Today is the second Friday the 13th in as many months and it got me to thinking about baseball players who have worn #13. Baseball players are a superstitious bunch and it is not a popular number. In fact, when Bruce Alger orders uniforms for the New Market Rebels, he routinely omits #13.
Perhaps the most prominent #13 in baseball today is Alex Rodriguez, who may want to consider changing his number, because if ever there was a guy who needed to change his luck, it is Alex. Of course, I'm not sure it's the number's fault that he partied with strippers after he was married, that he took steroids, or that he has managed to alienate so many people, but it would be a novel defense: "I'm sorry. It was because I wore #13. Now that I've changed to #25, it will never happen again." That number, 25, would be appropriate since that's how much, in millions of dollars, Alex makes every year. We should all be so unlucky.
One of the most notable #13s was the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ralph Branca. It was Branca who gave up Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in the 9th inning of the final game of the 1951 playoffs. The Dodgers had held, appropriately enough, a 13 game lead over Thomson's Giants as late as August, but in the end, the Dodgers lost their lead and ultimately the playoff.
The #13 forever etched in my memory is the Orioles' Steve Barber. A hard-throwing lefty who was the Birds' first 20 game winner in 1963, Barber became an instant favorite of mine when I found out that he and I were born in the same hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland. Such little details are really cool to little baseball fans! . . . Okay, I admit that I still think it's cool.
In any case, here's wishing all my readers good luck today!
Additionally, "Ozzie Guillén, manager of the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, has worn the number throughout his baseball career".(www.wikipedia.org/13)
Other notables to wear #13: Wilt Chamberlin, Dan Marino, and Shaq (in 1996).
It appears that some cultures actually regard it as a lucky or significant number.
One must admit that 'triskaidekaphobia' is an awful lot of fun to say!
Posted by: Melissa Dodge | March 13, 2009 at 09:35 PM