A friend of mine came up this week from Princeton, W.Va. to watch two games of the Pirates-Giants series and, sadly, he left with an empty feeling.
No, it wasn't because of the sub-par baseball he was watching. It was, as he told me after Wednesday's game, "Doug, I lost a little bit of my childhood tonight."
When I asked why, he said it was when he heard the P.A. announcer say in the top of the sixth inning: "Now pitching for the Giants, number 22 Keiichi Yabu."
It's not that my friend, Norm Vaughan, has anything against Yabu personally, but it's the number he's wearing. Norm grew up a huge Will Clark fan and that's what made him a Giants fan, even in Princeton, W.Va., was because of Clark. He also compared it to the Pirates giving Willie Stargell's number to Masumi Kuwata. Though Stargell's number is retired, the point was well taken.
So it got me to thinking: Is there a player that you associate with one number for one team and that team has given his number to a lesser player. Send me your suggestions.
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1 comment:
From a fan perspective, I never understood how they could give Kent Tekulve's number 27 away.
Well, I know with numbers you can't keep them all, but to give it to the likes of Sammy Khalifa and (I believe) Lonnie Smith?
Maybe Will Clark didn't have it that bad after all.
BC
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