Athletics Opening Day countdown: Reggie Jackson is best No. 9 in A’s history

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Athletics Opening Day countdown: Reggie Jackson is best No. 9 in A’s history

Originally posted on Dice City Sports | By Mark Hebert | Last updated Mar 18, 2026 11:01 AM ET

9 days remain until Athletics Opening Day at the Toronto Blue Jays on March 27, 2026. With Las Vegas on the horizon, this daily countdown tracks the best A’s players by jersey number.

Today, March 18, 2026, the number is 9.

Reggie Jackson, No. 9

Reggie Jackson is the best Athletics player to wear No. 9 because he’s one of the most important players in franchise history, wore the number during the A’s rise to a dynasty, and produced Hall of Fame value in Oakland. The “Mr. October” legend spans multiple teams, but his foundation as a superstar was built with the A’s.

Jackson’s overall resume is enormous (74.0 career WAR, 563 home runs), and his Oakland years are the key for this series. In 10 seasons with the A’s (1967-1975, plus 1987), he hit 269 homers, drove in 776 runs, scored 756 runs, and posted 48.1 WAR with a 145 OPS in green and gold. He also won the 1973 AL MVP with Oakland and was an annual All-Star caliber force in the heart of those championship lineups.

Why Jackson gets No. 9

Jackson gets No. 9 because he wasn’t just good in Oakland — he was defining. He arrived as a Kansas City/Oakland franchise cornerstone, turned into a full-blown superstar, and helped lead the A’s to the top of the sport. If you’re assigning jersey numbers to franchise identity, No. 9 is basically already claimed.

Other good players wore 9 for the A’s, but none have the combination of peak, postseason mythmaking, hardware, and franchise footprint that Jackson brings.

Career start and background

Jackson was born May 18, 1946, in Abington, Pa., and starred at Arizona State. The Kansas City Athletics drafted him No. 2 overall in 1966, and he debuted in 1967. He became a centerpiece almost immediately after the move to Oakland, then hit his peak in the early 1970s as the A’s became baseball’s standard.

Other notable No. 9s

Reggie Jackson
Mike Gallego
Olmedo Sáenz
Roger Repoz

Career check

No. 9 goes to Reggie Jackson. He’s a Hall of Famer, an Oakland MVP, and a dynasty-era icon whose A’s production (48.1 WAR, 269 HR) makes him the clear choice to own this number.

This article first appeared on Dice City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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