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Let’s Wear Two: Braun Dons Yelich’s Jersey Under His Own

For all photos, click to enlarge

As you’ve probably heard by now, Brewers outfielder and reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich fractured his kneecap on Tuesday and is out for the rest of the season.

With the Brewers fighting for a postseason spot and Yelich clearly their best player, you might expect his teammates to salute him and draw shared inspiration by inscribing his number or initials on their caps, or by hanging his jersey in the dugout. But outfielder Ryan Braun had a different idea.

Braun appeared to be wearing two jerseys during last night’s game against the Marlins — it’s clearly evident if you look at the sleeves — and fans on social media immediately speculated that he was wearing Yelich’s jersey under his own. After the game — a 7-5 Brewers victory — Braun confirmed that that’s exactly what he’d been doing. “Just for good luck,” he said. “They’re about the same size [Braun: 6′2″, 205; Yelich: 6′3″, 195 — PL]. It felt a little different, but I was just trying to bring the good vibes.”

Here are some additional views:

We’ve seen plenty of instances of players wearing two base-layer undershirts in cold weather, but I can’t recall another time when a player has worn two jerseys.

Over the next few seasons, Nike will no doubt be telling us how their MLB uniforms are the lightest and therefore most performance-enhancing baseball unis ever. When that happens, remember that Ryan Braun actually chose to make himself heavier last night — and probably restricted his range of motion a bit, too — by wearing a second jersey. Can you imagine an athlete in any other sport doing that? It really shows how baseball is different. That’s why they still wear belted pants and button-front jerseys, which wouldn’t make sense in any other sport.

Braun ended up having a pretty miserable night (0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a GIDP), so I’m guessing he’ll retire this good-luck move after one game. But Yahoo Sports writer Torrey Hart suggests that the Brewers should make Yelich’s jersey sort of an in-game trophy: “[T]he Brewer who has the best night [gets to wear] Yeli’s jersey the following game.” Will they take her advice? We’ll find out soon enough, because the Brewers and Marlins play again at 1pm Eastern today.

Update: Sure enough, he’s doing it again today.

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New SI piece: Two days ago, in the wake of the NFL and NBA both cracking down on unauthorized accessories, I asked you folks for additional examples of banned gear. You came up with a bunch of them (plus I thought of a few of my own, like Dwyane Wade’s sunglasses from 2011, shown above), mostly from the NBA, so I cobbled those into a new SI piece on NBA accessories that the league has given the heave-ho. You can check it out here.

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Seeing double: Odd scene in last night’s Braves/Phils game, as Atlanta outfield Rafael Ortega stepped up to the plate with an extra “A” logo on the top of his batting helmet. Probably a prank from his teammates, right?

(My thanks to the many, many people who brought this one to my attention.)

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Click to enlarge

Say hey! Say what?: Do you recognize these uniforms? They’re from the Cracker Jack Old-Timers Classic, which was played in DC from 1982 through ’85. Longtime reader/contributor William F. Yurasko has compiled several videos from those games, which you can see here. That Rawlings maker’s mark on the pants is brutal, no?

According to a report that William quotes, Robert Merrill, who usually sang the national anthem for the Yankees, agreed to handle the anthem duties for the Classic “if he could have a uniform with No. 1½” — an odd request!

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Teespring sale reminder: Teespring has been running a lot of these site-wide 10%-off sales lately. Their latest one began today and runs through the end of Friday.

To get the savings, order anything from the Uni Watch Shop and/or the Naming Wrongs Shop and use the checkout code S3PT3MB3R (yes, Teespring seems to have a knack for cringe-inducing codes). You’ll save 10% but Uni Watch will still receive our full profit — a win-win.

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Click to enlarge

Cap reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, we have a new cap! If our wool Uni Watch Classic Cap is either too expensive or too warm for you, this new cap might be more to your liking. It’s made of really nice cotton twill, and we’re selling it for $24.99. It’s a strapback, so one size fits all.

We’re only planning to keep this one available for a month or two, so move fast. Additional photos and ordering info here.

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LAST CALL for this week’s raffle: The folks at our longtime advertiser Vintage Brand are generously running another raffle. The lucky winner will get to choose any product from the VB website.

To enter, send an email to the raffle address by 7pm Eastern tomorrow, Sept. 12. One entry per person. I’ll announce the winner on tomorrow.

In addition, Vintage Brand is currently giving away a $100 gift card every day to a random person on their mailing list. To sign up for their list and be eligible for this daily giveaway, look here.

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For all photos in this section, click to enlarge

Va-va-vrooom: Back in 2006, I wrote an article for The New York Times about the Dames of Beef, an eating club of retro-minded women who periodically convened to dine and drink and old-school New York restaurants.

One of the Dames is my friend Rex’s wife, Coco. She and the remaining Dames (the group, which once numbered a dozen, is now about half that size) were eating and drinking Tuesday night at the newly restored TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. So after Rex and I watched the Brooklyn Cyclones win the NY-Penn League championship (which I wrote about yesterday), we drove over to JFK to pick up Coco. She and the rest of the Dames insisted that we let them give us a tour of the place.

For those who don’t know: JFK’s TWA terminal, which was designed by the great midcentury modern designer Eero Saarinen, was considered an architectural landmark when it opened in 1962. Although TWA no longer exists and parts of the terminal have since been demolished, the main part of the terminal was recently restored, and a new retro-styled hotel was added adjacent to it.

The whole thing is a bit of a throwback theme park. The photo above shows the Dames perched on the back of an early-’60s Lincoln Continental that’s permanently parked just outside the lobby. There are old other vehicles installed inside, including this Fiat Jolly:

There’s also the TWA Connie, a 1958 airplane stationed out on the tarmac, just outside the terminal, which has been repurposed as a cocktail lounge:

There was a lot more, including several displays of vintage stewardess uniforms, tons of groovy furniture, and history’s coolest arrivals/departures board. You can see more photos here.

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The Ticker
By Paul

Baseball News: All MLB teams wore 9/11 cap patches last night (except for the Blue Jays who wore interlocking American/Canadian flags). This is MLB’s second league-wide uni gesture this month; the other was yellow ribbons for pediatric cancer last Saturday. Worthy causes, for sure, but it just underscores my recent point they’ve never done anything to salute the American labor movement on Labor Day, which is a national holiday. Just sayin’. … Meanwhile, the Mets, per their annual custom, wore first responder caps (with New Era logo creep, gross) for pregame activities. Mets 1B Pete Alonso wanted the Mets to be able to wear the caps during the game, as they did back in the day, but MLB said no, so Alonso purchased 9/11 tribute shoes for the whole team and they wore those instead. … “MLB Raleigh, a group pushing for baseball in North Carolina’s capital city, got 12 local graphic designers to create names and cap/logo concepts for a new team,” says Mike Chamernik. “The designs are up for a fan vote.” … Here are next season’s MLB spring training logos. … Braves P Mark Melancon is still using his old Giants-logo glove (from many readers).

Pro Football News: New Pats WR and accused rapist Antonio Brown wore No. 1 as a temporary number assignment at his first practice with the team yesterday. … The Ravens’ stadium has a new “architectural mesh” feature with a raven’s wing pattern (from James Gilbert). … The CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 1999 Grey Cup championship. Unfortunately, their logo to mark the anniversary has a brutal apostrophe catastrophe (from Wade Heidt). … David S asks an intriguing question: With Bills opening on the road last week against the Jets and about to play on the road again this Sunday against the Giants (at the same stadium, obviously, since the Jets and Giants share the same building), is this the first time a team has played its first two games in the same stadium without having played a home game? … This is interesting: With the Chiefs set to play the Raiders on the Oakland Coliseum’s dirt baseball infield on Sunday, Chiefs players practiced on the Royals’ infield to prepare (from Randy Watson). … NHL goalie Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars has a Cowboys helmet depicted on his new mask (from @jotophenic).

College Football News: Here are this week’s uni combos for Wake Forest, Washington State, Syracuse, UNC, and UVA (from Rex Henry, Cameron Carriglio, Jakob Fox, James Gilbert, and our own Jamie Rathjen, resepctively). … Here’s a look at the history of tinted visors in college football. … Here’s BYU’s record as an independent school, broken down by uni combo (from @yze_guy). … With Kentucky QB Terry Wilson injured, WR Lynn Bowden will wear Wilson’s No. 3 on Saturday (from Josh Hinton). … No photo yet, but Oklahoma State will be adding a T. Boone Pickens memorial decal. Pickens, who was a big OSU donor, died yesterday (from Griffin Smith). … In a vaguely related item, sports radio gasbag Mike Francesa thinks T. Boone’s name was T-Bone. … Baylor has apparently added merit decals. … Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts’s sock/shoe combos have attracted some attention (from Sam McKinley). … In a small victory for sanity, Ohio State’s attempt to trademark the word “The” has been rejected (from our own Anthony Emerson).

Hockey News: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: New mask for Flyers G Carter Hart (from Kevin Kurz). … Speaking of Hart, he was wearing a shirt with a logo that was apparently a Flyers/FC Barcelona mash-up. … Check it out: a Canucks corn maze (from Wade Heidt). … Rangers C Boo Nieves is changing his number from 24 to 15, apparently so rookie Kaapo Kakko can have No. 24 (from Alan Kreit). … “I was at the Toledo Walleye (ECHL) season ticket holder party,” says Chris Marcinko. “The ECHL entered into an exclusive contract with Athletic Knit to produce sweaters for all teams this year, and I got a few shots of the Walleye’s new sweaters. They’re not a whole lot different from last year’s CCM Edge models, but there are minor differences with the template.” … Cross-listed from the Pro Football section: Stars G Jake Oettinger has a Dallas Cowboys helmet depicted on his new mask (from @jotophenic).

NBA News: The name of the Heat’s arena will no longer be an ad for an airline. It will presumably become an ad for something else, but we don’t yet know what that something else will be (from Preston Feiler). … In yet another small victory for sanity, Lakers star LeBron James’s application to trademark “Taco Tuesday” has been denied. … You can keep up with the latest NBA uni number news by following Etienne Catalan’s Twitter feed.

College Hoops News: New uniforms for Texas Tech (from @SlamDuncumSport). … It appears that Florida’s new uniforms do not include the little logo shield at the neckline. Although you can’t see it in those photos, it has apparently been replaced by the gold rear-collar tab that’s now appearing on Nike Platinum Elite uniforms. … New home whites for Illinois. Here’s last year’s design, for comparison (from many readers). … New logo for the WNIT (from Evan Tynan). … Duke has teased a new uniform (from David Blumenthal).

Soccer News: New Oktoberfest shirt for 1860 Munich (from Ed Zelaski). … “Long-sleeved shirts have become rare in soccer, though a few players, like France’s Antoine Griezmann, continue to wear them,” says Denis Hurley. “After winning the World Cup in 2018, France’s long-sleeved shirt design has changed slightly and it’s the latest in a series of sleeve-related oddities for them.” … As usual, lots of good stuff from Josh Hinton’s Twitter feed.

Grab Bag: South Korea has asked the International Olympic Committee to ban Japan’s “rising sun” flag at next year’s Tokyo Games, calling it a symbol of Japan’s brutal wartime past (from K.C. Kless). … NASCAR Cup driver Chase Elliott will kick off Pinktober with a pink “Hooters” car (from Christopher Hickey). … “As a civil engineer, I’ve dealt extensively with traffic signs,” says Jeff Laux. “Thanks to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), every state has the same sign standards, which makes navigating consistent (and thus easier) for drivers across state lines. An engineer named Richard Moeur has put together a free unofficial guide to the MUTCD which is a phenomenal resource for anyone who’s interested, professionals or casual fans alike.” Highly recommended! … New shoes for Syracuse lacrosse. … Following up on an item from yesterday’s Ticker: The disqualification of a high school swimmer due to her swimsuit’s “wedgie effect” has been reversed (from Jason Collins). … Boston Latin School, which is the oldest public school in the country, has a new logo, and some people don’t like it. … Faaaascinating Twitter thread — basically an essay in 280-character increments — on the guy who supposedly invented fridge magnets. Highly recommended (big thanks to @ThatShaneBua). … Good look at the tartan-patterned shoulders on Scotland’s Rugby World Cup jersey (from @ohhhsourry).

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True love will find you in the end: Word came down yesterday that the eccentric singer/songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston died on Tuesday night. He had suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for most of his life, and it had become apparent in recent years, at least based on the reports I had seen, that his physical condition had deteriorated along with his mental health. He was 58.

I often found myself conflicted about Johnston’s work. Like so many listeners, I was captivated by the intensity and childlike innocence (to say nothing of the catchiness) of his tunes. But I always had the nagging feeling that his work was held in such high esteem in part because of his well-documented psychiatric struggles and erratic behavior. In short, he was an engaging freak, not just an artist but a story, and I’m pretty sure that colored people’s perceptions of his work (including my own). It was also hard not to wonder if he was being exploited on some level by the music scene that admired him so much.

Artists and other creative people often say they have almost an obsessive-compulsive need to keep creating, keep working. I always got the sense that this was particularly true for Johnston, who seemed to have so much inside of him that needed to get out. He often drew himself with his head cut open and all sorts of things emerging from it, which I thought captured his manic artistic urge really well.

I met Johnston once, in 1988, when he made his first visit to New York. My friend and fellow fanzine publisher Mike McGonigal had befriended him and invited me to accompany them as they walked around the East Village. I mainly remember Johnston being nice but weird. At one point he told me that Satanists could always tell he was a Christian by looking at his eyes, and then they’d want to mess with him. “That’s why I always wear dark glasses around them, even at night,” he explained. I just nodded. Johnston ended up in the psych ward a few days later after attacking Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley.

If you ever saw the 2005 documentary about him, The Devil and Daniel Johnston (really, really good; trailer shown above), then you know that Johnston was a handful. As is often the case for people with mental illness, his family bore a lot of the burden, with his parents and siblings devoting much of their lives to taking care of him. And despite all the love Johnston got from them and from his fans, happiness seemed like a very fleeting thing for him. I’m sorry he’s gone, but I’m glad he’s no longer in pain. When someone dies, we always say, “Rest in peace,” but I’ve never meant it more, or more literally, than I do today: R.I.P., Daniel.

 
  
 
Comments (51)

    Braun’s double-sleeve stripes are a happy reminder of the Brewers’ first jerseys, with their repurposed Pilots captain’s rank stripes: link

    Milwaukee needs louder sleeves!

    Love love love the TWA terminal. I am so glad that I actually was able to use it while it was functioning back in the 90’s. My girlfriend who is now my wife got delayed on a trip to Florida for 4hrs. We hung out at the bar and proceeded to get smashed but it was almost like being in a MadMen episode before there was MadMen.
    For some reason ever since I was a kid to this day I always have a thing for that mid-century look.

    Robert Merrill had a #1 1/2 Yankees jersey that he often wore to Old Timers Day ceremonies. There’s a picture here:
    link

    Paul,
    Thanks for your remembrance of Daniel Johnston. Coincidently I had just purchased this welcome mat last week on etsy for a new home my wife and I are moving into later this month.
    link
    I hope Daniel and also the recently passed David Berman are at resting at peace.

    Mets not being allowed to wear the first responder hats, and the logo creep on said hats in pregame is disgusting and a perfect example of how the big leagues now view uniforms. They are products to be sold, plain and simple, if there is no money to be made off of it, its not going to happen. Sure, we’ll force teams to wear ugly one off uniforms they don’t like during players weekend, because we can sell those. But allowing the NY teams to wear first responder caps on Sept 11, a day that is so meaningful in this country and especially in NY… nope that’s a violation of uniform protocol. It becomes harder and harder to be a fan of professional sports with all of their complete hypocrisy on matters related to the fans and “causes”. Patriotism and love ones country, city, or community only matters to them if they can package and sell it in camo /flag merchandise, or otherwise monetize it through promotional events.

    I do remember a hockey player with two jerseys on, but this was just in the pregame.

    Ray Bourque taking the #7 jersey off his back during Phil Esposito’s jersey retirement. He was sporting another Bruins jersey with his new #77 underneath.

    link

    Bourque taking off his 7 jersey with the 77 underneath was a fantastic moment and gesture. Just one more reason to love the Bruins.

    I can not express to you how fascinated I was, when I was a kid, with traffic signs! I was around 10 years old when I used to read the MD Drivers Manual over and over when my mom was studying to get her license. This Manual of Traffic Signs site reminds me of that manual :-)

    Paul,

    Great travelogue yesterday and I meant to ask this question then but forgot. Did you talk to anyone during your trip about Notre Dame sports/football/the name “Fighting Irish”? I’m curious their thoughts, fandom, general interest or lack thereof. Also, did you see anyone wearing Notre Dame fan gear? (Of note, Notre Dame plays Navy in Ireland next year.)

    Wow, Paul met Daniel Johnston. Very interesting! I’ve been spinning his records since I found out last night. Very sad to hear, but what a soul that deserves the rest.

    I had one of those forced-air electric chord organs – I think it was called “Organaire” – that Daniel Johnston was playing, when I was a kid.

    I can’t put my finger on exactly why I love lo-fi music. I’m a minimalist when it comes to uniform design AND music, it seems. Doing more with less is just soooo satisfying to me.

    Not quite two jerseys, but it’s an old story that Michael Jordan’s Bulls shorts were longer than the then-norm because he wore UNC short-shorts underneath.

    Michael Jordan played his entire NBA career with UNC practice shorts under his game shorts. Some accounts claim that this is why he required extra-long shorts which ultimately lead to the end of short-shorts.

    Braun confirmed after the game that he’ll be wearing the jersey again today, but I like the pass around idea!

    Another “not quite” example of two jerseys, but that I find interesting:
    Alex Ovechkin likes to pull the ends of his jersey sleeves way up, exposing some forearm protection on the elbow pads. This is a banned look by the NHL. The solution? Ovechkin has one pair of elbow pads for each Capitals jersey covered in matching jersey sleeve. Ovi keeps the roll up but stays covered to comply with the rules.

    From an old California Seals game program (after the Charley O.Finley era when they changed their colors to Pacific Blue (teal)/yellow/white), an article about Seals trainers Gerry Dean and Colin Lavallee had this note about their teal uniforms:

    Lavallee: “I wish we had a uniform color that was easy to get. Only a few manufacturers make Pacific Blue, and we have a terrible time ordering new jerseys.”

    These are the jerseys he’s referring to:

    link

    -Jet

    Not just the jerseys. Getting pants, gloves and the helmets in that colour near impossible I would think unless made custom for the Golden Seals. For the few players with helmets, not many teal helmets out there in the 1970s.

    link

    Paul, supporting the American labor movement seems both uninspiring (what would they even do, and don’t they celebrate enough “causes”?) and partisan, as today the “movement” is normally associated with one American political party.

    Really? You think one of our country’s national holidays is “uninspiring” and “partisan”? Ditto for the movement that saved countless lives, ended child labor, established the 40-hour work week, helped build the American middle class, etc.? Well, that’s certainly a novel position.

    As for what they would do on the uniforms to commemorate Labor Day, we addressed that last week. Read thru the comments:
    link

    I’d say it’s pretty sad that labor is associated with just one side, you’d think a lot of things the labor movement has advocated for (and continues to advocate for) are pretty universal for most of us who work for a living.

    I would argue that all the military tributes are partisan as well, after all most of the stuff has been done in an era where politicos have been trying to keep up support for the ongoing wars since 2001. So why is that ok and supporting labor isn’t?

    True enough. But for me, it’s simpler: Why does MLB do things for certain real holidays (Memorial Day, Independence Day), fake/Hallmark holidays (Ma’s/Pa’s Day), a holiday that most people have never heard of (Armed Forces Day), and non-holidays (9/11, Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month), but has never done anything for one of our biggest national holidays?

    Just sayin’.

    Management sets the schedule, so any real, meaningful Labor Day celebration must come from either contract negotiations between the union and the owners or from wildcat labor action by the players. If I’m a player, special Labor Day uniforms or whatever are not worth including in contract negotiations. Any concession you’d have to make in return would be too high of a price. That leaves wildcat pro-union action by players, which totally ought to happen. Let the league try to fine players when the whole team sharpies a pro-labor message on their caps or whatever!

    You think the union was involved in the pediatric cancer ribbons? Why would any union concessions be needed? Why can’t MLB simply come up with an appropriate way to uni-commemorate this national holiday, just like they commemorate other national holidays, faux/Hallmark holidays, holidays most people haven’t heard of, and non-holidays?

    Cracker Jack Old-Timers Classic: I don’t recognize the uniforms but I did recognize the stadium. RFK Stadium was on TV a lot when I was growing up!

    The rape accusation is very recent and noteworthy, and therefore it’s quite appropriate to include in the description. You know what’s really “not a good look”? Being accused of rape.

    “Brown, who has been accused of rape” somehow sounds more neutral than “accused rapist” and would be better wording — if it has to be mentioned at all.

    I lived in Austin in the 80’s and around 1986 I ran the Comedy Workshop’s improv group on Lavaca St. During the early days of building the group Daniel Johnston would sometimes show up for the free afternoon workshops, often wearing his orange McDonald’s shirt. (Wikipedia says it was McD – I thought it was Hardees or somewhere else, but they’re probably right.) I still have one of his tapes – The Boxer. He wanted to be in the nightly shows we did after the stand ups got off stage but he didn’t seem to understand any of the concepts we were working on. I told him to just keep coming in to the workshops, but he lost interest and stopped showing up.
    He was a sweet guy. For a while I couldn’t understand if the music scene/writers in Austin were using him as a cruel joke or if they sincerely liked him. Years later I listened to much of his music and enjoyed the raw, yet honest emotions he conveyed. It’s sad to see him pass at what I perceive now as an early age.

    The Bills look like they are doing a first with the Jets/Giants back to back. The closest anyone has come before that was the 49ers in 1992 where they played in the home openers for the Jets and Giants. One has to wonder if the NFL schedule maker was having a little fun at the 49ers expense though:

    Week 1-SF @ NYG (Giants’ home opener)
    Week 2-BUF@ SF
    Week 3-SF @ NYJ (Jets’ home opener)

    Obviously, it never happened in MLB despite the Giants/Yankees sharing the Polo Grounds, Cards/Browns sharing Sportsman’s Park or even the brief Mets/Yankees Shea Stadium days. It also never happened in MLS when the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA shared a stadium.

    Despite the Canadiens and Maroons sharing the Montreal Forum and the Lakers and Clippers sharing Staples Center, it has never happened in the NHL or NBA (which seems strange, but it’s true). However, there have been instances of those teams having their first home and “away” game of the season in the same building, including this season.

    Montreal
    15 Nov 1928 Maroons @ Canadiens
    17 Nov 1928 Chicago @ Maroons

    10 Nov 1936 Rangers @ Maroons
    12 Nov 1936 Maroons @ Canadiens

    9 Nov 1937 Blackhawks @ Canadiens
    11 Nov 1937 Canadiens @ Maroons

    Los Angeles
    28 Oct 2008 Blazers @ Lakers
    29 Oct 2008 Lakers @ Clippers

    27 Oct 2009 Clippers @ Lakers
    28 Oct 2009 Suns @ Clippers

    31 Oct 2012 Grizzlies @ Clippers
    2 Nov 2012 Clippers @ Lakers

    29 Oct 2013 Clippers @ Lakers
    31 Oct 2013 Warriors @ Clippers

    30 Oct 2013 Thunder @ Clippers
    31 Oct 2013 Clippers @ Lakers

    19 Oct 2017 Clippers @ Lakers
    21 Oct 2017 Suns @ Clippers

    22 Oct 2019 Lakers @ Clippers
    25 Oct 2019 Jazz @ Lakers

    In 1996, Bobby Rayburn wore his #11 Atlanta Braves jersey underneath his #33 San Francisco Giants jersey as superstition since Juan Primo declined to give him #11 when he joined the club.

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