What's the particular gripe with Hawkins, anyway?:
"Surely you've heard the Yankee Stadium fans aren't taking too kindly to someone wearing Paul O'Neill's number. If they had to give away O'Neill's No. 21, shouldn't they have given it to a player other than LaTroy Hawkins? -- David C., Cresskill, N.J."
"They" didn't "give away" O'Neill's number.
I'm not even sure who "they" refers to. You know who he means: The Yankee-Uniform-Number-Giver-Outers.
Brian Hoch answers quite appropriately:
"Booing Hawkins before he even threw one pitch for the club seemed ridiculous to me, though he had a bad outing against Tampa Bay not long after that.
Hawkins said he wasn't even aware O'Neill wore No. 21 in New York, which won't endear him to Yankees fans, but he had a better reason for wearing the number -- as a tribute to Roberto Clemente. Jorge Posada would understand; Posada displays a pin in his locker that urges Major League Baseball to universally retire No. 21 in Clemente's honor."
Okay, I'm a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins for nine seasons. Five more seasons as a major league journeyman.
During this time, I faced thousands of major league batters, one of whom was Paul O'Neill. I probably faced O'Neill dozens of times. But I did not memorize his uniform number.
So, seven years after O'Neill retires, I join his former team, and Yankee fans expect me to just know what his uniform number was?
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