Cultural Impact
When the Osaka Tigers played their first season in 1936, jersey numbers were given out in alphabetical order. Wakabayashi was assigned number 4, but he refused to wear the number because it is considered unlucky in Japan. He was given the first available number instead, which was 18. His subsequent success in the professional leagues made it a custom for a Japanese team's ace pitcher to be given the number -for example, Daisuke Matsuzaka was given number 18 when he joined the Seibu Lions from high school.
Read more about this topic: Tadashi Wakabayashi
Famous quotes containing the words cultural and/or impact:
“The sickly cultural pathos which the whole of France indulges in, that fetishism of the cultural heritage.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“Conquest is the missionary of valour, and the hard impact of military virtues beats meanness out of the world.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)