5 is a classic number

i've mentioned before that i am a numbers guy. that includes jersey numbers, and when i was a kid just starting to follow baseball, i tried to figure out who wore number 6 on every team thanks to steve garvey being my favorite player. i also paid attention to other numbers, like 5, that were worn by a number of stars of the day. i also was partial to number 5 because that was the first number i wore in little league (an older kid had claimed 6) as it was the number of jim lefebvre, my dad's favorite position player.

anyway, i am often taken with cards or sets that deal with uniform numbers (retired numbers in particular), and so was pleased to find a few cards tucked away in a monster box recently.  these three cards come from 2003 fleer flair greats, and picture johnny bench

george brett

and brooks robinson

all true greats of the game who wore number 5.

a few years ago, i wrote a post about how my thinking of number 5 was changing with the emergence of corey seager, but to be honest, i never really gave up lefebvre as the first 5 i thought of. with seager's departure, i am guessing that freddie freeman will take over number 5 for the dodgers. it was quite a coincidence, then, that i pulled this 2022 topps commemorative "relic"

from a pack on the day that he signed with the club. in terms of acquisitions, i see freeman as adrian gonzalez 2.0 which is not a bad thing. i would guess that this means max muncy can dh full time, and an infield of freeman, taylor, turner and turner is pretty decent.

of course, the first dodger number 5 that i knew of was the late johnny oates. he wore that number as a member of the 1977 and 1978 dodgers - the team of my youth - and so holds a special place in my fandom. speaking of oates, i found some more photos from camera day at dodger stadium in 1978. i had included a couple that we took in an earlier post about that day, but my dad had since sent a few more, including mr. oates:

also captured by my dad on film were bill russell:

steve yeager:

terry forster:

and dennis lewallyn:

lewallyn had pitched the day before in what turned out to be his only appearance of the 1978 season. i might have to update my 1978 topps update/bk dodgers card that should have been for lewallyn using this photo instead.

back to the main topic of this post - here's to another great number 5 on the dodgers!