Friday the 13th always seems to bring out the odd story or the article about Paraskevidekatriaphobia (morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th ). I am sure that April the 13th, 2007 was no different. But this article makes an interesting observation that many kids today are embracing the number 13 and are requesting it as their jersey number for whatever sport they play. Back in the day many athletic associations would not even print the number 13 on a jersey because no one would take it (some associations still don’t). Today it is a highly requested number.
The article got me thinking though, what is in a number? Why do our kids choose the numbers they choose? Why is Johnny number #3 or little Suzy #47? Some kids take a number because they’ve always had that number, ever since they were first given a jersey on their first sports team and thought that first number (usually between 1 and 21) is their lucky number. Others pick a number because it is the number of some other athlete whom they idolize. I did a little digging and found a list of popular numbers and listed them below. Some people have even turned to numerology and mathematics to determine why people choose certain numbers. If you are in to that type of thing, click on one of the hyperlinked numbers in the list below.
Most of the research was done on Wikipedia.com, but I don't want to ruin all the fun for you so I didn't research every possible jersey number, so I only included a few. If you want more, there are a couple of books out there on the topic too. So check out Best By Number: Who Wore What With Distinction
and Now Batting, Number...: The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore of Baseball's Uniform Numbers.
for more great facts and trivia about jersey numbers and jersey number selection.
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8 |
- Baseball (Yogi Berra, Cal Ripken, Jr, Carl Yastrzemski)
- Soccer (Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard)
- Football (Troy Aikman, Steve Young)
- Basketball (Kobe Bryant [from 1996-2006])
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9 |
- Hockey (Maurice Richard, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe)
- Baseball (Reggie Jackson, Ted Williams)
- Soccer (Ronaldo, Mia Hamm)
- Football (Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Tony Romo, Steve McNair)
- Basketball (Tony Parker)
- Car Racing (Kasey Kahne)
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13 |
- Soccer (Michael Ballack, Christian Chivu, Aliaksandr Hleb, Alessandro Nesta, Ji-Sung Park)
- Baseball (Alex Rodriguez)
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18 |
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Car Racing (Bobby Labonte, JJ Yeley)
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Football (Peyton Manning, Randy Moss)
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Basketball (Phil Jackson)
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Baseball (Don Larsen) |
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32 |
- Basketball (Shaqille O'Neal)
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34 |
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Hockey (Miikka Kiprusoff, Manny Legace)
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Baseball (Nolan Ryan, Kerry Wood, Kirby Puckett)
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Basketball (Hakeem Olajuwon)
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Football (Walter Payton, Thurman Thomas)
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Nextel Racing (Kevin Lepage) |
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42 |
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Baseball (Jackie Robinson, Mariano Rivera)
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Football (Ronnie Lott, Pat Tillman)
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Basketball (Elton Brand, Jerry Stackhouse, James Worthy)
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Car Racing (Kyle Petty, Lee Petty) |
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99 |
- Hockey (Wayne Gretzky)
- Football (Jerome Brown)
- Baskeball (George Mikan)
- Soccer (Vitor Baia)
- Car Racing (Carl Edwards, Michael Waltrip)
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