Lucky (?) 13

November 13, 2015 · 2 comments

I never got that. Without going into the popular history of friggatriskaidekaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th as opposed to triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number itself), isn’t 13 kind of a good number for the Jews? Bar mitzva and all?

According to Baseball-Reference.com, there have been 299 players who wore the number 13 for part or all of  their careers, among them such notables as Alex Rodriguez and Omar Vizquel. Then again, Ralph Branca, Roberto Clemente (for one season), Ray Fosse, Jim Leyritz, and John Roseboro also wore that number, with mixed results.

I took this pic at the La Jolla Marriott last weekend when I in town for a book event. It seemed like a relatively new building, so why are they still subscribing to the fairy tale that there is no 13th floor?

Anyway, as per my friend Jon Leonoudakis, who is about to release a documentary about landsman Arnold Hano, the 93-year-old (80 + 13) sportswriter and author of the classic A Day in The Bleachers: “Happy Friday the 13th from Ron Santo and friend.”

 

 

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1 Dennis Anderson November 13, 2015 at 5:11 pm

One of the best to wear No. 13 was Dave Concepcion, who should be a Hall-of-Famer.

2 Ron Kaplan November 13, 2015 at 12:49 pm

Oversight on my part for not including him. Good catch, Dennis.

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