JimBeam
05-12-2007, 10:52 AM
Pretty interesting link from ESPN regarding players that wore uniforms we usually don't remember.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/070511
This was pretty interesting. Talk about bad luck in picking a # :
So Taguchi explaining how he ended up wearing 99: "I was No. 6 in Japan, so naturally my first choice was 6. Well, a guy named Stan Musial had that number retired a long time ago in St. Louis. Once I realized that, I thought, 'Well, I could still be connected to my old No. 6 simply by turning it upside down.' But Enos Slaughter's number was retired, and it happened to be 9. So it occurred to me that I could use my No. 1 from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. They paused and said, 'We're sorry to tell you that Ozzie Smith was No. 1, and that's also retired.' I figured the really high numbers must be readily available and said, 'How about two 6s, No. 66?' Well, that was Rick Ankiel's number! So I asked about turning 6 upside down twice for 99, and finally I had a uniform number. I think everyone was relieved."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/070511
This was pretty interesting. Talk about bad luck in picking a # :
So Taguchi explaining how he ended up wearing 99: "I was No. 6 in Japan, so naturally my first choice was 6. Well, a guy named Stan Musial had that number retired a long time ago in St. Louis. Once I realized that, I thought, 'Well, I could still be connected to my old No. 6 simply by turning it upside down.' But Enos Slaughter's number was retired, and it happened to be 9. So it occurred to me that I could use my No. 1 from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. They paused and said, 'We're sorry to tell you that Ozzie Smith was No. 1, and that's also retired.' I figured the really high numbers must be readily available and said, 'How about two 6s, No. 66?' Well, that was Rick Ankiel's number! So I asked about turning 6 upside down twice for 99, and finally I had a uniform number. I think everyone was relieved."