I have a confession to make: I am not a numbers gal. Math was easily my least favorite subject in school, and the worst part of my job is (attempting) to fact-check the math of my writers when I copy-edit a story. But there is one number I’ve always been fond of: jersey numbers.
I may be unable to remember the formula for ERA or even my own phone number some days, but ask me who No. 88 was on the 1984 San Francisco 49ers, and I’ll give you the answer right away (Freddie Solomon, of course). You will not be surprised to discover then that a good portion of my brain is overloaded with the jersey numbers of Oakland A’s players. I’ve used these numbers to remember parking spots, for locker combinations and passcodes. If I’m ever trapped on an island between reality and the afterlife, these are the numbers I’d send out from my underground hatch.
Soon, there will be no more new A’s jersey numbers to learn, a fact that makes me inconsolably sad. But as I’ve paused to look back at the memories I have of more than 40 years of following this team closely, I had the ridiculous idea of trying to rank the most memorable jersey numbers in Oakland A’s franchise history (please note the Oakland part of the sentence here; I’m not ranking the Philadelphia or Kansas City eras).
So what are the greatest numbers in Oakland history? Looking at the wall of retired digits doesn’t tell the whole story. It would not surprise you to learn that A’s ownership has been slow to honor the great history of their franchise. They didn’t start a team Hall of Fame until 2018 (the franchise was founded in 1901), and they have been oddly stingy about retiring numbers, only giving that honor to those players who were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Dave Stewart is the only A’s player to have his number retired who isn’t in Cooperstown, but his No. 34 had already been retired for Rollie Fingers when Stewart received the honor in 2019.)
As the A’s depart for destinations TBD, they take with them these retired numbers: 9 (Reggie Jackson), 24 (Rickey Henderson), 27 (Catfish Hunter), 34 (Fingers and Stewart), and 43 (Dennis Eckersley). Those numbers will always take the top spots in Oakland A’s history. But what about the other jersey numbers that were worn by multiple franchise legends because they were never taken out of commission? Of the non-retired digits, which ones will you remember as the essential numbers in Oakland A’s history?
I compiled my list below. There was some math involved (adding WAR numbers), but these rankings are based mostly on vibes. Please feel free to leave your own, and rip my choices in the comments.
No. 4
Notable players: Miguel Tejada (1997-2003); Carney Lansford (1983-1992); Billy North (1973-78); Coco Crisp (2010-16)
If you had to choose one jersey number that evoked the glory of nearly every successful era of the A’s time in Oakland, it would be the No. 4.
It was worn most prominently during the 1970s World Series era by underrated speedster Billy North, who amassed 20 WAR in six seasons with the A’s. After North, it landed with several players in the late 1970s and early 1980s before Carney Lansford took the number in 1983.
Lansford wore the number for the next 10 seasons, hitting .288/.343/.404 with 146 stolen bases and a nearly 1:1 K:BB. He also played a mean hot corner, hit better than .300 three times — helping the A’s win it all in 1989 when he hit .336 — and served as the consummate No. 2 hitter behind Rickey Henderson for several of those years.
The number stayed dormant until a worthy successor made his debut in 1997, a young shortstop named Miguel Tejada. Tejada won the AL MVP in 2002 and hit .270/.331/.460 with 156 home runs in seven seasons with the A’s before leaving for Baltimore. Tejada’s back-to-back walk-off hits in games 18 and 19 of the 20-game win streak are two of the top moments in Oakland A’s regular season history.
The No. 4 landed with a few role players after Tejada left, including pinch-hitting specialist Adam Melhuse, but it found prominence again when Coco Crisp signed a free-agent deal before the 2010 season. Crisp, arguably the A’s best free-agent signing over the last 15 years (which, I realize, may be damning with faint praise), not only swiped 169 bases in seven seasons and hit 69 home runs with the A’s, but he also provided flair and veteran leadership during one of the most fun eras of Oakland A’s baseball (2012-14).
The current No. 4 could play a similar role for the A’s next era, wherever that may take place. Lawrence Butler changed from No. 22 to 4 at the start of this season, and it has been a good move. After a slow start, Butler has been one of the hottest hitters in the American League since mid-June. He’s won Player of the Week twice, had a three-homer game and a 22-game hitting streak. Alas, the peak of his career will come outside the 510 area code.
No. 16
Notable players: Jason Giambi (1995-2001; 2009); Mike Davis (1980-87); Josh Reddick (2012-14); Liam Hendriks (2018-20)
While the No. 4 connected greatness from one generation of Oakland A’s teams to another, the No. 16 has best captured the franchise’s off-beat personalities.
Mudcat Grant — the first Black pitcher to win 20 games in MLB history — notably wore it in his final MLB season in 1971. Another member of the Black Aces, Mike Norris, wore the number from 1975-77, though he’d have his best seasons wearing No. 17.
From 1980-87, the number belonged to outfielder Mike Davis, who remains one of the more underrated players in Oakland A’s history. The A’s never should have let Davis take off the number, as he left for the Dodgers in 1988 and squared off against his old team that fall in the World Series. Though he struggled during the regular season, it was his at-bat in Game 1 (a rare walk issued by Eckersley) ahead of Kirk Gibson that led to the most tragic moment in my sports childhood.
The number would jump around after Davis left, worn by such notables as Darren Lewis (the last Oakland A’s player to be traded to the Giants in an MLB player-for-MLB player deal), Willie Wilson and Troy Neel, who is best known for being called the “worst dead beat dad in ‘the history of Texas’”.
But No. 16 truly found its match in 1995 when it was assigned to a long-haired left fielder named Jason Giambi. Giambi, who would eventually and wisely be moved to first base, would collect 28.8 WAR, an MVP trophy and the single greatest cover in Sports Illustrated history during his tenure with the A’s.
Giambi cast a long shadow over the No. 16 for many years, with only a few players attempting to wear it after Giambi left following the 2001 season (Rich Harden in his rookie season in 2003, Jay Payton in 2005-06 and Josh Willingham in 2011). In 2012, it found a true successor in Josh Reddick, another long-haired free spirit who was a catalyst of the A’s 2012-14 playoff teams. It’s probably no coincidence that the A’s fell apart in 2015 when Reddick changed to the No. 22 (the veteran sell-off that offseason may also have had something to do with it).
If Crisp was the A’s best free-agent signing in the last 15 years, the man who took the No. 16 from Reddick in 2015 may be the worst. Billy Butler made $30 million with the A’s and nearly half of that salary was paid after he was released. He amassed -0.6 WAR, and the A’s still didn’t get the ninth inning of the 2014 AL Wild Card Game back.
But the No. 16 redeemed itself in full in 2018 when it was assigned to one of the most gregarious and generous players to wear the green-and-gold. Liam Hendriks began his A’s tenure in 2016 as No. 31 but switched to No. 16 midway through the 2018 season. He spent the next two-and-a-half seasons as one of the most dominant relievers in baseball and remains one of the game’s best personalities.
No. 10
Notable players: Marcus Semien (2015-20); Scott Hatteberg (2002-05); Ray Fosse (1973-75); Dave Duncan (1968-72); Tony La Russa (as player and manager)
The No. 10 was worn by the largest number of significant figures in the team’s history in Oakland. The first year the A’s were in Oakland, it was worn by two players — Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan — who would go on to lead the A’s to three straight World Series in 1988-90 as manager and pitching coach, respectively, and revolutionize the way modern teams used their bullpens.
When Duncan was traded after the 1972 season, the A’s got back a catcher from Cleveland named Ray Fosse, whose contributions to the franchise extended well beyond his three seasons behind the plate for the A’s. The longtime A’s radio and TV color commentator was among the most beloved figures in team history.
Wayne Gross wore the No. 10 from 1976-83, when he was an underrated infielder for a club that had its ups and downs during that stretch. In 2002, the A’s gave the number to a free-agent signee named Scott Hatteberg, who hit the most cinematic home run in Oakland A’s history and made playing first base look not so terribly difficult. The number remained at first base from 2007-11 on the back of Daric Barton, who unfairly served as a symbol of all that went wrong with the A’s roster building during that era.
After a brief appearance on the back of slugger Adam Dunn (who is still waiting to hit in the playoffs) in 2014, the No. 10 landed in 2015 with Oakland native Marcus Semien, who quietly amassed 19.7 WAR while becoming a fan favorite. Not giving Semien a decent offer in free agency after the 2020 season was, in retrospect, the biggest clue the team wasn’t as #RootedinOakland as they claimed to be at the time.
No. 35
Notable players: Rickey Henderson (1979-84); Vida Blue (1970-72); Bob Welch (1988-94); Frank Thomas (2006 and 2008)
The No. 35 may not be the first that comes to mind when thinking about the Oakland A’s, and that’s likely because it was worn by at least two superstars for part — but not all — of their A’s tenures.
It is the number Vida Blue wore when he established himself as one of the best left-handed starters in baseball, donning it from 1970-72. During that stretch, he won a Cy Young and an MVP, threw a no-hitter, won an ERA title and helped the A’s win their first World Series. He’d do some great things wearing No. 14, as well.
The next prominent young player to be given the number was Rickey Henderson. His No. 24 is retired but it was as No. 35 that he burst onto the scene. From 1979-84, Rickey ran wild, leading the league in stolen bases in five straight seasons, breaking the single-season stolen base record and eclipsing the 100-stolen base mark three times.
But when Rickey returned to the A’s in 1989, he elected to stick with the No. 24 he’d worn in New York, in part because he achieved national fame as a Yankee, but also because a right-hander named Bob Welch was already wearing No. 35.
When the A’s acquired Welch from the Dodgers before the 1988 season, it signaled the team was ready to go from also-ran to contender. Welch was Mr. Reliable in his seven seasons with the A’s, throwing at least 200 innings in four of them, winning a Cy Young and an Oakland franchise-record 27 games in 1990, and helping the team reach three straight World Series. He’d later become a beloved pitching coach in the A’s system before passing away suddenly in 2014.
Dave Stewart wore No. 35 in his final season in 1995, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the number would be prominent again. That’s when one of the best No. 35s in MLB history came to the A’s as a free agent. Frank Thomas hit 39 home runs for the A’s that season, then tacked on two more in the ALDS. It was one of the single greatest offensive seasons in Oakland A’s history.
Other great numbers
No. 25 — Notably worn by Mark McGwire (1986-97) and Brent Rooker (2023-24)
There haven’t been a large number of great players to wear the No. 25 in Oakland, but that’s in part because one superstar wore it for more than a decade. Mark McGwire hit an Oakland franchise record 363 homers from 1986-97 wearing that number. He was also a Rookie of the Year (1987) and a nine-time All-Star.
The A’s didn’t retire the number, but it remained unissued until 2004, when a brash rookie named Nick Swisher wore it in September, though he’d make his mark wearing another prominent number (see below). A random array of players wore it over the subsequent 19 years, including starter Esteban Loaiza and hometown hero Stephen Piscotty.
But it finally found an appropriate home last season when it was assigned to Brent Rooker, who hit 30 homers and made the All-Star team in 2023. This season, he’s been even better and is threatening to join franchise legends McGwire, Giambi, Tejada and José Canseco as the only Oakland A’s players to hit .300, 30 homers and 100+ RBIs in the same season (Rooker is batting .XXX with XX homers and XXX RBIs as of Wednesday).
No. 33 — Notably worn by José Canseco (1985-92; 1997); Nick Swisher (2005-07); JJ Bleday (2023-24)
Of course, it’s hard to think of the No. 25 with the A’s and not immediately think of No. 33, the number worn by Canseco when he was McGwire’s Bash Brother. Canseco won a Rookie of the Year (1986), an MVP (1988) and became the first MLB player in the 40/40 club as No. 33. His outsized personality and off-field shenanigans also made him one of the most memorable players in Oakland franchise history.
It was only fitting then that the first prominent A’s player to wear No. 33 after Canseco was Swisher, the goofy outfielder who hit 78 homers in three seasons as No. 33 before he was traded to the White Sox. The number bounced around a bit after Swisher was traded but has found a home with JJ Bleday, who set a franchise record for doubles this season as part of a breakout year for the outfielder.
No. 14 — Notably worn by Vida Blue (1973-77); Mark Ellis (2002-11); Ben Grieve (1997-2000); Mike Bordick (1992-96)
Blue won two more World Series with the A’s after switching from No. 35 to No. 14. Ben Grieve took home a Rookie of the Year award in the number in 1998, while Mike Bordick and Mark Ellis each wore the number for long stretches as two of the best defensive middle infielders in franchise history. LGBTQ icon Glenn Burke also wore No. 14 for two seasons.
No. 20 — Notably worn by Mark Mulder (2000-04); Tony Armas (1981-82); Huston Street (2005-08); Josh Donaldson (2012-14); Mark Canha (2015-21)
The No. 20 carries an air of ‘what might have been’ in A’s history. Mark Mulder, Huston Street and Josh Donaldson established themselves as stars with the A’s early in their careers (Street won Rookie of the Year in 2005), but all three were traded before they reached free agency. Tony Armas wore the number in his final two seasons with the A’s, during which he, Rickey and Dwayne Murphy formed the best outfield in baseball. Mark Canha did the number proud as a Rule 5 pick made good from 2015-21, and Zack Gelof is the latest promising young player to wear it.
No. 21 — Notably worn by Dwayne Murphy (1979-87); Mike Moore (1989-92); Cory Lidle (2001-02); Mark Kotsay (as a player 2004-07); Stephen Vogt (2013-16; 2022)
The No. 21 holds sentimental value for me. That was the number worn by my first favorite baseball player, Dwayne Murphy, who made playing center field an art form from 1979-87. He was also an underrated hitter and base runner and later became a well-respected hitting coach.
Right-hander Mike Moore took over the number in 1989 and helped the A’s win a World Series that year, finishing third in the Cy Young balloting. Moore never threw fewer than 199 innings in any of his four seasons with the A’s. Cory Lidle, who wore the number in 2001-02, was the underrated fourth pillar in the ‘Big Three’ rotation and was the most dominant starter during the 20-game win streak.
Current A’s manager Mark Kotsay took over as No. 21 in 2004 and wore it for four seasons. He hit the most memorable inside-the-park home run in A’s playoff history, busting from home to home on turf while nursing a bad back. A few more notable players wore it after Kotsay, including Bartolo Colón in 2012 when he set the record for most consecutive strikes thrown in a start.
Colón gave up the number in 2013, making way for Stephen Vogt to wear it from 2013-17 and then again in 2022. There were few players more popular in Oakland franchise history than Vogt, who walked off a postseason game as a rookie and famously hit a homer for his first major-league hit and for his last wearing that No. 21.
(Top photo of Coco Crisp: Nick Laham / Getty Images)
