Why are so many athletes wearing zero on their uniform? Is it really a number?

It's been called a doughnut and a goose egg.  Mathematically speaking, 0 (zero) is a number.  It represents an empty quantity.  Adding or subtracting 0 (zero) to any number never changes that number.  Therefore, in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers etc.  Yet, 0 is not a counting number.  When children learn to count, they are not taught to say 0, 1, 2, 3 . . .

The topic of this discourse, however, is not mathematics.  It is sports. I have noticed an increase in the number of athletes who wear 0 or 00 on their uniform.  Wearing zero or double zero is not new, but it has always been rare.  Now it seems to be gaining popularity. It is becoming trendy, although not in the National Hockey League, where it is not allowed.  Only one non-goalie in NHL history has worn zero.  Neil Sheehy, wore it while playing for the Harford Whalers during the 1987-88. season. 

Here's what Sheehy stated about wearing zero: "When people asked me why I wore it I had some fun with it.  I would tell them it was the furthest number from 99 and talent-wise I'm the furthest from Wayne Gretzky, but just remember opposites attract.  At the time, the Battle of Alberta was pretty tense and my job was to play against Gretzky a lot of the time.

"I also told people I wanted to get the "O" back in my name, for O'Sheehy, my Irish ancestors.  The truth is, in Ireland, our name was MacSheehy.  I just tried to have some fun with it.  Fans used to yell at me, 'Is zero your IQ?  then somebody would say, 'Hey, this guy went to Harvard, you know.'  It was hilarious."

Although Sheehy was the first skater to wear 0 in the NHL, he was not the first player to do so.  In 1943-43, Paul Bibeault, goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens, wore zero.  Over the course of his 102-game NHL career, Bibeault  also wore 1, 14, 16 and 21.  It seems he had a habit of changing his number.

Paul Bibeault

Goaltenders John Davidson and Martin Biron wore 00 briefly.  Davidson was the first player in the NHL to wear double zero when he played  for the New York Rangers during the 1977-78 season.  he was influenced by Phil Esposito.  When the Rangers acquired Esposito from the Boston Bruins. Phil wanted his usual number 7.  However, it already belonged to Rod Gilbert of the Rangers.  So, Phil decided to wear number 77.  Double digit numbers were rare in the 1970s, but Esposito convinced the goaltender to also wear double digits.

Martin Biron wore double zero as a rookie with the Buffalo Sabres.  In late December and early January of 1995-96 season, Biron was an emergency call-up from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.  He played in three games for Buffalo that season, becoming the last player to wear double zero in the NHL.

Hockey card with Byron wearing 00

Davidson wearing 00 with Rangers

Goalie Bernie Parent actually wore double zero before Davidson and Byron, but not while playing in the NHL.  Bernie wore 00 while playing for the 1972-73 Philadelphia Blazers of the World Hockey Association (WHA).. Below is a photo of Bernie wearing 00 when he played for the Blazers.

 No player has worn zero or double zero since Martin Biron.  The league banned those digits in the 1990s for database reasons.  Its database couldn't handle the null value. When NHL statisticians found a bug in their new stat-tracking software, the "Biron rule" was put into effect, restricting sweater numbers to whole numbers between1 and 99 (later limited to numbers between 1 and 98 after the league retired 99 in honour of Wayne Gretzky.  One wonders why the NHL's software has not been upgraded to handle the nil value.  Could it be that the league, for some reason, does not want its players to wear zero and double zero on their jerseys?

On my hometown baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays, second baseman Andrés Giménez sports a zero on his uniform.  He is the first member of the team to do so since Al Oliver in 1985.  Oliver was the first player in Major League Baseball (MLB) to wear 0.  When he was traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Texas Rangers after the 1977 season, he reportedly chose zero as a symbol of a new beginning with a new team. When Oliver and Cliff Johnson were teammates in Toronto in 1985, Johnson wore 00.  At the time, the Blue Jays had a zero and a double zero on the same roster.

Andrés Giménez  

       

Oliver wearing 0 with the Expos

The National Football League (NFL) approved zero on uniforms for the 2023 season. Below is a photo of Miami Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones when he played college football with Arizona State. He wore zero for two seasons in Arizona before being being selected by the New England Patriots in the 2022 NFL Draft.  "It represents where I'm from," Jones said in 2020.  "I want to retire the number," he added.  "I want to be the first guy to ever do it and the last guy to ever do it."

Jones was quite excited when the NFL approved zero on its jerseys.  He changed his Twitter name to "0" and referred to himself as an "Agent Zero" in his biography.  

What about the Canadian Football League? Does the  CFL permit zero on player uniforms?  Yes, CFL players can wear 0 to 99 inclusive.  I assume that means double zero is not permitted in the CF.  Although, I would never choose zero for a uniform number.it seems to be gaining popularity among athletes.  I much prefer the number 16, of course.

- Joanne