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The Phillies' Ben Lively might have a new number, but it's familiar to him

(Lynne Sladky)

The moment that Jake Arrieta signed with the Phillies, fellow starter Ben Lively knew that the writing was on the wall for the No. 49 jersey that he wore in his rookie season. Sure enough, Arrieta wanted his old number, so he and Lively made a trade.
"It's not a big deal to me," Lively said at the time to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. "It's my first number. It's not like I came up wearing 49 throughout the system. I'll definitely let a guy like that get his number, and move forward with it."
Lively switched to No. 54 for the rest of Spring Training, but when a more meaningful number opened up, it was time for a change:

Lively will wear No. 19, just like he did when he was dreaming of pitching on a Major League mound as a kid. Now, he'll have the number to match it.

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