The Pecan Park Eagle

Yes, we know. Phil Garner’s # was 3 for most of his career, but what was it for the 74 games he managed the Astros late in 2004? Baseball America has him listed as “uk” for that partial first season as Houston’s manager.

Just in case it comes up again, here is the list of all managers in Houston MLB history, along with their records and uniform numbers. Please note that Harry Craft was not the last Houston manager to go with “1” as his identifying number choice, although “2” proved just as popular. Unless we miscounted, the numbers “1” and “2” both appear 8 times.

Also of interest is the fact that two short-term interim managers, Dave Clark (for 13 games in 2009) and Tony DeFrancesco (for 41 games in 2012) apparently managed in wrap-up seasons in which no one, including the managers themselves, was paying much attention to whatever the numbers were on their jerseys. Their numbers here are recorded as “uk” for “unknown.”

What we don’t get is – why weren’t they able to get Phil Garner’s # for the 74 games he managed the Astros in 2004 after taking over for Jimy Williams? Garner drew a “uk” for 2004, even though he very clearly wore # 3 for the other three seasons he managed the Astros (2005-07). A player probably already had uniform # 3 late in the 2004 year when Phil came in, but how hard could it have been to get the number from Garner as well as from the two others?

Sometimes it may just boil down to the question’s potential for embarrassment. If the person being asked takes it personally, they may be thinking something like: “Gee, if you don’t even recall my number, what else made me into a player or manager that left no impressions?”

Our consolation from this whole managerial number episode may be found in the following question: Is there anyone out there among Astros fans now who still doesn’t know that Astros manager A.J. Hinch wore # 14 on his way to leading the 2017 club to its first World Series victory?

BASEBALL AMERICA PRESENTS ~

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