The 'unluckiest' day

 

Who remembers Will Ohman? It's a big day for him ... well, it probably would have been bigger if he was still playing. But it's still a big day.

 

Today is Ohman's birthday. It's also International Left Handers Day. Ohman happens to be left-handed. It's also Friday the 13th. Ohman wore No. 13 during his career. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Yup, I just went through and figured out all of the major league players in history who were both left-handed and wore the number 13.

It's the least I can do for folks who were first born lefty -- considered "unlucky" and even "evil," by misguided folks many years ago -- and then chose the No. 13 for a uniform number on top of that. I'm sure these players would have been singled out in less pleasant ways by the Puritans and other burn-the-witch types.

After looking through baseball-reference's super-helpful uniform numbers page, I came up with 48 exclusive players all-time who are both left-handed and have worn the number 13.

There are three players active today who have each of those traits. One of them is outfielder Luis Barrera of the Oakland A's, but he's played in just four games this year.

 

Another is Brad Miller, who plays for the Phillies now and currently wears No. 13. He also wore No. 13 when he was playing for Tampa Bay from 2016-18.

 

The other player is relief pitcher Will Smith. He doesn't wear No. 13 now while with the Braves, he's wearing No. 51. But with the Brewers and then with the Giants, he wore that number. It's been the dominant number in his career as it covered almost an eight-year period.

That's it for current players. But I can't stop there. I'm going to show the top 10 notable players who wore the No. 13 at one time or another and also are left-handed. At the end, I'll list the entire 48-player roster.

Here are the biggest names:

1. Harold Baines

Baines wore the No. 13 only with the Texas Rangers in 1989. The next year with the Rangers he switched to No. 3.

 

 

 2. Steve Barber

A regular member of the Orioles' mid-1960s pitching staff, Barber wore the No. 13 for seven years with the Orioles and then for his season with the Pilots in 1969.

3. Carl Crawford

Crawford's No. 13-wearing days came mainly with the Rays and for a couple years with the Red Sox. He didn't wear No. 13 with the Dodgers, which just shows you how much malarkey that "unlucky 13" stuff is because the Dodger portion of his career was a disaster.

 

4. Mark Davis

As a counterpoint to what I wrote about Crawford, Davis wore No. 13 for the Giants and then the Padres for a five-year period. But by the time he won the Cy Young Award in 1989, he was wearing No. 48.

5. Jeff Fassero

 

Fassero, like many pitchers in the '90s, changed teams a lot. But that No. 13 followed him to most places. He wore it between 1993-99 and from 2001-04.

 

 

6. Ruppert Jones

One of the first notable Seattle Mariners players, Ruppert Jones didn't start wearing the No. 13 until the end of his career with the Angels.

7. Steve Kemp

Same deal with Kemp. Known for his slugging days with the Tigers and Yankees, Kemp picked up the No. 13 for the end of his career with the Pirates.

8. Rich Reese

When Reese was starting for the Twins between 1968-71, he wasn't wearing No. 13 anymore. He took that number during his first years in the bigs in 1965 and 1966.

9. Bobby Tolan

Tolan primarily wore No. 28 during his 13-year career (there's that number again!). No. 13 didn't appear until his last season with the Padres. I guess that was the thing to do for aging veterans back in the day.

10. Billy Wagner

No-end-of-the-career stuff for Wagner, though. He wore the No. 13 for his entire 16-year career with the Astros, Phillies, Red Sox, Mets and Braves.

OK, apologies to Rico Brogna, Rheal Cormier, Casey Kotchman, Nyjer Morgan, Justin Smoak and others. Your names will be appearing on the list below.

Consider it the definitive list of those lucky enough to be left-handed and wear the No. 13 in the major leagues.

Xavier Avery, OF, 2012

Harold Baines, DH/OF, 1989

Steve Barber, P, 1961-67, 1969

Luis Barrera, OF, 2021 (4 games)

Bob Beall, OF, 1975

Ted Beard, OF, 1951

Jerry Blevins, P, 2008-13, 2014-15

Zach Braddock, P, 2010

Rico Brogna, 1B, 1992

Ken Chase, P, 1941

Jose Constanza, OF, 2012-14

Rheal Cormier, P, 1997

Carl Crawford, OF, 2003-07, 2008-12

Mark Davis, P, 1983-87

Trench Davis, OF, 1986

John Douglas, 1B, 1945 (5 games with the Dodgers)

Tom Dunbar, OF/DH, 1983-85

Bruce Ellingsen, P, 1974

Jeff Fassero, P, 1993-99, 2001-04

Kason Gabbard, P, 2007-08

Jacob Hannemann, OF, 2017

John Harris, 1B/OF, 1981

Nathan Haynes, OF, 2007-08

Gorman Heimueller, P, 1983-84

Zach Jackson, P, 2006

Doug Jennings, OF/1B, 1991

Ruppert Jones, OF, 1985-86

Steve Kemp, OF, 1985

Casey Kotchman, 1B, 2010

Billy McMillon, OF, 2001, 2003-04

Bill Miller, P, 1955

Brad Miller, OF, 2016-18, 2021

Nyjer Morgan, OF, 2007

Jeff Musselman, P, 1987-90

Will Ohman, P, 2006-08, 2010

Yorkis Perez, P, 1998

Roberto Petagine, 1B/OF, 2005

J.R. Phillips, 1B/OF, 1994-95

Tike Redman, OF, 2005, 2007

Rich Reese, 1B/OF, 1965-66

Kerry Robinson, OF, 2001-02

Will Smith, P, 2014-16, 2018-19

Justin Smoak, 1B, 2015

Bobby Tolan, OF/1B, 1979

Billy Wagner, P, 1995-2010

Tommy Warren, P, 1944

Ramon Webster, 1B/OF, 1971

Bill Wilkinson, P, 1985, 1987-88

 

Since I am left-handed (I never wore No. 13 though), I like this annual day to recognize lefties. And I've written posts about left-handed players a couple of times on this day. I've also written posts about players who wore No. 13.

 

But this is the first time I've written about the two of them together.

 

It's a pretty special day. Even if you don't agree, I bet Will Ohman will.