Why did Wayne Gretzky choose 99?

There are few absolutes in sports. Debate is at the soul of the popularity of sports, and hockey especially. The debate for the best goaltender of all time is extensive. Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Dominick Hasek, Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk, and others have a claim on the title. The best defenseman argument will have a laundry list of suspects, including Ray Bourque, Scott Stevens, Bobby Orr, Nicklas Lindstrom, Paul Coffey, and many others. However, ask literally anyone outside of Pittsburgh who the best player ever is, and they are saying Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky is one of the greatest athletes of all time. Not even isolating hockey, he's up there with Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, and Tom Brady as some of the best to ever play sports. His impact on hockey is immeasurable.

There are only a few athletes who have the honor of having their number retired for teams they never played for. Michael Jordan's 23 was retired by the Miami Heat (prompting LeBron James to change his number to six for a few years). Pete Maravich's number is retired with the New Orleans Pelicans because of his impact on the city. Jackie Robinson's number 42 will never be worn again by anyone in baseball. He was obviously one of the most influential athletes, if not the most influential, in sports. Wayne Gretzky's number 99 is another number retired league-wide. This was the NHL's way of showing they never thought a player as good as Gretzky would ever exist.

However, it was made easier because Gretzky played his entire career with a bizarre number. Gretzky chose 99, the last number available to players. He wore that number with the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and New York Rangers. He never waivered, which allowed the league to retire it without hesitation. Outside of Gretzky, only three players wore 99. Rick Dudley did it for one season with the Winnipeg Jets, and Wilf Paiement wore it for three seasons with Toronto. (Note: information comes from Hockey Reference, which only has stats from after the 1950-51 season.)

We imagine many players would wear 99 after Gretzky if they were given the chance, which brings us to the point of this article. How did Gretzky come up with 99?

When did Wayne Gretzky first wear number 99?

Gretzky first changed his number to 99 in 1977-78. At the time, he was playing for the Soo Greyhounds. He wanted to wear number nine for his hero Gordie Howe, but it was already taken by Brian Gualazzi (who ironically scored 134 points the year after Gretzky left Juniors for the WHA). After a strong start to his season with Soo and a strong dislike for his number, he asked to change it. He's said before he didn't know exactly what he wanted to choose, but after his coach said "Why don't you just wear two nines?", that changed the course of Gretzky's career (at least his jersey). After moving to 99, Gretzky never changed it.

It is interesting since back then, tradition said those with high numbers were considered players who weren't going to make the team. If a player is number 57 in training camp, it's very likely he's an early-cut candidate. However, Gretzky changed that. (As did a few others, including Mario Lemieux with his number 66 and Jaromir Jagr, who wore 68).

The rest is history. Gretzky decided that two nines were better than none, and despite being on plenty of teams that would gladly give up the number nine for him, he kept those two nines on the back of his jersey for the rest of his career. And he will be the last player to ever do that in the NHL.