuous examples:

Ed Belfour - #20

Vladislav Tretiak - #20 (not sure what the Soviet numbering convention was at the time he wore #20)

Robert Esche - #42

Felix Potvin, Ken Dryden - #29

Patrick Lalime - #40

[tBBP]

Thibault was #41; so sayeth the sweater in my closet.

Close enough...

[Discrim]

heh, only reason Weekes wears 80 is cus the NHL won't let him wear 00

speakin of which, Aussie rules traditionally has a similar number bias as baseball: lower numbers are more desirable, and high numbers are either rookies or guys calling attention to themselves. I forget which league, but there was a guy who asked for, and was given, a triple digit number. and then there's that one dude on Chivas who wears #100

[Francis10]

I agree with everyone else when I say: Hockey & Football = yes. Baseball, basketball, & soccer = no

Though in hockey dont goalies usually only wear 1 or numbers in the 20's?

Or #30's.

Just off the top of my head:

John Grahame (if he's still with the lightning)-47

Jose Theodore-60

Fred Brathwaite-40

Kevin Weekes-80

(somebody help me on this) Jocelyn Thibault-40 (i believe)

I'm sure there's more. I don't realy follow hockey, so the ones I do know I know from my addictions to SportsCenter.

Thibault was #41; so sayeth the sweater in my closet.

Jeff was right; the convention for goalies was #1, or a number in the 30s (which was how I got #1 until I stopped playing the crease). Typically, defensemen had the single-digit numbers, and the forwards rounded out the rest of the numbers.

Other conspicuous examples:

Ed Belfour - #20

Vladislav Tretiak - #20 (not sure what the Soviet numbering convention was at the time he wore #20)

Robert Esche - #42

Felix Potvin, Ken Dryden - #29

Patrick Lalime - #40

To me, #40 isn't that unusual... I can point to examples back to the mid-80s. It makes some sense because historically during training camp, goaltenders were issued numbers that ended in 0, so you'd have 30, 40, 50, and 60 in camp early on. I think this is why the Canadiens have had a few rookies come up mid-season wearing 50 and 60 in recent years.

The original reasons behind these conventions related to the fact that the goaltenders needed a different jersey cut, so particularly for training camp, it was easy to use the same numbers over and over.

You do forget two other notable numbers:

Hextall ? #27 in Philly, 'Fisked' to #72 on the Islanders

Darren Puppa ? #93 (with Tampa; he wore perfectly pedestrian numbers like 30, 35, and 1 previously)

Oh, and Grahame is the backup in Carolina these days, still wearing #47 - which incidentally is the number that J.S. Giguere broke in with when the club was in Hartford.

[Gothamite]

Was Pudge the first to go high on purpose (besides Doc Ellis)?

Jim Bouton did, when he came up with the Yanks in 1962. He was assigned a high number in Spring Training with the rest of the rookies who weren't expected to make the team.

When he did, he wore #56 as a badge of honor his entire career.

[cubbies06]

One "high number" guy I remember was Dave Heaverlo of the SF Giants who wore # 60 in the mid-late 70's

[lucky]

Any number above 55 should not exist in basketball...at any level.

In the NCAA, only the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are acceptable on a uniform. It allows officials to use one hand for each number on the jersey when reporting a foul to the table.

I'd argue that I'd rather see the numbers 1 through 15 as the only acceptable numbers in basketball. Signal 1-5 on the right hand, 6-10 on both hands, and 11-15 as one finger on the right hand and one to five fingers on the left.

With that rule, I hope you're not a big fan of retired numbers. The Celtics would have had to disband 40 years ago

[gueman]

Well when I played Rugby your number was your position 1 to 15, and you got your jersey the night before when the starters were named. Anyway I remember a team that used Roman Numerals (old boys IIRC), and another that used letters A-O. Both were unique.

As for high numbers I always thought Wayne Gretzky really started the whole thing. Well he was the first star with one, then Fisk a few years later.

[harperdc]

rugby is heavily biased towards 1-15 - because it indicates position and it is *much* more necessary than in many other sports.

I was a bench warmer so usually went for the #20 shirt or the #16 because those two were the biggest jerseys for the sub numbers

[Alphabet Man]

heh, only reason Weekes wears 80 is cus the NHL won't let him wear 00

speakin of which, Aussie rules traditionally has a similar number bias as baseball: lower numbers are more desirable, and high numbers are either rookies or guys calling attention to themselves. I forget which league, but there was a guy who asked for, and was given, a triple digit number. and then there's that one dude on Chivas who wears #100

Can't remember the name, but a SANFL or WAFL team wanted him and he said only if he gets number 100 or something ridiculously high.

Usually lists in AFL are 40 players. usually the numbers go up to 44 or 45. Traditionally it was based on your position in the team, if you were a firsts players you got low numbers, then upwards to the 60's and 70's if you played seconds or thirds or under 19s back in the day. Last year when Justin Koschitzke returned via the VFL, he got number 73 for a couple of games - the club auctioned them off to make money for new club rooms or whatever. During the 80's it wasn't uncommon to see players running around with number 60. Aaron Hamill used jumper 52 in 2003 Heritage Round (19 or 20) as a blood replacement jumper.

[Gothamite]

I'm sorry, Doc. I missed your post.

The only one with a reason I remember was Jim Bouton, who wrote in "Ball Four" that he wore 56 the year he made the Yankees, and kept it, even though the clubhouse guy offered him a lower number (27, if I remember correctly).

"I told him I'd keep 56 because it reminded me of how close I came to not making the club. I still wear 56. I'm still close to not making the club."

Beat me to it, and included a quote to boot....

[pjinners]

It STILL bothers me just a bit on some level when I see a hockey number higher than 35. When I started paying attention in the early 70's goalies wore 1, 30 & 35. Players wore 2-29. I'm sure there were exceptions, but that was my impression as a kid.

There were only 14 teams and I probably only watched two or three on TV, listening to the rest on radio. If nobody from Minnesota, Chicago or St. Louis wore anything odd, that's all I was exposed to.

As far as my personal experience, Phil Esposito was the first to go with a high number when he got traded to the Rangers and found his #7 in use and went with #77.

Then Gretzky came along and all hell broke loose when he chose to wear a high number from the start.

Amen Brother! On top of that defencemen were usually low numbers (2-8) and "high numbers" (26-29). The call-ups got stuck with 33 or something.

It's all Gretzky's fault, though he wasn't the first he got that Lemieux kid thinking and next thing you know everyone is 65, and 87.

I was happy to see Brian Burke crack down when took over as GM in Anaheim. He ordered the goofy numbers off his shirts. Corey Perry went from 61 to 10, Ryan Getzlaf went from 51 to 15. Others had to go back to traditionals as well.

[FlugelHorn]

Jaromir Jagr has worn #68 in the NHL. He is Czech, and that number reminds him of the year (1968) when the Soviet Union put down a revolution in Czechoslovakia......they basically killed hope for freedom with Soviet tanks. So Jagr honours that in his jersey #.

I think there may be a trend with young NHL players today to pick numbers that are their birth year. A 20 year old today would be #87....etc.

[Joely]

Low numbers in Association Football are desirable to such an extent that there is a (probably ficitious) story about Stephan Guivarc'h refusing to sign for AC Milan from Newcastle after saying he disliked the fact 'quality players' were disrespected with numbers like 44 etc...the more likely story is that they saw him play and realised that playing for a world cup winning side doesnt make you a world class player

Also with international Football competitions, the starting line up will always wear 1-11 in friendlies or qualifying matches, and in competitions were players are registered a long way in advance the squad are numbered 1-23, which is their permanent number throughout the competition.

Goalkeeper convention is 1,12,13,23. Occasionally 16 is used.

Defenders convention is 2 (right back), 3 (left back), 5, 6 (central defenders).

Midfield convention is 4 (defensive/centre midfield), 7(right mid), 8 (centre mid) and 11 (left mid).

Striker convention is 9 (most coverted, usually the star player (ie. Les Ferdinand gave up 9 for 10 when ALan Shearer signed for Newcastle) and 10.

After that numbers tend to just be filled in...