Tuesday BP: Carlos Rodón will not wear No. 55 in San Francisco

Good morning, baseball fans!

In the flurry of news that came out yesterday, it was announced that Carlos Rodón will be wearing No. 16 on his jersey for the San Francisco Giants. The significance of that being that his prior jersey number with the Chicago White Sox was No. 55.

Rodón, however, clearly did his homework on the fastest way to win the hearts of Giants fans. He was quite clear that he was well aware of the significance of the number for Giants fans and he never had any intention of wearing it, telling reporters yesterday “That was easy to turn down. I know whose number that is.”

For those who are maybe under the age of 10, or have been living under a rock for the last decade and a half, or have never heard of the San Francisco Giants or baseball in general, that number belonged to former and forever Giant Tim Lincecum. He of the two Cy Young Awards, two no-hitters, winning pitcher in Game 5 of the 2010 World Series, frequent recipient of the Buster Hug, etc.

His number is still not used. Previously, Matt Moore had the unfortunate luck to have it misreported that he would be keeping that number after he was traded to the Giants from the Tampa Bay Rays at the deadline in 2016. The fans were not pleased, and he had to go out of his way to be very vocal about the fact that that was never his intention. Poor guy.

The number 55 may never get retired in San Francisco, but despite nearly a decade since the last time Lincecum threw a pitch for the Giants, a lot of fans still aren’t ready to see another player don it. And I’m not sure when that will change.

How many days until Opening Day?

24! We can do it!