Mets Give Out A Number They Usually Don't...But Apparently Not For Long
Nick Morabito made his Mets debut tonight, and was wearing number 8. This was Gary Carter's number as a Met (and throughout his career except for a few games in 1974), and while it's never been retired, there has been speculation that it will be, and it hasn't been given out since 2001.
HOWEVER, the team's announcers said on the broadcast that this was just temporary, because there wasn't time to have the uniform done so they just went with what they had. It seems strange to me that that's what they'd have, although I suppose it's possible that they keep a spare number 8 around precisely because it's not likely to be anyone's permanent number. But it doesn't seem terribly unlikely that either it was given out by mistake, or that they really intended to give him the number and changed course when fans (or maybe even Carter's family or someone) objected.
At any rate, Anthony DiComo is now reporting that Morabito will switch to number 55, saying that "Unlike No. 8, he chose that one himself."
This feels like an "only the Mets" moment, but has something similar happened with any other team in recent years?