Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 8: Bret Barberie

In a first for Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series, this edition is all about firsts.

There have already been a couple entries in the series who were the first to ever wear the jersey number for Miami. Yet here at No. 8? This is even rarer territory. For this is the first time that we have an inaugural, Opening Day Marlins player on our hands. First to ever wear the number, first to ever play their position, played in Miami's first ever game.

Oh, and also delivered the very first hit in franchise history.

Come on down, Bret Barberie.

Admittedly, it's the franchise first that's easiest to forget. Charlie Hough picked up that meme-worthy first strikeout and Miami's first pitching win. Current Braves manager Walt Weiss knocked in Miami's first RBI, plating Benito Santiago and Jeff Conine. Santiago was the first run and gets remembered for clubbing the team's first homer a week later; Conine went 4 for 4 in the opener and tends to get most of the offensive credit for the day. Bryan Harvey wrapped things up that day with the team's first save.

Yet it was Barberie delivering that first hit, a single off of then Dodgers ace and future 1997 World Series foe Orel Hershiser.

Across Miami's first two seasons, Barberie played in 206 games, racking up 2.9 WAR in the process. That total is the clubhouse leader for success in the No. 8 jersey by a wide margin, at least by the Marlins WAR standard we constrain ourselves to in this series. Case in point? The second place finisher is Aaron Boone, who chipped in 0.4 WAR as a bench bat for the 2007 club.

Now, if we remove the WAR shackles, some much more interesting names surface here in the honorable mentions section. Following Barberie's tenure, MLB Hall of Famer Andre Dawson took over the number for two seasons. Jim Eisenreich followed him, a valuable bench piece that came up with a huge home run in that same 1997 World Series the Marlins would one day face Hershiser (the homer was not off of him). Last but not least of the names worth noting, 2009 NL Rookie of the Year winner Chris Coghlan spent five seasons wearing No. 8 for Miami. Needless to say, the bottom fell out pretty swiftly for Coghlan after 2009- his entire Marlins career comes out a -0.7 WAR finish.

No Marlins player has worn the number since Jhonatan Solano in 2015. A fact I bring up not to remind you that Solano played here (we're all better off forgetting) but just to illustrate how oddly long it has been since someone opted to wear the jersey.

In fact, should no Marlins player wear the jersey this season, it will be the longest absence of any number covered in this series. Weird but true?

Anyway, that's all that's fit to print at No. 8. Check back next week for a much more familiar face.