When the Atlanta Braves officially introduced Walt Weiss as the 49th manager in franchise history, eagle-eyed fans noticed something different about Weiss's new jersey.
For the last eight years, Weiss has donned the number four, but when Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos presented his jersey, the number 22 was sewn into the back of the jersey. While the Braves have seen their coaches change numbers before, those changes have usually come after an acquisition of a big player.
However, Weiss had a good reason for the change.
Walt Weiss changes uniform number to match what he wore during his playing days
When Walt Weiss debuted in the major leagues for the Oakland Athletics in 1987, he wore number 17. The following season, he switched his number to seven, but after four seasons, Weiss switched to 22 in his final season with the A's. This would be the last uniform number Weiss wore as a player, despite playing for three more teams, including with the Braves.
Weiss wore the number to honor Mercury Morris, a running back for the 1970s Miami Dolphins, his favorite player growing up. When he was named the Rockies manager in 2013, he continued wearing the number. However, when he was hired by the Braves in 2018, Nick Markakis was wearing the number. His other numbers from his playing days, seven and 17, were also occupied, so Weiss took #4 instead.
Since Markakis left the Braves in 2020, Weiss has had plenty of opportunity to take the number, as it was unclaimed at the start of the season in 2022, 2024, and 2025. For whatever reason, kept his number four. It appears that once he got the promotion to Braves manager, Weiss saw his chance to make a change, however, as he was introduced with the number 22 once again.
Weiss had plenty of success as a Braves coach wearing number four, but hopefully switching to his old number will bring even more success in the 2026 season.