Eric Hosmer will be wearing the number 30 for a special reason in his new team, the San Diego Padres. Third base coach Glenn Hoffman, who previously had her on his back, gave her up willingly – and was now rewarded princely.
Originally, Hosmer wanted to wear the number 35 as in the Kansas City Royals, but this is no longer awarded in San Diego in honour of hall-of-famer Randy Jones. So the First Baseman decided to vote for 30 – in honour of his team-mate Yordano Ventura, who died in January 2017. The pitcher had died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
Hoffman gave the number and is now wearing 26. Recently, Hosmer thanked the position coach with a special present: a Rolex “As I had already told Hoffy, it meant a lot to me. So I wanted to return the favor with a nice gesture. It’s an unwritten law in the league that when an experienced player joins in and asks for a number that someone already has, you return the favor with something like that.”
Hosmer did not want to reveal how much the Rolex cost, but he said that a “friend from Kansas City” had helped him choose the gift. And he joked,”I bet there were some coaches here who got angry because they weren’t wearing the 30s.”
Hosmer joined the Padres with an eight-year contract worth 144 million dollars. As of now, this is the most lucrative free agent contract in this off-season.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.