Good morning Birdland. There are 29 days until Opening Day, which is a number that is currently being worn by the Orioles’ shiny new backstop, Welington Castillo. Prior to that, it was worn by a slew of failed starting pitchers (Tommy Hunter, David Hernandez, Chris Waters, Adam Loewen, Kurt Ainsworth) and sub-replacement-level veterans (Geronimo Berroa, Pete Incaviglia, Luis Polonia).
The O’s probably should’ve just banned this number in 2008 or so, but it lives on. If you look back far enough, you can actually find one good player who rocked #29: Ken Singleton, who wore it from 1975-84 and made three All Star appearances as an Oriole.