Miami Marlins Best To Wear Jersey Number Series No. 9: Dee Gordon

Welcome to Marlin Maniac's Best To Wear The Miami Marlins Jersey Number Series and the entry for jersey No. 9!

Some of you might have noticed that this piece is coming out a day late. Please allow me to assure you, there is good reason. Vigorous fact-checking was necessary, consisting mostly of refreshing Baseball Reference pages, and then refreshing them again, with the incredulity never once fading.

Because as all Marlins fans know, the answer here is obvious. Couldn't be more so.

It's the player who once stole 60 bases in a season for Miami...and almost did it twice.

It's the player who hit 7 home runs in their Marlins career.

It's the player with a Marlins career OBP in the .340s, that once led the NL in hits in a season, that once got a little too aggressive on the basepaths and got caught stealing 20 times. Oh, and that also once finished 16th in NL MVP voting.

In other words, Dee Strange-Gordon. I mean, who else could it have been?

Glibbness aside, this could have been quite the embarrassing moment for the Marlin Maniac staff. Because how is the answer not Juan Pierre? WAR is a stat really bolstered by the act of being physically present, which is something Pierre excelled at. Pierre's Marlins games played advantage over Gordon is substantial- 599 to 382. Pierre also played for three winning teams, including a certain 2003 Marlins club you might have heard about. Gordon? Nary a winning season in South Florida. How could all that team success not have carried Pierre?

Fortunately for me, I wanted to find out exactly what Gordon's WAR was for background. I did think it'd be close. As shown above, there are plenty of similarities. However, it never occurred to me that he would actually enjoy the 8.7 to 7.6 edge over Pierre that he does. Absolutely had this flipped in my mind.

Now don't get me wrong. Gordon was great, or at least super fun to watch, in his Marlins career. That 2015 season was a thing of beauty. Won a batting title. Won a Gold Glove. Was voted to (but couldn't play) the All-Star Game. Led all of MLB in hits and stolen bases. Was it pharmaceutically aided? Apparently! Yet we didn't know that until a month into 2016. Lastly, not a single Marlins fan that saw his home run off of Bartolo Colon in the first at bat of the first game following the passing of Jose Fernandez will ever forget that moment. Gordon's blast, and emotion afterwards, was just one of those things that sticks with you forever.

As for Pierre? Marlins single-season records for hits (221), stolen bases (65), triples (13), and at bats (674). From 2003-2005, Pierre never missed a game. Not one. Three straight seasons of playing 162 games. Am I ignoring his 2013 return to the club when he had -0.1 WAR in his final MLB season. You bet! His .247 BA that season looms large in keeping his Marlins career BA below .300, instead coming in at a .295 figure that bizarely mirrors his MLB career finish. Plus, he's a World Champion with Miami.

Other honorable mentions here? Plenty as it turns out.

It's actually been an impressive group in No. 9 from the jump, starting with 1993 starting catcher Benito Santiago. While he never made an All-Star game with the Marlins (nor did Pierre somehow), he has to be included in any accoutning of the excellent work Miami has seen behind the plate in franchise history. Continuing the theme of players who won Gold Gloves and made All-Star games in other locations, Terry Pendleton sported it next during his two year stretch with the Fish. Greg Zaun followed him- an offense first backup catcher for the 1997 champs.

There's definitely a pause on the greatness after that before Pierre took over. Casey McGehee won the NL Comeback Player of the Year in it in 2014 though, splitting the Pierre and Gordon eras. Josh Bell helped Miami reach the playoffs in 2023 while wearing it, and current Marlin Xavier Edwards started wearing it last season. Could the Marlins end up with three players in club history stealing 60-plus bags with No. 9 on their backs? Here's hoping.

Anyway, that's it for this jersey. Catch you next time at No. 8- it's an oldie but a goodie.