Brandon McCarthy Busts ‘Seinfeld’ Joke About Yankees’ Retired Numbers

The change of scenery certainly hasn’t affected Brandon McCarthy’s sense of humor.

The right-handed pitcher was traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the New York Yankees on Sunday, but he hit a couple of snags with the Bronx Bombers before he even trotted out to the mound in pinstripes.

First, it was the scruff. Much to his wife’s delight, McCarthy had to shave because of the Yankees’ famous no-facial hair policy.

[tweet https://twitter.com/Mrs_McCarthy32/statuses/485832665170718720 align=’center’]

Once McCarthy put the razor down, though, he was confronted with a much tougher issue. With the Yankees having retired 18 numbers (including No. 8 twice), McCarthy struggled to come up with a new jersey number that was available.

The pitcher wore No. 32 with the D-backs and the Oakland Athletics, but the Yankees retired that jersey number, which was worn by catcher Elston Howard, in 1984.

But all was not lost. The seemingly fruitless search paved the way for McCarthy to make a pretty phenomenal “Seinfeld” joke.

[tweet https://twitter.com/BMcCarthy32/statuses/486586236073967616 align=’center’]

McCarthy eventually landed on No. 38 and, in the process, reminded fans everywhere of this fantastic scene from the show.