Last night, San Jose Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek was given a jersey with his last name spelled incorrectly as “VANACEK” — with the first “E” in his name replaced with an “A.” Yes, it was a typo on a jersey. You may think something like this would never happen at this level, but it actually happens quite a bit throughout the pro sports world. Sometimes, they’re caught right away, and sometimes, in the case of a French soccer club, they can linger on for months.
Let’s collectively thank the Sharks for this because it gives us a good excuse to look back at a few examples of players who actually took to the field, court, or ice while wearing typos on their uniforms…
In 2023, San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama took to the court during the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament with the final “M” of his last name swapped with an “N,” misspelling his name as “WEMBANYANA.” Someone with the team caught the error, probably because it trended on Twitter, and gave Wembanyama a new, properly spelled uniform.
In October 2017, Buffalo Sabre forward Kyle Okposo took to the ice wearing a jersey that read “OKOPOSO” with an extra “o.” Late in the first period, Okposo was given a jersey featuring the proper spelling.
For most of the 2017 season, French soccer club Montpellier HSC gave players and sold jerseys to fans featuring their team name spelled incorrectly as “MONTPELIER” with just one “L.” The local media alerted the team to this error, and they quite brilliantly donated their incorrect jerseys to a club in Montpelier, Vermont.
Even the “Great One” couldn’t escape a jersey typo. In 1997, while he was with the New York Rangers, Wayne Gretzky wore a jersey misspelled “GRETKZY”; his father, Walter, is shown above with the jersey.
Detroit Pistons Richard Hamilton may have wanted to “Rip” this jersey off his back. In 2008, he was given an extra “I” to read “HAMILTION.” This gives me a decent idea for the name of either a Hamilton-based demolition company or a pork-themed wrestling tag team.
Not the most ideal way to kick off a new season, back during their Opening Week of the 2009 season, two Washington Nationals players — Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman took to the field with the team’s name misspelled as “NATINALS”
In his first game after the 1994 MLB All-Star Break, Toronto Blue Jays slugger Joe Carter played the first few innings of a game wearing a jersey with Toronto misspelled as “TOROTNO”. He switched the jersey in the later innings with his All-Star Game jersey, complete with the 1994 ASG patch still on the sleeve.
Team names seem to be a frequent issue with big league jersey makers. In 2010, the San Francisco Giants joined the club, with Eugenio Velez sporting a “SAN FRANCICSO” jersey.
Do you remember Zack Greinke’s time with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? No? Well, that might be because for one of those few games in 2012, his jersey misspelled his name as “GRIENKE.” Was he upset? We don’t know, but we do know Zack left the Angels to join another “LA” team about three months later… so maybe?
In 2016, Phoenix Suns player Eric Bledsoe wore the club’s orange alternate jersey with his name misspelled as “BELDSOE” on the back.
Major League Baseball with another team name typo. In 2013, the Milwaukee Brewers wore these pinstriped throwback uniforms, and their manager wore one with the city name spelled “MILWAKUEE.” I’d like to see Alice Cooper explain the proper pronunciation behind that one.
In 2015, Dallas Stars goalie Antti Niemi became a member of the typo jersey club, as his uniform top showed his name as “NIEME.”
Please share your favourite examples of players wearing a spelling error on their jersey (especially if I missed one) in the comments below.
