Keeping Up With The Joneses

Justin Wilson, reportedly on his way to the Mets on a two-year contract, will become the sixth player with the surname Wilson and the ninth overall Wilson in club history, when you include first-name Wilsons (Valdez, Delgado and now Ramos).

The well-traveled lefty reliever, most recently a member of the Cubs, looks like the guy we’ll be turning to when we need to retire Freddy Freeman (and sure, Bryce Harper) and has worn a variety of numbers in his career including the retired 41 and 37, so they’ll likely slot him into some available digit, I’m guessing the 38 or 39 last belonging previous veteran relief washouts Anthony Swarzak and Jerry Blevins, respectively. (An alert reader has pointed out 39 has already gone to Edwin Diaz, so we’re going with 38).

And what about the name? Looks like Met uni-stitchers have applied the WILSON nametag as often as all but four other surnames. Here’s a rundown of the families (excluding first-names, coaches and managers). I last updated this list in the most recent edition of the book and am horrified to learn just now, I appear to have shortchanged the Martinez family by leaving off Teddy; the Smith Boys, along with the Wilsons, have climbed the charts since. (*-yet to appear)

No. of Players Surname Roster
8 Jones Barry, Bobby J., Bobby M., Chris, Cleon, Randy, Ross, Sherman.
8 Johnson Ben, Bob L., Bob W., Howard, Kelly, Lance, Mark, Rob
7 Hernandez Anderson, Keith, Livan, Luis, Manny, Orlando, Roberto
7 Smith Bobby Gene, Charley, Dick, Dominic, Drew, Joe, Pete
6 Wilson Justin*, Mookie, Paul, Preston, Tom, Vance
5 Miller Bob G., Bob L., Dyar, Keith, Larry
5 Taylor Billy, Chuck, Hawk, Ron, Sammy
5 Martinez Fernando, Pedro A, Pedro J., Ramon, Ted
4 Anderson Craig, Jason, Marlon, Rick
4 Bell Derek, Gus, Heath, Jay
4 Marshall Dave, Jim, Mike A., Mike G.
4 Phillips Andy, Jason, Mike, Tony
4 Young Anthony, Chris B., Chris R., Eric
4 Davis Ike, JD*, Kane, Tommy
4 Diaz Carlos, Edwin*, Mario, Victor
  • Twitter
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon

17 comments

  1. Richard says:

    It will have to be 38. Diaz took 39

  2. Chris says:

    Davis will join the 4s if J.D. gets into a game (Ike, Tommy, Kane).

  3. Jim A says:

    Mets.com has Wilson wearing 37! Not possible.

    Other Mets.com number assignments for what they are worth:
    Jeurys Familia – 27 – no surprise
    Wilson Ramos – 3 – currently worn by Nido
    Keon Broxton – 62 – currently worn by Drew Smith
    Luis Avilan – 43 – available
    Arquimedes Caminero – 49 – currently worn by Bashlor
    Hector Santiago – 53 – available
    Dilson Herrera – 2 – I guess Cecchini forfeited it?
    Gregor Blanco – 7 -Didn’t even let it get cold
    Rajai Davis – 11 – available
    Rymer Liriano – 62 – a very popular number!

    Most of these numbers were worn by the players at some point in their careers, but 62 seems entirely random.

    To view these numbers, you have to go into the Mets 40-man and Non-Roster listings, and then click on the players name. They don’t show up on the listing, just on the individual player page.

    Will be interesting to see how valid these assignments are.

    • Bill M says:

      I think the numbers on the new player pages are not very reliable. Ramos has already been assigned 40 & I think Broxton has been assigned 23.

      • Jon Springer says:

        Yes, I saw the few listed (Broxton 62 and Wilson 37) and figured they were wrong, thanks for the updates!

        • Chris says:

          For whatever it’s worth, Wikipedia’s list of MLB rosters shows Vargas in #43.

          • Bill M says:

            Actually that same Wiki page had Broxton in 23 last week & now has him listed with no #. Probably best we hold off a bit until something more reliable comes out.

  4. Kieran says:

    Quick tip: CBS seems to post the updated uniform numbers every year much earlier than all other websites.

    https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/NYM/new-york-mets/roster/

    For the non-roster guys, you just have to search them by name, but they all have updated numbers too (with the exceptions Arquimedes Caminero and Tim Tebow for some reason). So just those two and the new coaches to figure out.

  5. Kieran says:

    My last post doesn’t seem to be popping up. Maybe it will come up later. In any event, I was saying that CBS Sports usually posts the uniform numbers first every year. I’ll try to cover everything new here:

    4 Jed Lowrie
    6 Jeff McNeil
    7 Gregor Blanco
    11 Rajai Davis
    13 Luis Guillorme
    16 Dilson Herrera
    19 T.J. Rivera
    20 Peter Alonso
    23 Keon Broxton
    24 Robinson Cano
    27 Jeurys Familia
    28 J.D. Davis
    29 Devin Mesoraco (just re-signed, but likely)
    33 Kyle Dowdy
    38 Justin Wilson (maybe subject to change since he’s new)
    39 Edwin Diaz
    40 Wilson Ramos
    43 Luis Avilan
    44 Jason Vargas
    46 Hector Santiago
    61 Walker Lockett
    64 Chris Flexen (same as last year I think, but he’s blank on mets.com)
    66 Franklyn Kilome
    68 Rymer Liriano
    71 Ryan O’Rourke
    72 Andres Gimenez
    74 Ali Sanchez
    75 Colton Plaia
    76 Patrick Mazeika
    77 David Peterson
    79 Anthony Kay
    80 P.J. Conlon
    81 Corey Taylor
    82 Joshua Torres
    83 Stephen Villines
    84 Ryder Ryan
    — Arquimedes Caminero (not in CBS database for some reason)
    — Tim Tebow (number not updated from last year, but educated guess is 15)

    Wilson and Mesoraco need confirmation, we’ll have to see on Caminero and Tebow, and then we still have the new coaches to figure out.

  6. Matt B says:

    mets.com caught up to CBS sports and has posted everyone’s numbers.

  7. Gene F. says:

    Mets.com shows Caminero in 26, and confirmed Kieran’s speculation on Mesoraco in 29.

    Nice to see that Rivera and McNeil get real numbers. Yay!

    I guess seeing Dowdy in 33 means the Harvey number retirement is postponed indefinitely.

  8. Chris says:

    Mets.com lists Jim Riggleman in #50, Chili Davis in #54, and Chuck Hernandez in #59.

  9. Kieran says:

    Not much left for new signee Danny Espinosa. Looks like 25, 85, 0 (if they want to be weird), or 17 (if they want to do that to Keith).

    • Chris says:

      Or, if they’re moving on from unofficially retired numbers, they could give him #8, which he’s worn with Washington and Tampa.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *