For some superstitious people in the world, the No. 13 is unlucky and sits in an ominous place on the numerical scale.
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Traditionally, when the 13th day of a month falls on a Friday, most of these superstitious folks are afraid of bad luck, hexes, curses and everything that comes with that haunted number.
While Friday the 13th has about as menacing of a distinction as the No. 13 itself, some athletes don the number with pride, swearing off all the evil that is affiliated with the digit.
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Here are five MLB players of the past and present who are notable for wearing the spooky No. 13 in their playing careers:
5) Dave Concepcion: Throughout his 19 years in the MLB, the Cincinnati Reds nine-time All-Star donned the inauspicious No. 13. Conception played shortstop on the legendary Big Red Machine teams, winning the World Series in 1975 and 1976. Conception was able to thwart off any bad luck the number could potentially bring, ending his career with a .267 batting average, 101 homers and 950 RBI.
4) Ozzie Guillen: Another shortstop, Guillen wore the No. 13 throughout his 16-year career to much success. Guillen finished his career with a .264 batting average and 1,764 hits. He also wore No. 13 when he won his second World Series title as a manager with the Chicago White Sox in 2005, which was the franchise's first Fall Classic win since 1919.
3) Manny Machado: The Baltimore Orioles third baseman has certainly had some bad luck during his time donning the No. 13 with injuries, but the team has also had a resurgence in recent years with Machado on board. Machado, who was an All-Star in 2013, has dealt with two different knee injuries over the past two years, but the Orioles have made the postseason in two of the last three campaigns. Machado currently has a .278 career batting average through 289 games with 33 homers and 129 RBI.
2) Omar Vizquel: This shortstop had a legendary career, racking up 11 gold gloves and three All-Star Game appearances, seemingly thwarting off the specter that comes with wearing the No. 13. Vizquel wore 13 for most of his career, which ended with a .272 batting average. It wasn't all fortune for Vizquel, however, as he was wearing No. 13 when the Cleveland Indians blew a lead in the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series and lost to the Florida Marlins.
1) Alex Rodriguez: The New York Yankees third baseman has worn the No. 13 to great success on the baseball diamond, but the questions over whether steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs helped the cause have left a cloud of doubt around the polarizing figure. A-Rod switched from No. 3 to 13 when he joined the Bronx Bombers due to Babe Ruth's number being retired in Yankee lore. Rodriguez ranks fifth on the all-time MLB home runs list with 654, and 309 of them were launched with him wearing 13 as a member of the Yankees.
While 13 certainly has a sinister gleam to it, these five players have had a lot of success while proudly wearing it on the back of their jerseys.
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