5 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 22, 2026, the number is 5.
Pinky Higgins, No. 5
Pinky Higgins is the best Athletics player to wear No. 5 because he gave the franchise one of its most productive third base peaks, pairing impact offense with everyday durability in the pre-war American League, and he did it while wearing the uniform of the Philadelphia Athletics during a meaningful, franchise-defining stretch.
Higgins is a clean fit for this series: his prime is strong, his best years came with the Athletics, and among the realistic No. 5 candidates for the franchise, he owns the best combination of peak performance and overall value in an A’s context. He finished with 26.0 career WAR, with 12.6 of that coming in five seasons with the Athletics (1930, 1933-36), including his best offensive years.
Why Higgins gets No. 5
Pinky gets No. 5 because, at his best, he was a centerpiece bat. From 1933 through 1936 in Philadelphia, he hit for average, reached base, and brought real extra-base damage from third base. He had four straight impact seasons in that span, highlighted by a monster 1933 campaign when he hit .314 with 13 home runs and 99 RBI, then followed with an even bigger 1934 season: .330 average, 16 home runs, 90 RBI, and an All-Star selection.
His power peak came in 1935, when he hit 23 home runs while still batting .296 and driving in 94. Those were premium numbers for the era, especially from a third baseman, and they anchored his case as the top No. 5 for the Athletics.
Career start and background
Higgins was born May 27, 1909, in Red Oak, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and signed with the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1930. He debuted that same year, then returned in 1933 and immediately became an everyday player and a middle-of-the-order presence.
He stayed with the A’s through 1936 before being traded to the Boston Red Sox. Later he became a regular with the Detroit Tigers, missed 1945 due to military service, and finished his career with a final season split between Detroit and Boston in 1946.
Other notable No. 5s
- Pinky Higgins
- Matt Holliday
- Tony Kemp
- Nomar Garciaparra
- Mike Sweeney
Career check
No. 5 goes to Pinky Higgins. His best baseball was played in the Athletics uniform, and his early-1930s peak stands out as one of the strongest third base offensive runs tied to this number in franchise history.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
