Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2014 January 25

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January 25

1942-43 Canadiens number 19

Why did Tony_Demers wear a number 19 on the front of his jersey in this picture when all his teammates have Habs logos? There's nothing about it on his Widipedia page (linked above). Hayttom 20:18, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

1942 Canadiens

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Hayttom (talk • contribs) 20:18, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

I've cleaned up your image links. Rojomoke (talk) 20:24, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

It does stand out, doesn't it? Can't find much about it, but he was arrested for manslaughter on September 19, 1949. Coincidence? Yes, probably. I'll keep digging, but it's hard to Google "#19". InedibleHulk (talk) 20:52, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Just a guess, but the jersey might have been put on backwards (just to annoy folks 70+ years later)? ~:71.20.250.51 (talk) 20:56, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

It definitely worked. I hadn't noticed it till now, but it's bugging me. All I've found are a few other people wondering what's up with it. InedibleHulk (talk) 21:11, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

The entire thing looks different; the collar is not the same, nor are the patterns on the sleeves. My guess is that he wasn't wearing the proper jersey at all; maybe that's a warm up sweater or away uniform? Matt Deres (talk) 21:25, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

He only played 9 games that season and 7 the year before. Maybe they forgot he was part of the team until right before picture day. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:04, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

It's not an away uniform. I'm not sure whether the NHL's away uniforms in 1942 were the dark or light ones — it changed more than once over the years — but here's the other version of Montreal's uniform that year. I'm guessing either it's on back-to-front (perhaps the front was torn) or it's not a playing uniform at all. --50.100.193.107 (talk) 22:12, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

• One thing to remember, is that many of these players barely made enough money to make ends meet and the teams may have not had enough money to outfit every player (especially one who played so rarely, or may have joined the team late in the season) with a proper sweater. This may have been his uniform with a minor league affiliate or something like that, and sine he played so rarely, the team may not have ever given him a proper team uniform. --Jayron32 03:50, 28 January 2014 (UTC)