50 Fun Facts About Jersey Numbers

Which Michael Jordan jersey number did the Miami Heat retire in 2003, even though he never played for them?

Miami raised No. 23 to its rafters in April 2003, days before Jordan played the final game of his career as a Washington Wizard.

Which number, worn by Jackie Robinson, did Major League Baseball retire across every team in 1997?

No. 42 made Robinson the first professional athlete in any sport to be honored league-wide. Since 2009, every MLB player has worn it each April 15, Jackie Robinson Day.

Which number did the NHL retire for every team in 2000 to honor Wayne Gretzky's record-breaking career?

No. 99 was retired league-wide at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game. Gretzky took it as a junior on his coach's suggestion, because a teammate already wore his first choice.

Which shirt number was the teenage Pelé assigned purely at random for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden?

No. 10 went to Pelé only because Brazil's federation forgot to send a numbers list, so a tournament official handed them out by chance. He made the shirt famous.

Which shirt number did Manchester United give Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 after he asked for 28 instead?

No. 7 came with history: George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham had all worn it at United. Ronaldo had simply wanted to keep his old Sporting number.

Which number did Kobe Bryant switch to in 2006, matching the first one he wore in high school?

No. 24 covered the latter half of Bryant's Lakers career. In 2017 the team retired it together with his original number, a double honor for a single player.

Which Tom Brady jersey number did the New England Patriots retire, pairing it with a statue that many feet tall?

No. 12 was formally retired by owner Robert Kraft, who revealed at the same time that a statue exactly that tall in feet would stand at the Patriots Hall of Fame.

Why did Michael Jordan play a 1990 game in Orlando wearing a nameless spare jersey instead of his usual one?

It was stolen before a Valentine's Day game against the Magic, so the Bulls star took the floor in a spare shirt with no name on the back.

Which number did Babe Ruth wear when the 1929 New York Yankees handed them out by batting order?

No. 3 matched Ruth's place as the third hitter in the lineup. The Yankees added numbers so fans in their cavernous stadium could tell the players apart.

Which Boston Celtics legend's No. 6 was retired by every NBA team in 2022, a league first?

Bill Russell won 11 championships with the Celtics, and the league-wide honor came 11 days after his death in 2022. Players already wearing the number were allowed to keep it.

Which New York Yankees great's No. 4 became the first number retired in Major League Baseball, in 1939?

Lou Gehrig was honored at an Independence Day ceremony in 1939, soon after ALS forced him out of the lineup. No Yankee has worn the number since.

Which number has Sidney Crosby worn for the Pittsburgh Penguins as a tribute to his own birthdate?

No. 87 is shorthand for Crosby's birthdate in the summer of 1987. His 2007 contract played the same game, paying $8.7 million a year.

Which Pittsburgh Penguins star wore No. 66 and came out of retirement in 2000 as the team's owner?

Mario Lemieux bought the bankrupt Penguins in 1999 by turning the unpaid salary they owed him into ownership, then returned to the ice a year later.

Which number did the Yankees retire for Derek Jeter in 2017, using up the last of their numbers from 1 to 9?

No. 2 was the last single digit standing, and Jeter wore it for his entire Yankees career. The club has retired more numbers than any other Major League team.

Which forward chose No. 30 at Paris Saint-Germain because he had worn it on his senior Barcelona debut?

Lionel Messi moved to Paris in 2021 after spending his whole senior career at Barcelona, and went back to the number he had worn as a teenage newcomer.

Which number did Shaquille O'Neal take with the Lakers because his Orlando Magic number was already retired there?

No. 34 doubled as a salute to O'Neal's stepfather, who had worn it while serving in the Army. The Lakers retired it for the big center in 2013.

Which playmaker's shirt did Napoli retire in 2000 after he led the club to its first Serie A title?

Diego Maradona won the league with Napoli in 1987 and again in 1990. When he later suggested forward Ezequiel Lavezzi should wear it, a newspaper poll of fans chose to keep it retired.

Which rebounding specialist wore No. 91 for the Chicago Bulls after being refused his old Detroit Pistons number?

Dennis Rodman wanted his Pistons number, but Chicago had already retired it for Bob Love, and the NBA would not let him wear its digits flipped either.

Which NBA superstar gave up No. 6 in 2023 as a tribute, though league rules let him keep wearing it?

LeBron James was covered by a grandfather clause when the league retired the number in 2022, yet he switched for the next season out of respect.

Which singer-songwriter in 2006 became the first person outside sports given a retired number at Madison Square Garden?

Billy Joel earned the banner with a run of sold-out shows at the arena in 2006, breaking a venue record that Bruce Springsteen had set in 2000.

Which number did Peyton Manning wear for the Broncos only after its retired owner, Frank Tripucka, gave permission?

No. 18 had been retired in Denver for Tripucka, a former Broncos quarterback, who agreed to lend it out. Manning's old team, the Colts, has vowed never to reissue it.

Which shirt number did Johan Cruyff make famous after 1970, when starters still wore 1 to 11?

No. 14 was an accident: Cruyff came back from injury to find an Ajax teammate using his usual shirt, and he kept the spare for the rest of his time at the club. Ajax retired it in 2007.

Which number has Jaromír Jágr worn throughout his hockey career in honor of Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring?

No. 68 marks 1968, the year of the Prague Spring and the year Jágr's grandfather died in prison. The New Jersey Devils waived a team ban on high numbers to let him keep it.

Which number did Hank Aaron wear, matching his home run total in four different seasons?

No. 44 kept turning up for Aaron: Al Downing, the Dodgers pitcher who served up his record-breaking 715th home run, happened to wear it as well.

Which number did Jerry Rice adopt with the 49ers in honor of his idol, Seahawks receiver Steve Largent?

No. 80 replaced the number Rice wore in college, which a 49ers teammate already had. Late in his career he wore Largent's own retired jersey in Seattle.

Which Washington Wizards star wore No. 0 for the minutes experts predicted he would play in college?

Gilbert Arenas chose No. 0 as his answer to experts who expected him to sit on the bench at Arizona. With the Wizards it earned him the nickname Agent Zero.

Which number did Kevin Durant wear with the Thunder and Warriors, honoring a youth coach killed at that age?

No. 35 honors Charles Craig, the AAU coach who guided a young Durant and was murdered at that age. The Texas Longhorns later retired the number for Durant.

Which jersey number links NBA greats Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Patrick Ewing?

No. 33 was retired for each of them. Abdul-Jabbar chose it as a boy in tribute to his favorite football player, New York Giants fullback Mel Triplett.

Which Iowa guard's No. 22 was retired in 2025 after she became NCAA Division I's all-time leading scorer?

Caitlin Clark passed Pete Maravich's long-standing mark in her final regular-season game, a record that covers men's and women's players alike.

Which Dodgers star gave a teammate's wife a Porsche after her husband handed over No. 17?

Shohei Ohtani had worn the number for his whole MLB career with the Angels. Reliever Joe Kelly's wife Ashley publicly offered it up to help lure him to Los Angeles.

Which Bengals receiver legally changed his surname in 2008 to a Spanish-style nod to his No. 85 jersey?

Chad Johnson was officially Chad Ochocinco from 2008 until 2012, when he legally switched back to the surname he was born with.

Which pitcher was the last MLB player allowed to wear Jackie Robinson's retired number, keeping it until 2013?

Mariano Rivera was among 13 players allowed to keep the number under a grandfather clause in 1997, and the Yankees closer outlasted every one of them.

Which German forward wore No. 41 in Dallas after swapping the digits of a number a teammate already had?

Dirk Nowitzki never played for another NBA team, and no player has ever spent more seasons with a single franchise.

Which Detroit Lions running back was handed No. 20 by his coach as a tribute to Billy Sims?

Barry Sanders made the number his own: the Lions retired it in 2004, the same year he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Which quarterback wore No. 16 for the 49ers, then No. 19 in Kansas City after declining Len Dawson's retired jersey?

Joe Montana turned down Dawson's offer to bring the Chiefs' retired number back, choosing one he had worn in youth football instead.

Which Boston Bruins defenseman chose No. 4 as a rookie in 1966 after turning down Dit Clapper's No. 5?

Bobby Orr took a number a veteran teammate had just given up, and the Bruins retired it in 1979. Celtics star Larry Bird said he looked up at that banner for inspiration.

Which Detroit Red Wings great wore No. 9, echoed by the 9-to-9 hours of his public visitation in 2016?

Gordie Howe inherited the number in 1947 when Roy Conacher left Detroit for Chicago, and he kept it for the rest of his career. The Red Wings retired it in 1972.

Which Seattle Mariners star wore No. 51, the number he had already worn while playing in Japan?

Ichiro Suzuki hesitated because a star Mariners pitcher had worn it before him, so he sent the pitcher a personal message promising to do the uniform proud.

Under NFL numbering rules, which position group is limited to jersey numbers from 50 to 79?

Offensive line players in those numbers are normally barred from handling the ball on a play from scrimmage unless they first report to the referee.

Which new Lakers forward chose No. 37 in 2009 to match the weeks Michael Jackson's Thriller spent at number one?

Ron Artest signed with Los Angeles in July 2009, the month after Jackson's death, and wore the tribute while helping the Lakers win the 2010 championship.

Which number did the New York Yankees retire on one day in 1972 for catchers Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra?

No. 8 went up for both men on the same day, a rare shared honor for a mentor and his protege: the veteran Dickey and the younger Berra.

Which Hall of Fame Oakland Raiders center wore the number 00 for all but his rookie season?

Jim Otto switched to the number after his rookie season because it was read aloud as aught-oh, a perfect match for his surname.

Which Hall of Fame catcher reversed his Red Sox No. 27 to No. 72 on joining the Chicago White Sox?

Carlton Fisk said the new number also marked the year he was named American League Rookie of the Year and the year his son Casey was born.

Which basketball body barred jersey digits above 5 until 2023 so referees could signal numbers on their fingers?

The NCAA wanted every digit to be one a referee could show on a single hand, so college players could wear 55 but never 56. The ban was lifted in 2023.

In rugby union, which position wears No. 15 and waits deep to field the opposition's long kicks?

The full-back stands several yards behind the other backs and is often the final barrier when an opponent breaks through.

Which Boston Bruins captain pulled off his jersey at a 1987 ceremony to reveal a new No. 77 underneath?

Ray Bourque handed his old sweater to Phil Esposito, whose number the Bruins were retiring that night, and wore the new one for the rest of his career.

Which London club wore numbered shirts at Sheffield Wednesday in August 1928, the same day Chelsea tried them at home?

Arsenal's trial did not catch on at once: the Football League only ruled that every player had to wear a number from the 1939–40 season.

Which NHL team retired the first number in professional sports, honoring injured forward Ace Bailey in 1934?

The Toronto Maple Leafs retired Bailey's number after a hit from Boston's Eddie Shore fractured his skull and ended his career in December 1933.

Which country numbered its 1978 and 1982 World Cup squads alphabetically, putting outfield players in the No. 1 shirt?

Argentina's system handed the goalkeeper's traditional shirt to outfielders Norberto Alonso in 1978 and Osvaldo Ardiles in 1982, simply because of their surnames.

Which pinch hitter, well under four feet tall, wore the fraction 1/8 for the St. Louis Browns in 1951?

Eddie Gaedel crouched so low that his strike zone all but vanished, and he walked on four straight pitches in his only plate appearance. Owner Bill Veeck staged the stunt.