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Number please

SwitchHitter Feb 24 2006 11:11 PM

If you were playing ball and could pick any jersey number to wear, what number would it be and why?

SwitchHitter Feb 24 2006 11:14 PM

I would pick 16. It's the geek in me. In hexadecimal you write that number as 10, so it's a round number in a weird way. And I'm weird. It also happens that my favorite player is now wearing that number. He had to change because the Astros retired #24 in honor of the Toy Cannon, Jimmy Wynn.

Edgy DC Feb 24 2006 11:49 PM

Twenty three. I showed up for work picking stock in a warehouse. I didn't like that job and wasn't even very enthused even when I started --- even though the stock was independent-label records. I wore an old baseball top. The senior guy on the floor: Twenty-three, huh? Edgy DC: Yup. SGF: So what, you like Mattingly, huh? EDC: Nah, I've always worn it. SGF: Everybody always says they've always worn it. EDC: Well, I have. It's not about Mattingly. It's about Doug Flynn. Believe me, if I wanted it to wear 23 and copy a contemporary guy, I dunno, it'd be Michael Jordan. SGF: Snort. Jordan... Snicker. EDC to self: (Great. Arrogant stupd racist Yankee fan who sounds like his best brain cells were lost to weed. Let's find a new job fast, shall we?)

cooby Feb 24 2006 11:56 PM

Mine is 11. It's been my lucky/favorite number since I was in Jr. High, but I don't know how it started.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 25 2006 12:07 AM

I don't really have a favorite. I wore 7 the last 2 years for softball, and 5 the year before that. I used to like 2, and before that 13, but you can't wear 2 in NYC these days and not look a Jeterite, and 13 is always the guy who picks 13 because he thinks he's cool, and I'm not cool. If we get new unis this year, I might try something different. Like, 91 or something. That'd be cool. Wait...

metirish Feb 25 2006 12:14 AM

Foe me it would be # 16 for Roy Keane, but that's football...for baseball it would be # 17 for Hernandez, I only know him through his work as a TV guy but I would have loved to have seen him play for the Mets, I really like Keith a lot, # 45 for Pedro,and I own that one.

SI Metman Feb 25 2006 01:24 AM

I'm in the same boat as Edgy. I remember being in middle school gym where you were allowed to put numbers on the back of your gym shirt. Mine was always #23. I have no idea why I chose it, I just did.

DocTee Feb 25 2006 01:45 AM

As a kid I wore numbers that ended in zero; 10 for Baseball, 20 for Hockey and 50 for Basketball. Then I grew up and became a dick, requesting 69 for our company softball team-- when that was denied I asked for 6 (and made sure I was photographed next to the bosses wife, #9).

Elster88 Feb 25 2006 02:23 AM

13. My number, baby.

seawolf17 Feb 25 2006 06:28 AM

As a kid I always favored 9... but ever since high school, it's been 17. It's been a recurring number theme; it seems to come up a lot for me. (Hence the CPF handle.)

Yancy Street Gang Feb 25 2006 06:49 AM

I don't have a favorite number, so I might choose 63, since it's kinda offbeat and it's the year in which I was born.

Zvon Feb 25 2006 07:14 AM

Ive worn 20,5, 24,11. 20 for Agee. 5 for Brooks. 24 for Mays. 11 cuz I didnt get a choice the 1st year i played CYO. Thats playing hardball. This dont count my softball years.

KC Feb 25 2006 07:35 AM

I don't remember my numbers as a youngin' - I guess they were probably just given out and didn't mean anything to me. As an adult I picked 17 and played first - you can't go wrong with 17 playing first base.

ScarletKnight41 Feb 25 2006 08:35 AM

41. In homage to Tom Seaver, whom I idolized as a child. BTW, my coming to bat music would be "Hey Mama" by The Black Eyed Peas.

MFS62 Feb 25 2006 08:59 AM

12 Later

Frayed Knot Feb 25 2006 09:30 AM

Never had a favorite. In Little League they always used to assign the uni numbers (1 thru 15) based on size so I always wound up somewhere in the middle (5-10). There was probably a similar limited choice in HS but I don't remember what I wore, and often I don't know what number I'm wearing on softball teams even while I'm wearing the shirt. ("Hey #21 heads up" ... Me: "Huh?") I'd have to dig through the closet just to tell you what my number is on my current or most recent teams. It just never mattered to me. The only one I ever insisted on was #1 while I was playing hockey. It's the classic goaltender's number.

Rockin' Doc Feb 25 2006 11:03 AM

Wore 5 during Tee ball in California because that's what the coach handed to me. Moved to Minnesota and was given 12 for my first year of Little League. The next year I asked for and received 5, in honor of Brooks Robinson. I wore 5 for the next nine baseball seasons. I later wore 5 for a few years of softball as an adult. I must say I'm a pretty big fan of the current 5 that's manning the hot corner for the Mets. In football, I wore 24 in honor of Willie Mays. I have no idea what number I wore during my brief tenure as a basketball player. Bench players, that never actually get on the court during games (other than blow outs) just have to accept whatever number the coach hnads them. I was happy to just get a jersey. As I got older, the other players got taller and better. I did neither. My time as a hoops bench player was very brief.

metsmarathon Feb 25 2006 12:05 PM

34

Willets Point Feb 25 2006 12:11 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 26 2006 10:48 PM

So I take down my high school yearbooks to see what numbers I wore in basketball (the only sport I've played with assigned numbers). Freshman: 34 JV: My arms are crossed over my chest in both my sophomore and junior yearbooks! I think I was 25. Varsity: 20 Anyhow, I think I always wanted to be 24 for Willie Mays, but never got it.

SwitchHitter Feb 25 2006 12:19 PM

Edgy and SI, 23 is the number of the Illuminati. (Or so I've been told.)

soupcan Feb 26 2006 01:38 PM

Big Doug Flynn fan myself, and if the single digits weren't available I was also 23. However, whenever I could I was #5.