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John Lackey gives Pat Neshek a ball autographed by Babe Ruth in exchange for his jersey number

John Lackey

There is a long and rich history of players paying other players in order to get their jersey number. Usually it’s a watch or a big charitable donation or something. We saw a college fund once. My favorite ever was former New York Giants punter Jeff Feagles who got Plaxico Burress to pay for an outdoor kitchen at his vacation home in Phoenix in exchange for number 17 and — before that — got Eli Manning to send the Feagles’ family on a vacation to Florida in order to give up number 10. Dude was a ninja.

It just happened again on the Cardinals, where John Lackey -- who has worn number 41 for a while -- bought the Cards’ 41 from Pat Neshek. Here’s the payment:

Huge Thanks to John Lackey for the incredible gift for changing my uni # pic.twitter.com/SFnuTh2d7x

— Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) August 20, 2014

Not bad. I may have preferred a college fund for my kids, but I’m boring that way. Good haul, Pat.