Sunday, March 18, 2012

Guys Who Have Worn 18

Nobody wore number 18 the first three seasons the Padres were around. Dave Hilton was the first, wearing it in 1972 and '73. Glenn Beckert was next in '74 and part of '75. Steve Huntz wore it in late '75 and the awesomely named Mike Champion rocked it in the bicentennial. Gene Tenace had it for four seasons, from '77 through '80. Jim Lefebvre held it down in '81-'83 before Kevin McReynolds in '83-'86. It was vacated in '87, '88 and again in '90. Chris James wore it the second half of '89 after being acquired for John Kruk and Randy Ready. Jim Presley wore it briefly in early '91 before Craig Shipley began the longest occupancy of 18 in team history, first from '91 through '94 and again in '96 and '97 after being reacquired back from the Astros. Ray Holbert wore it in Shipley's absence in '95. Randy Myers took it in '98 and Woody Williams had it from 1999 through 2001. Kevin Witt also wore it in '01, followed by a revolving door cast of Kory DeHaan and Gene Kingsale in '02, Keith Lockhart in '03 and Darren Bragg '04. Paul McAnulty wore 18 from his first appearance in '05 through his last in '08. I knew he kept showing up like a bad penny but I was surprised that he was around for parts of four seasons. Tony, Jr. wore one less than his dad's number in '09 and '10 and Cedric Hunter rocked it last season. Carlos Quentin has it this year. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing it in action until at least a couple weeks after Opening Day.

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