 |
| 2004 Topps Heritage #206 |
The Phillies were a little late this year in assigning numbers to their new acquisitions, but I noticed yesterday on the Phillies website that all 60 players scheduled to be in camp this year now have uniform numbers next to their names. In my mind, the assignment of new uniform numbers is the final milestone to reach prior to the official start of Spring Training.
As I did last year, here's a run-down of who will be wearing new numbers next week in Clearwater:
New Players
#2 Ben Revere - Revere wore #11 with the Twins. As that number is currently taken by
Jimmy Rollins, he's going with #2, worn last year by departed first base coach
Sam Perlozzo.
#3 Delmon Young - Young gets a fresh start with
Hunter Pence's old #3. The outfielder had previously worn #21 with the Twins and Tigers.
#10 Michael Young - Young wore this number for a decade with the Rangers.
Juan Pierre wore the number last season for the Phillies.
#37 Mike Adams - For the second year in a row,
Antonio Bastardo was coerced to give up his number to a more veteran pitcher. Last year, he surrendered #58 to the newly acquired
Jonathan Papelbon. This year, Adams claimed his familiar #37 from Bastardo.
#43 Ender Inciarte - My guess is that Inciarte was just assigned the lowest number left over after the new veterans got their picks.
Josh Lindblom wore #43 last season.
#45 Chad Durbin - Durbin wore #37 during his first stint with the Phillies. I wonder what made him choose #45, made famous by
Tug McGraw, for this go round? The Phillies haven't assigned #45 to anyone since
Pedro Martinez wore it for part of the 2009 season.
 |
| 1990 Topps #525 |
New Coaches
#5 Steve Henderson - The new hitting coach assumes former bench coach
Pete Mackanin's old number.
#21 Wally Joyner - Joyner wore #21 during his formidable years with the Angels. Former hitting coach
Greg Gross wore the number last season.
#23 Ryne Sandberg - Sandberg made this number famous during his Hall of Fame career with the Cubs.
Brian Schneider's recent retirement made the number available - although I can't imagine Sandberg wearing any other number.
#54 Rod Nichols - The Phillies "unretired"
Brad Lidge's #54 for their new bullpen coach.
New Numbers
#8 Juan Samuel - Samuel wore #12 during his first two years as a Phillies coach. With
Shane Victorino's depature last year, Samuel's old #8 was freed up so he made the switch.
#59 Antonio Bastardo - As discussed above, Bastardo's #59 is his third uniform number in three years.
 |
| 2002 Topps Total #486 |
Other Stuff
- From 1 to 60, the following non-retired numbers are still available - #49, #56, #57. These numbers were last worn by
Vance Worley,
Joe Blanton and
David Herndon, respectively.
- New non-roster invitees receiving low numbers include catcher
Humbero Quintero (#12), outfielder Joe Mather (#22), infielders Josh Fields (#24) and Yuniesky Betancout (#25) and pitchers
Rodrigo Lopez (#16) and
Aaron Cook (#29). Veterans are typically saved the embarrassment of sporting numbers in the 60s and 70s.
- Outfielder
Zach Collier wins the prize for the highest number with #80. The last player I remember being in camp with a number that high was
Chase Utley, back when he was a non-roster invitee in 2002.
