Fashion Statement

Apart from being paid a lot of money for throwing a baseball, the starting pitchers of some Major League Baseball teams enjoy some other peculiar privileges as well.

That includes the right to pick which uniform his teammates are going to wear in the games they start.

Starting pitcher is arguably the most important position in baseball. Although they do not appear in every game and will probably play once every four to five games at most, teams nevertheless invest huge sums of money in them, as quality starting pitchers are difficult to find. So some teams simply don't want to mess with them, and even give them the rights to choose jersey for the team to boot.

It's like the goalkeeper of a soccer team with the right to decide whether his teammates will wear home jersey or away jersey, and then some. Imagine the eccentric French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez making the call. Probably his teammates will all have to put on short-sleeved jerseys with the shirt-tail hanging out. And they all will probably be required to wear white boots and extremely short and tight shorts, and to shave their heads bald to be kissed by Laurent Blanc, Barthez's buddy, before every match as well. A team fielding 11 Barthez clones at the same time would be an amazing scene indeed.

And there is no more suitable venue to play the game than Roswell, New Mexico.

...

I bumped into Andriy Shevchenko in a Chelsea jersey on the street the other day, much to my amazement.

I couldn't believe my eyes. So I decided to walk near him to have a closer look.

Sadly, it wasn't him. It was just a guy wearing the latest Adidas Chelsea jersey with Shevchenko's name and famous number seven on his back. What a major disappointment.

You can't help to be amazed with the local jersey dealers' efficiency. Whenever a team has a new jersey on the market, you will most certainly find it in the stores in virtually no time at all. And they will print the names and numbers of your favourite player on the jersey when you buy it, at no extra costs.

I still haven't bought the latest Liverpool jersey yet. But when I buy it, I definitely won't ask for Peter Crouch's name and number 15 on the back of it.

I really don't want to be the mini-me of Crouch. Look, he's six-foot-five, and I'm probably five-foot-six. And he doesn't have the prettiest face either.

I'd rather be anonymous, without any name or number on the back of my jersey.