History
Rumor has it that the uniform number first appeared in the 19th century, but the earliest official record is from 1907, when the Reading Red Roses of the Atlantic League numbered its players' jerseys in an effort to help the fans identify them. While it is unknown if the team ever took the field with numbers, it did mark the beginning of the idea of uniform numbers. The uniform number appeared on the jerseys of the Cuban Stars, a traveling team of the early 1900s, in 1909. In an issue of the Chicago Daily News, star pitcher Jose Mendez is seen wearing the number 12 on his left sleeve.
The first time a Major League team wore numbers was on June 26, 1916. Inspired by football's and hockey's use of numbers, the Cleveland Indians trotted on their home field wearing large numbers on their left sleeves. This "experiment" was tried for a few weeks, again the next season, and then abandoned. In 1923, the St. Louis Cardinals adopted uniform numbers on their sleeves. However, as then-manager Branch Rickey recalled, the Cardinals' players were "subjected to field criticism from the stands and especially from opposing players," so the numbers were removed. At this time, the Indianapolis ABC's of the Negro National League and the San Antonio Bears of the Texas League also tried out numbers.
In 1929, the New York Yankees were planning to start the season with uniform numbers on the back of the jersey. The Indians also planned to wear numbers in this fashion. The Yankees were rained out on opening day, April 16, while the Indians played, making Cleveland the first MLB franchise to wear numbers on the back. The Yankees debuted their numbered jerseys the following day. By the mid-1930s, all MLB teams wore numbers; in 1937 the Philadelphia Athletics finally began wearing numbers on both home and away jerseys, making numbers a universal trait in the MLB. The first MLB game to feature both teams wearing numbers on their jerseys was the game between the Indians and the Yankees on May 13, 1929.
Read more about this topic: Uniform Number (Major League Baseball)
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