In the Toronto Blue Jays' 36 year history, two or more players have worn the same uniform number in the same season 117 times. Uniform numbers are reissued during the season for various reasons: players get traded, called up, and some might just want to change their luck. For the purposes of this list, I did not include uniform numbers used for special occasions (for example, all the players wear #42 on Jackie Robinson Day, and the last game of 2012 when Omar Vizquel and Brett Lawrie swapped numbers), nor did I include numbers worn by coaches and managers.
The Blue Jays' record for most number of reissued numbers was 10, set in 1999. In 2011 there were 9 reissues, and this season there were 8. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Blue Jays also used the most players in these three years, 54 in 2012 and 53 in 1999 and 2011. Toronto had no reissued numbers in 1983 and 1984--the two seasons when the club used the fewest total players with just 33 (by comparison, the 2012 Blue Jays used 34 pitchers). The only team in Major League Baseball without a reissued number in 2012 were the Seattle Mariners.
Out of the 117 times a number was re-used, five numbers were used by three players in the same season, and once, in 2007, four Blue Jays wore #4.
Year
|
Uniform Number
|
Players Wearing Uniform Number
|
1979
|
5
|
Bobby Brown, Craig Kusick, Bob Robertson
|
2002
|
43
|
Scott Cassidy, Mark Hendrickson, Raul Mondesi
|
2004
|
51
|
Terry Adams, Ryan Glynn, Dave Maurer
|
2007
|
4
|
Howie Clark, Joe Inglett, Ryan Roberts, Jason Smith
|
2008
|
23
|
Rod Barajas, Jose Bautista, Shannon Stewart
|
2008
|
48
|
Armando Benitez, Jesse Carlson, Scott Richmond
|
We saw a special case of reissued uniforms in 2012: for the first time in franchise history, two players with the same last names shared a single uniform number in a single season. Andrew "Drew" Carpenter wore #39 from July 5 until July 31 then David Carpenter wore #39 from August 10 through September 26. Both were 27-year old right-handed relievers. Andrew was 6'3" tall and weighed 230 pounds, while David was an inch and 15 pounds lighter. David could easily have fitted in Andrew's old jersey--and back when Rogers was still thought of as cheap owners, it was easy to joke that they assigned #39 to David to save a few bucks.
For those interested enough about this topic, I have included the year-by-year listing of all reissued numbers in Blue Jays history below.
Season |
Number of Reissues |
Players Who Wore Reissued Uniform Numbers |
1977
|
1 |
10: Jim Mason, Doug Rader |
1978
|
3 |
14: Butch Alberts, Tom Hutton 16: Joe Coleman, Tim Nordbrook 21: Rico Carty, Mark Wiley |
1979
|
5 |
5: Bobby Brown, Craig Kusick, Bob Robertson 25: Dave Freisleben, Steve Luebber 37: Ted Wilborn, Dave Stieb 45: Steve Grilli, Tom Murphy 46: Steve Luebber, Dyar Miller |
1980
|
3 |
11: Steve Braun, Mike Macha 23: Dave Lemanczyk, Mike Willis 46: Mike Barlow, Joey McLaughlin |
1981
|
2 |
2: Danny Ainge, Fred Manrique 51: Nino Espinosa, Paul Mirabella |
1982
|
3 |
3: Wayne Nordhagen, Leon Roberts 10: John Mayberry, Dave Revering 35: Dick Davis, Dave Geisel |
1983
|
0 |
None |
1984
|
0 |
None |
1985
|
3 |
23: Cecil Fielder, Mitch Webster 25: Steve Davis, Len Matuszek 38: Gary Allenson, Steve Nicosia |
1986
|
2 |
31: Jim Acker, Duane Ward 33: Doyle Alexander, Joe Johnson |
1987
|
2 |
35: Jeff Musselman, Phil Niekro 46: Mike Flanagan, Gary Lavelle |
1988
|
1 |
40: Doug Bair, Rob Ducey |
1989
|
4 |
9: Bob Brenly, John Olerud 13: Lee Mazzilli, Jeff Musselman 21: Francisco Cabrera, Ozzie Virgil 29: Jesse Barfield, Glenallen Hill |
1990
|
3 |
26: Jim Eppard, Ozzie Virgil 40: Buddy Black, Mark Whiten 46: Mike Flanagan, Tom Gilles |
1991
|
7 |
12: Roberto Alomar, Ken Williams 19: Ray Giannelli, Devon White 23: Candy Maldonado, Mark Whiten 24: Glenallen Hill, Turner Ward 26: Vince Horseman, Mickey Weston 27: Willie Fraser, Cory Snyder 49: Tom Candiotti, Randy Knorr |
1992
|
2 |
11: David Cone, Jeff Kent 21: Mike Maksudian, Greg Myers |
1993
|
3 |
2: Rob Butler, Luis Sojo 14: Rickey Henderson, Darrin Jackson 24: Rickey Henderson, Turner Ward |
1994
|
1 |
24: Greg Cadaret, Dave Righetti |
1995
|
1 |
44: Danny Darwin, Ken Robinson |
1996
|
2 |
38: Giovanni Carrara, Huck Flener 49: Luis Andujar, Tony Castillo |
1997
|
4 |
12: Tilson Brito, Rich Butler 24: Mariano Duncan, Paul Spoljaric 40: Carlos Almanzar, Mike Timlin 54: Omar Daal, Woody Williams |
1998
|
5 |
2: Tom Evans, Craig Grebeck 20: Pat Lennon, Mike Stanley 33: Jose Canseco, Ed Sprague 39: Erik Hanson, Nerio Rodriguez 50: Chris Carpenter, Ben VanRyn |
1999
|
10 |
3: Noberto Martin, Vernon Wells 7: Tony Batista, Pat Kelly 17: Curtis Goodwin, Dave Hollins 19: Dan Plesac, David Segui 20: Rob Butler, Pat Lennon 29: Geronimo Berroa, Pat Borders 31: Robert Person, Chris Woodward 40: Eric Ludwick, Paul Spoljaric 43: Tom Davey, John Hudek 46: Mike Romano, Steve Sinclair |
2000
|
5 |
15: Marty Cordova, Chad Mottola 21: Charlie Greene, Esteban Loaiza 22: Rob Ducey, Chad Mottola 36: Clayton Andrews, Pedro Borbon 50: Leo Estrella, Joey Hamilton |
2001
|
4 |
7: Tony Batista, Felipe Lopez 17: Chris Michalak, Josh Phelps 28: Brandon Lyon, Lance Painter 36: Scott Eyre, Bob File |
2002
|
3 |
19: Dan Plesac, Cliff Politte 29: Kevin Cash, Scott Eyre 43: Scott Cassidy, Mark Hendrickson, Raul Mondesi |
2003
|
1 |
24: Bobby Kielty, Shannon Stewart |
2004
|
2 |
17: Eric Crozier, Josh Phelps 51: Terry Adams, Ryan Glynn, Dave Maurer |
2005
|
1 |
28: Shaun Marcum, Greg Myers |
2006
|
1 |
50: Vinnie Chulk, Davis Romero |
2007
|
5 |
4: Howie Clark, Joe Inglett, Ryan Roberts, Jason Smith 7: Joe Inglett, Josh Towers 11: Royce Clayton, John-Ford Griffin 18: Hector Luna, Tomo Ohka 40: Dustin McGowan, Brian Wolfe |
2008
|
6 |
4: Shannon Stewart, Jorge Velandia 6: John McDonald, Jorge Velandia 23: Rod Barajas, Jose Bautista, Shannon Stewart 35: Frank Thomas, Brad Wilkerson 48: Armando Benitez, Jesse Carlson, Scott Richmond 59: Jesse Carlson, Randy Wells |
2009
|
2 |
15: Kevin Millar, Alex Rios 33: Josh Roenicke, Scott Rolen |
2010
|
3 |
5: Yunel Escobar, Jarrett Hoffpauir 21: Nick Green, Randy Ruiz 30: Taylor Buchholz, Dana Eveland |
2011
|
9 |
2: Aaron Hill, Kelly Johnson 20: Juan Rivera, Mark Teahen 28: Jayson Nix, Colby Rasmus 29: Octavio Dotel, Dustin McGowan 34: Joel Carreno, Marc Rzepczynski 37: Henderson Alvarez, Jo-Jo Reyes 40: David Cooper, P.J. Walters 56: Zach Stewart, Brian Tallet 58: Chad Beck, Wil Ledezma |
2012
|
8 |
8: Ben Francisco, Yorvit Torrealba 14: Moises Sierra, Eric Thames 20: Jesse Chavez, Bobby Korecky 39: Andrew Carpenter, David Carpenter 45: Travis Snider, Shawn Hill 48: Francisco Cordero, J.A. Happ 49: Brad Lincoln, David Pauley 56: Robert Coello, Ryota Igarashi |
Sources
- Baseball-Reference.com
- 2012 Toronto Blue Jays Official Guide
- Baseball Almanac