When the Twins acquired Yoendrys Gómez in their spaghetti vs. wall style of bullpen construction, they also set a team first. Gómez is wearing #94, the number he has worn for most of his career, with Minnesota, and he has become the first Twin in history to wear that number.
Because I will take any excuse I can to write about uniform numbers and the Twins are off today, here’s some discussion about the 10 numbers no Twins (or Senators) have worn and the players who have worn them around the league.
(I should also note before anyone tries to Google this information, their AI Gemini, presumably pulling from my own writing without permission, gets information wrong.)
69
worn by (MLB history): 22 players
best worn by (bWAR): Luis Medina, CLE, 1988
2026 worn by (anyone this season whether still active or not): Blubaugh
As I mentioned in last week’s game thread, most teams don’t hand out #69 due to its sexual connotations. The Twins don’t — a few years ago, they released a spring training roster that had every number except 69 worn — but among those who do, none do so more than the Pirates, who have given the number to eight players. That includes the best player to have ever worn 69, Bronson Arroyo, but he broke out as a pitcher after joining the Red Sox (who made him switch to 61) and hit his prime as a Red (with whom he kept 61). Astros reliever Blubaugh is the only current player to wear the number, and he’s also put up the most WAR in the number with 1.0.
75
worn by: 52 players
first worn by: Mike Walker, CLE, 1988
best worn by: Barry Zito, OAK/SF, 2001-15 (29.7 WAR)
2026 worn by: 9 players
Zito actually wore #53 as a rookie in 2000 before switching to his familiar #75 the following season and subsequently winning the Cy Young for the ‘02 A’s. (You may call them the Moneyball A’s; here, we call them “the team the Twins beat in the Division Series.” And Denny Hocking, not Corey Koskie, caught the series-ending popup… 0/10, bad movie.) Right now, nine players across MLB wear the number; the most recognizable is probably Robert Suarez (ATL RP) or Andrés Muñoz (SEA RP), but my attention is drawn to Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez. Since I live closest to Boston (among MLB cities), he’s the #75 I see most regularly… but he also took over #94 from Yoendrys Gómez for the ‘24 Yankees. And like that, it all comes full circle.
84
worn by: 18 players
first worn by: J.T. Snow, BOS, 2006
best worn by: Dylan Cease, CHW/SD/TOR, 2019-pres (18.5 WAR)
2026 worn by: Cease; Lake Bachar, MIA; Jorbit Vivas, WAS
#84 may have first become recognizable when Prince Fielder took the number, presumably in honor of his birth year, when joining the Rangers for the last three seasons of his career. (Snow similarly took the number for familial reasons: his father Jack, who died at the start of 2006, wore the number for 11 seasons as a wide receiver with the Rams.) It has earned staying power, though, with Cease’s top-of-rotation mainstay in his eighth season and counting.
88
worn by: 22 players
first worn by: Mike Ramsey, LAD, 1987
best worn by: Luis Robert Jr., CHW/NYM, 2020-pres (15.8 WAR)
2026 worn by: Robert; Phil Maton, CHC; Cooper Criswell, SEA
Robert was part of those early-’20s high-digit White Sox squads: along with Robert (#88), they had Eloy Jiménez (#74) and José Abreu (#79) wearing unusual numbers. Robert is a Met now, but among 88s who changed teams, none has done so more than Maton. The Cubs are his eighth franchise, and he has worn the same symmetrical round number for all of them.
91
worn by: 13 players
first worn by: Tim Spooneybarger, FLA, 2003
best worn by: Alfredo Aceves, NYY/BOS, 2008-14 (4.2 WAR)
2026 worn by: Jonathan Pintaro, NYM
I remember seeing Aceves’ unusual #91 at Fenway Park and wondering why more baseball players didn’t wear less-common 90s numbers; years later, I still wonder. Spooneybarger, the first #91, was on the ‘03 Series-winning Marlins but did not pitch after June due to elbow tendinities; Aceves too was on a pennant winner, the ‘09 Yankees, and he pitched in four postseason games, including Game 5 of the World Series. Pintaro, the only active #91, was recalled to the majors on Monday.
93
worn by: 9 players
first worn by: Pat Neshek, PHI, 2018
best worn by: Yimi García, MIA/HOU/TOR/SEA, 2020-5 (2.5 WAR)
2026 worn by: Matt Gage, SF
Speaking of that question I wonder about, Neshek became the first MLB player to wear #93 when he debuted for the Phillies in July 2018, making that number the fifth-last to make its debut in MLB.* (If I remember correctly, he chose #93 on a suggestion from a fan — not me this time — on Twitter.) As we get into the higher 90s, player counts are going to become fewer… up until 99, which fortunately does not qualify for this list thanks to Logan Morrison in 2018.
*the last six numbers to make their MLB debuts:
90 (“Once Upon” Adam Cimber, SD, 3/29/2018)
93 (Neshek, PHI, 7/1/18)
80 (Ryan Eades, MIN, 6/8/19)
92 (Génesis Cabrera, STL, 8/15/20)
86 (Jesus Cruz, STL, 8/18/20)
89 (Miguel Yajure, NYY, 8/31/20)
95
worn by: 5 players
first worn by: Takahito Nomura, MIL, 2002
best worn by: Oswaldo Cabrera, NYY, 2022-5 (2.0 WAR)
2026 worn by: Josh Ekness, MIA
Of the five players to have worn #95, two are Yankees and two are Marlins. Nomura, the exception, wore the number 18 years before the next player, Miami’s Trevor Rogers. Since 2020, exactly one player has worn the number each season: Rogers (‘20), the Bronx’s Trey Amburgey (‘21), Cabrera (’22-‘25), and Ekness (’26).
96
worn by: 9 players
first worn by: Bill Voiselle, Boston Braves, 1947
best worn by: Voiselle, BSN/CHC, 1947-50 (4.5 WAR)
2026 worn by: Yovanny Cruz, NYY
Yes, that says “Boston Braves,” and yes, that says “1947.” Voiselle grew up in Ninety-Six, South Carolina, and upon his ’47 trade to the Braves, he received permission from Commissioner Happy Chandler to wear #96 in tribute. He wore the number for the rest of his career, two more seasons with the Braves and one with the Chicago cubs. Unsurprisingly, the only wearer this year, Cruz (who pitched in two games in May), is a Yankee.
Trivia time: what are the only two eligible jersey numbers that have never been worn in the regular season by a Yankees player?
97
worn by: 2 players
first worn by: Joe Beimel, TB, 2005
best worn by: Beimel, six teams, 2005-15 (6.9 WAR)
2026 worn by: Ron Marinaccio, SD
Beimel wore #97 in honor of his son’s birth in that year, and he just missed becoming the first Twin to wear the number: he wore #53 from 2001-3 with the Pirates and #50 in ‘04 with the Twins before switching to his regular digits the following season. Seven seasons after Beimel last pitched in the majors, Marinaccio debuted for (sigh) the Yankees in #97, and he’s kept it after joining the Padres last season. However, right now, he’s known not for his number but for his current suspension for beaning Gunnar Henderson.
98
worn by: 7 players
first worn by: Jae Weong Seo, TB, 2006
best worn by: Randy Vásquez, NYY/SD, 2023-pres (5.0 WAR)
2026 worn by: Vásquez; Maverick Handley, BAL
Handley was designated for assignment in May, so the only current #98 is Vásquez, who has become a solid starter with the Padres after one year as a (sigh 2.0) Yankee.
Trivia answer: surprisingly not #69, which Alan Mills wore for part of 1990. The answer is #00 and #87.
So that’s 10 numbers now which I am eagerly awaiting a new Twin to wear. Here’s hoping!
And on another note: I am planning an article, either for the offseason or another off day, of my all-time Literary Baseball Team, a 26-man roster consisting of the best players from literary fiction. If you have any players or books you suggest I should read, please comment them below!
