On Number 4

As a copy editor who makes his share of on-deadline mistakes (and perhaps other people's share as well), I should be loathe to jeer at somebody else's.

That said ... during my dinner break Wednesday evening I was pursuing how the metro papers handled the Brett Favre story, and was struck by this phrasing in a Pioneer Press story bearing the byline of John Shipley, who has spent much of this season covering the Twins:

... only the latest in a long line of hemming and hawing from Minnesota's favorite No. 4 (sorry, Drew Butera).

You probably know the problem with that. Drew Butera wears No. 41.

According to this compilation of Twins jersey numbers -- which is up-to-date enough to have Alexi Casilla wearing No. 12 this year (having yielded his old 25 to Jim Thome) -- no Twin has worn No. 4 since the immortal Augie Ojeda in 2004.

I'm not sure why there've been no 4's since then. It's not like they're expecting to retire the number as soon as Ojeda gets elected to the Hall of Fame or something, and it's a pretty good number to have vacant for so long. But Paul Molitor is working in the system, and I've seen him in uniform during spring training, so that's probably the reason.

Molitor and Favre. No. 4 seems to have a pretty strong Minnesota-Wisconsin connection, doesn't it?