00
I was surprised to find out that over twenty players have worn the crazy number 00. The number 00 is one of my least favorite numbers. Out of the twenty-one players who wore it (see it was technically over twenty), half of them only wore it for one season or less, and NONE had it for 5 years. This was definitely going to put a damper on my criteria for choosing players, but you gotta start somewhere. So, I decided to start with the player who had it the longest, because anyone who could wear 00 for 4 years had to be cool, right?
NUMBER 1:
Jeffrey Leonard played leftfield in the Majors for 14 seasons from 1977 to 1990. He’s first on this list due to his having worn 00 for four of those seasons (1987, 88, 89 and 90). The most of any player. He wore it on three different teams. The Mariners (as seen above) the Giants of San Fran and the Brew Crew.
He was a 2 x All-Star, twice while wearing 00 (87 and 89). Leonard was a beast during the 1987 NLCS with San Francisco, when he hit .417 with a .917 slugging. He had 10 hits, 4 home runs and 5 RBIs and was presented with the ’87 NLCS MVP, even though his team lost. He’s the last player to receive an NLCS MVP while with the losing team.
While not a Hall of Fame caliber player, Leonard had a solid career that included being the runner up for NL ROY in 79 losing to the awesome Rick Sutcliff.
Number 2:
Bobo Newsom went by many names. He was born Louis Norman Newsom. He was known as “Bobo” to most, even himself apparently, as he would often refer to himself in the third person, and for some reason, he was also known as “Buck” on occasion.
Bobo played for twenty seasons from 1929 to 1953 as a right-handed pitcher. He played for nine different teams but wore the number 00 for three seasons while with the Washington Senators in ’43 and again in ’46 and ’47. Bobo was an All-Star four times and got his ring in 1947 with the New York Yankees. He had a 211-222 record with 3.98 ERA and 2,082 strikeouts in 600 games. He had a 47.8 career WAR. He and pitcher Jack Powell are the only pitchers to have 200 wins and still have sub .500 winning percentages. He is mentioned in Ogden Nash’s 1949 poem “Line-Up for Yesterday” and is the only player in the poem not in the Hall of Fame.
Bobo passed away at the young age of 55 in 1962.
Number 3:
Wow, my first controversy. Don Baylor. I wanted to put him in here because I liked him when I was collecting cards and I found him listed as wearing 00 in 1988, his last season of baseball. Baylor played nineteen seasons as a first baseman, left fielder and DH from 1970 to 1988. Baylor played with the Athletics in 1988, and I could not find a single picture of him wearing 00. In fact, I found this interesting reddit thread about this very subject. Who actually wore 00…
It seems that Baylor may have worn 00 in 1988, his last season in the Majors, but only part of the season, or it could be an error in reporting, either way, a little about my number three pick.
Baylor was an All-Star in 1979 as well as the AL MVP. He hit .296 that year, with a league leading 120 runs, 36 home runs, 136 RBI’s (leading the league) and 22 stolen bases. He has three Silver Sluggers and was on the World Series winning Twins in 1987. After his playing career ended, he became a well-regarded manager, winning the NL Manager of the Year award in 1995 with the Colorado Rockies.
Baylor passed away in 2017 at 68 years old. We may never know if he wore 00 in 1988, but if any readers out there have the inside scoop, please drop me a comment.
Number 4:
Right fielder Bobby Bonds played for eight teams in his fourteen year career between 1968 to 1981. He only wore 00 in 1980 while with the St. Louis Cardinals. This was very close to the end of his career. It seems 00 is a choice number for retiring players.
During the 70’s Bonds was a 3-time All-Star and 3-time Gold Glove winner. He was fast as lightning, stealing over 30 bases in 11 of his 14 seasons. If only he could have struck out less (he led the league 3 times in strikeouts). He also has five 30-30 seasons, tied for the most career 30-30 seasons with one other player…his son! Barry Bonds. Like father, like son.
For his career he has a 57.9 WAR (the highest on this list), 332 Home Runs, 1,024 RBI’s, 461 Stolen Bases, a .268 batting average with 1886 Hits.
For me, Bonds is a personal favorite player, who is very underrated. I never really saw him play and didn’t start collecting cards until he was well into retirement, but I love watching his highlights. He sadly passed away due to cancer at the age of 57 in 2003.
Number 5:
Jack “The Ripper” Clark played for Boston at the end of his career in the early 90’s, so he holds a special place on my list. He was a right fielder and first baseman for eighteen seasons, playing with the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees(Ugg), San Diego Padres, and the previously mentioned Boston Red Sox. He only wore 00 for one season, 1990 with the Padres, but I did find a card so that’s cool.
He was a four time All-Star and two time Silver Slugger. He has the second highest career WAR for 00 players with 53.1. He led the league in walks 3 times (’87,’89,’90) and is ranked 54th in history for walks. For his career, Clark had 1826 hits, a .267 batting average, 340 home runs, 1180 RBIs, and his 54th ranked 1262 walks.
After retirement Clark has done some coaching and radio hosting and currently hitting the autograph circuit.
Number 6:
John Mayberry makes his way to number six even though he only wore 00 for one season. It was 1968 and he was a rookie on the Houston Astros playing only four games, but he wore it, and he has the 5th highest WAR of all 00’s, so I’m using him.
Mayberry played fifteen seasons in the Majors at first base, and aside from the Houston Astros he also played for the Royals, Blue Jays and Damn Yankees! He was an All-Star twice in ’73 and ’74, with the Royals and that’s likely why he is in the Kansas City Hall of Fame. In ’75 he was 2nd in AL MVP voting having hit .291 with 34 home runs, 106 RBIs, and leading the league in walks with 119 and in OPS+ with 168. 1975’s All-Star team was stacked, and he was not selected despite having his best overall season with a 7.2 WAR for the year.
Mayberry went on to coach for a bit and work in community affairs for the Royals. His son also played in the Majors for 2009 to 2015.
Number 7:
Omar Olivares should make the list just because he has that awesome card with his 00 prominently displayed for all the world to see. He wore the 00 two seasons in 1993 and 1995.
Olivares was a right-handed pitcher who played twelve seasons from 1990 to 2001 in the Majors with eight different teams! That’s a lot of cities. He is also the only other pitcher on this list. His 00 was on display while with the Cardinals and the Phillies. He also played for the Rockies, Tigers, Mariners, Angels, Athletics and Pirates.
He was never an All-Star and finished his career with 13.2 WAR, a losing record of 77-86, and unsightly 4.67 ERA, and 853 strikeouts in 1592 innings, a 4.8 SO/9. Aside from being the only other pitcher on this list, he played for the Colorado Rockies in 1995, the same year that Don Baylor was the manager and won Manager of the Year. Maybe Baylor really did have 00 at some point, and the energy of the numbers blessed him.
Final Score:
Well, there you have it. Seven players who wore 00 (maybe). This number was a shit of a start. Not only was it limited by players, but no one had the number very long and there was no player left off that I would be giving honorable mentions. They choices weren’t all that tough, and I’m not even sure Baylor actually had the number. Here’s a little summary to cap things off. At least this time, if you like it let me know, if not let me know and if no one is reading this (which is the most likely scenario), then I’ll just do whatever I want. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the big ZERO! Coming soon to Weekly Windup.
| PLAYER NAME | NUMBER of YEARS WORN | CAREER WAR | ALL STAR APPEARANCES | OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS |
| Jeffrey Leonard | 4 | 9.9 | 2x | cool card and #1 on this list |
| Bobo Newsom | 3 | 47.8 | 4x | 1947 World Series Ring |
| Don Baylor | ½ maybe? | 28.5 | 1x | 3 x Silver Slugger, 1987 World Series Ring, AL MVP (1979), NL MOY (1995) |
| Bobby Bonds | 1 | 57.9 | 3x | 3x Gold Glove and 5x 30-30 club |
| Jack Clark | 1 | 53.1 | 4x | 2x Silver Slugger Cool Nickname |
| John Mayberry | 1 | 25 | 2x | Royals HOF |
| Omar Olivares | 2 | 15.5 | 0 | Cool Card and Played on ’95 Rockies |
Sources:
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/
https://www.baseball-reference.com/
Shout out to all the cool cards and creative commons for my pictures! Thanks Topps and Upper Deck and Fleer and Donruss!
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