Cardinals pitcher Dustin May, No. 3, starting May 3 vs. Dodgers

It is one of those rare moments that will hold a unique place in baseball history. Dustin May, a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, is scheduled to start Sunday, May 3, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. What makes the start so noteworthy is that May wears No. 3, meaning he will be wearing the date on his back.

Digging through more than a century and a half of baseball records would probably take months to see whether this has ever happened before, and baseball has had its fair share of players with names that are the same as a day of the week or a month. There are Rick Monday, Billy Sunday and “Skipper” Friday, as well as June Greene and Don August, just to name a few — but it is not clear whether those players had a significant moment in MLB history that coincided with their names.

But regarding May, there are additional statistics involving the number three to consider as he approaches his start. May currently has three wins on the season, has given up three home runs and has thrown three wild pitches. Batters who have faced May this season are hitting .333 — for April, that average was .303.

The Cardinals are the third team May has played for in the big leagues. He has played for the Dodgers for most of his career and split the 2025 season between Los Angeles and the Boston Red Sox.

Are current stats in his favor? That is for fans and analysts to decide, but Dustin May pitching on May 3 while wearing No. 3 joins other interesting numerology moments in baseball history. Here are a few:

Nolan Ryan wore No. 34: Ryan holds the major league record for most no-hitters thrown in a career: seven. And you get seven when you add the digits in Ryan’s jersey number, three and four.

Hank Aaron’s No. 44: Hammerin’ Hank wore No. 44 and broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record when he hit his 715th home run April 8, 1974. The pitcher who gave up that home run was Al Downing, who also wore No. 44. But it does not end there. Aaron set the career home run record at 755 and when Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s record with his 756th career home run, he broke a 4-4 tie between his San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals.

13 and the single-season home run record: Those of a certain age may remember the hype of Mark McGwire’s historic 1998 season that set the single-season home run record at 70, but that record does not come with an obvious numerological hook. McGwire set the record in 1998, 13 years after the previous record holder, Roger Maris, died. When Maris broke Babe Ruth’s record in 1961, that feat came 13 years after the Sultan of Swat died. And that’s not all: Bonds broke McGwire’s record by three in 2001, McGwire broke Maris’ by nine, which was also Maris’ jersey number, and Maris broke Ruth’s record by one. Add all that up and you get 13.