by Matthew Taylor
NumerOlogy must love this. SportsIllustrated.com has ranked its “Best Baseball Players by Number.” Here’s a rundown of where former O’s – long-timers and short-timers alike – landed on the list.
The Best by Number
Cal Ripken – No. 8. How many Baltimore-area Little Leaguers proudly sported No. 8 during Ripken’s career?
Eddie Murray – No. 33. “Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die.”
Jim Palmer gets No. 22. Jimmy Key and Will Clark “worthy of consideration,” according to SI.com, but Palmer gets the easy nod.
Albert Belle – No. 88. Somewhere Rene Gonzalez softly weeps. NumberOlogy notes that three Birds have sported a pair of eights.
Roberto Alomar – No. 12. One of the all-time greats when he came to play.
Runners-Up
Luis Aparacio - No. 11. "Little Louie" handled everything that came his way as part of the Birds’ first-ever World Series championship team.
Worthy of Consideration, according to SI
Harold Baines - No. 3. The
Brooks Robinson - No. 5. It’s hard to compete with Joe DiMaggio, but surely Brooks rivals Johnny Bench for the runner-up spot.
Paul Blair - No. 6. How many students at
Reggie Jackson - No. 9. You were thinking Brady Anderson, weren’t you?
Miguel Tejada - No. 10. Think ESPN will challenge Tejada on this number as well?
Davey Johnson - No. 15. I wonder if Peter Angelos has registered his disagreement with this decision.
Scott McGregor - No. 16. Smooth lefty in good numerical company with the likes of Whitey Ford, Hal Newhouser, Doc Gooden, Bo Jackson, and Frank Viola.
Sammy Sosa - No. 21. Fair to say this has nothing to do with his performance in
Fred Lynn and Dave McNally - No. 22. Fred Lynn played fewer than four seasons in
Jesse Orosco - No. 47. Three cheers for the snap dragon, Orosco’s go-to pitch with the Birds.
Mike Boddicker and B.J. Ryan - No. 52. Like
Arthur Rhodes - No. 53. Roar from 34 loves Arthur Rhodes, but perhaps a lack of competition factored into this decision.
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