This is one part in our series looking at the best players to wear (almost) every number in MLS history. To read the other stories, click here.



The best goal-scorer in Major League Soccer history is not a No. 9.



As a 10-year-old, Chris Wondolowski played shortstop for his Little League baseball team, the Orioles. There was only one uniform number that made sense in that situation: If you’re playing shortstop for the Orioles in 1993, you have to be the Iron Man, Cal Ripken Jr. And so, Wondolowski took the No. 8.



He picked it again the next year, and the year after that. It stuck.



With a league-record 159 goals to his name, Wondolowski has etched himself into MLS history as the best to wear a No. 8 jersey. However, he hardly resembles the box-to-box midfielder that number usually represents. The number 8 is traditionally meant for industrious midfielders who are also capable of unlocking a game by pushing forward into the attack. They...