Move over, Aaron Judge, there's a new No. 99 in New York baseball.
That would be Taijuan Walker, who will officially wear No.
99 as a Met. The choice is about as far away as you can get from Walker's previous number – he wore 00 in Toronto last season – but not new to him, as he wore the highest two-digit number in Arizona from 2017-19 and in Seattle last year.
For fans who were hoping to have both a 0 and a 00 in the rotation with Marcus Stroman and Walker, well, the choice is a little disappointing – but even though Stro has the single zero, why didn't Walker go for the double?
"Mr. Met is double-zero, so I went back to No. 99," Walker smiled on a Zoom call Tuesday.
Walker then explained his odyssey of numbers, which has seen him wear five different ones in his career.
"I was 44 growing up, and I finally got it with the Mariners in 2016. When I got traded to the Diamondbacks, Paul Goldschmidt had 44, so I knew I wasn't getting that again," Walker said. "I looked around and thought about what number I could wear that not a lot of people in the league have. I saw 99 was available, and thought, 'well, the only way I can't wear 99 is if I get traded to the Yankees,' so that was a safe bet."
Not so fast, Taijuan.
"Last year I got traded to Toronto and Hyun-Jin Ryu wore No.
99, so I took double-zero," Walker said. "Just something different, but this year, Mr. Met is double-zero, so I went back to No. 99."
Mr. Met's response?
Chances are, Walker could've gotten the mascot a nice bottle of wine or something – perhaps the Tom Seaver wine Walker said he popped the day he signed with the Mets – to get 00, but alas, he will become just the second Met ever to wear 99 (Turk Wendell wore it from 1997-2001), and leave Tony Clark (2003) as the only Met to wear 00.
In case you were wondering, Stroman is the fourth to wear a single 0, following Terry McDaniel (1991). Rey Ordonez (1997), and Omar Quintanilla (2014).
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