SF Giants social media post may have dropped hint on Verlander's jersey number

The SF Giants have officially signed veteran pitcher Justin Verlander to a one year contract. While many fans are interested to see what he has to offer on the field, many also wonder what jersey number he will wear for the team.

This became a mini-controversy when the Verlander signing was first reported because the future Hall of Fame pitcher and three-time Cy Young Award winner has primarily worn one jersey number in his big league career: 35. Giants fans do not need to be reminded that Brandon Crawford, the best shortstop in franchise history, also wore the number 35. Before him, fan-favorite shortstop Rich Aurilia also wore 35.

Number controversies are nothing new. Back in 2016 when the Giants traded away the beloved infielder Matt Duffy for pitcher Matt Moore, fans feared that Moore may take Tim Lincecum’s number 55 because that was the only number Moore had worn up to that point. It was actually even inaccurately reported that Moore would wear 55 before it was corrected. In a wise move considering fans were already upset over losing Duffy, Moore decided to wear the number 45 instead.

Back when the Giants traded for Andrew McCutchen in 2018, he wore Will Clark’s number 22 before it was officially retired by the team in 2022 but he did so with Clark’s blessing. 

We do not know as of yet what number Verlander will wear, but we may have gotten a minor hint from the team’s social media post. The team posted the below image, which seems to be some sort of AI creation, and if you zoom in on the number on the back of the jersey it appears to start with a three. 

We may have gotten a hint on Verlander's SF Giants jersey number

Now, that ultimately does not mean anything. It could just be a random image that was posted using AI or photoshop so of course that image would have Verlander’s number start with a 3 since he has worn 35 for most of his career. Or, maybe this was the social media team’s way of trying to tease what Verlander’s number will be. Just because it starts with a 3 does not mean it’s 35. 

Orlando Cepeda’s number 30 has been retired by the team as has Gaylord Perry’s 36. LaMonte Wade Jr. wears number 31, Taylor Rogers wears 33, and Robbie Ray wears 38 so we can probably rule those out. That leaves 32, 34, 37, and 39 as possibilities if his jersey number actually does end up starting with the number 3.

Our own Jeff Young threw out a hilarious idea on X where Verlander would wear the number 48, the same number Pablo Sandoval wore on the Giants when he took Verlander deep twice in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series. 

Perhaps if Verlander wanted to still wear the numbers 3 and 5 on his back, he could wear number 53 which does have some good mojo considering it is the number Chris Heston wore when he threw his no-hitter with the Giants back in 2015.

Some people may consider this fascination with numbers silly and pointless which is fair. It is just a jersey number after all. But fans care about jersey numbers. Every day I go to work and press the number 40 on the elevator I think about Madison Bumgarner. Numbers can remind us of our favorite players and transport us back to times when we saw our favorite players do magical things. For Giants fans, the number 35 will always be synonymous with Brandon Crawford. Even if Verlander does end up wearing it for the 2025 season, that will not change the fact that it will be seen as Crawford’s number and may very well be retired by the team someday. That will not change the fact that it will rankle some fans to see any other player wear 35 even if it is for a brief period. 

The social media photo may have given us a small hint at what Verlander’s number will be, but we will likely find out for sure tomorrow on Monday January 13th when Verlander is set to have a Zoom press conference and will probably be asked about this. If he does wear 35, expect a decent segment of the fanbase to be upset which may not be the most ideal way for Verlander to begin his tenure in San Francisco.