It's All About the Numbers

Baseball is a sport encompassed by quirks and superstitions. The players themselves are no different. Shakespeare wrote: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"  But what about a number? We asked our players about the numbers that they like to wear and why.

Bobby Meacham: When I first got to the Yankees I was No. 82 because nobody knew me. Then when they thought I was going to be good they gave me No. 20 my whole career there. The significance now is that it's probably going to be retired, not because of me, but because of Jorge Posada, so I can joke with my kids and say that it's because of me. Now I actually wear 10 because my kid played football and baseball in high school and his number was 10 in football. He wore 20 in baseball to wear the same number as his dad. But now I wear his number and it always reminds me of him. So we like wear each other's numbers.

Jon Nunnally: I have 11 family members, brothers and sisters combined, so I always tried to wear No. 11. Then I got to pro ball and I couldn't get 11 anymore because so many superstars were using the number for such a long time and I ended up getting No. 22. I've tried to keep it my whole career.

Jim Czajkowski: Growing up one of my favorite players was Gaylord Perry. He was a guy who threw from all sorts of arm angles and he was just an old guy that intrigued me. I collected baseball cards and that's the number (36) that I enjoyed the most so that's why I wear it.

Aaron Sanchez: I wear No. 41. I'm a little superstitious, so in spring training they gave me that number and I didn't give up a run.

Ryan Schimpf: When I was little I would always try to get No. 24 for Ken Griffey Jr., he's my favorite. But then in high school I got number 16 randomly and carried that over to college.

Andy Burns: The reason why I'm not No. 9 here is because it's a quadruple-X jersey. I tried it last year, it didn't fit. I've just always worn it since high school. It's just been my favorite number.

Scott Gracey: I wear No. 27 because when I grew up my dad was a big Micky Mantle fan so when I was younger I always wore 7. Then when I got to high school and college I played shortstop and was a big Derek Jeter fan so I wore No. 2. Then I got drafted as a pitcher and you don't see a lot of pitchers wearing single digits so I just combined the two.

Randy Boone: I was No. 8 growing up but pitchers traditionally don't have single digit numbers so the easiest way for me to still have 8 is 3 plus 5.