27 (number) - in Sports

In Sports

• The number of outs in a regulation baseball game for each team at all adult levels, including professional play, is 27.
• In auto racing, 27 and 28 were Ferrari Formula one numbers from 1981 to 1995 except in 1990 when reigning WC Alain Prost had the right to use #1 and drove for the team, Nigel Mansell used #2. Popular driver Gilles Villeneuve used the number on his final days in F1 and later was adopted by his son, Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, in his NASCAR debut. Jean Alesi, another popular Ferrari driver was the last one ever to use the number back in 1995, also winning the last race with it (as of August 2011), the Canadian GP. Ayrton Senna won his second Formula One World Championship using the mystic number 27 in 1990 in a McLaren Honda, as mentioned, the only time Ferrari didn't use the number during that period.
• The jersey number 27 has been retired by several North American sports teams in honor of past playing greats:
  • In Major League Baseball:
    • The Boston Red Sox, for Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk.
    • The Oakland Athletics, for Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter.
    • The San Francisco Giants, for Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.
  • In the NBA:
    • The Cincinnati Royals, for Hall of Famer Jack Twyman. The franchise has continued to honor the number in its later identities—the Kansas City–Omaha Kings, Kansas City Kings, and the current Sacramento Kings.
  • In the NHL:
    • The Phoenix Coyotes, for Teppo Numminen.
    • The Toronto Maple Leafs have a policy of not retiring numbers unless the player honoured either died or suffered a career-ending incident while a member of the team. Other players whose numbers would otherwise be retired instead have their numbers enshrined by the team as "Honoured Numbers", which remain in circulation for future players. The number 27 is currently honoured for Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler.
  • No team in the NFL has retired the number.
• The jersey number 27 has also been retired by the softball program of the University of Arizona for pitching great Jennie Finch.
• The modal age of the peak performance year for Major League Baseball position players, according to a commonly accepted theory by sabermetrician Bill James
• In WWE's annual pay-per-view event Royal Rumble, four WWE Superstars had won the 30-man Royal Rumble at #27 more times than any others number, including #1 and #30.