Today numbers adorn all major league uniforms, giving each player a numerical identity and allowing fans to easily distinguish their heroes. While numbers are now as much a part of the uniform as team names, this wasn’t always the case.
According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines overview, the first confirmed use of uniform numbers in a professional baseball game took place in 1913 by the Reading team of the Atlantic League. Nearly a decade later, Jack Graney and his Cleveland Indians teammates repeated this experiment for the first time at the major league level.
Jack Graney and His Many Baseball Firsts
Jack Graney was a Canadian-born left fielder who spent his entire major league career with Cleveland. He played in two games for the Naps in 1908 before becoming a regular member of the roster in 1910. In a career that lasted until 1922, Graney compiled a lifetime batting average of .250 while mostly batting lead-off for Cleveland.
While Graney was an average player, he did lead the league in walks twice and doubles once. More importantly from an historic perspective, he participated in a number of unique baseball firsts, beginning on Saturday, July 11, 1914.
On this date Graney’s Naps played the Red Sox in Boston. Cleveland entered the game firmly entrenched in last place with a forgettable record of 26-50-2 while the Red Sox found themselves in a pennant race, one of five teams separated by only five games in the standings. The starting pitcher for the Red Sox was none other than 19-year-old Babe Ruth, making his major league debut. As Cleveland’s lead-off hitter, Graney was the first to ever bat against Ruth in the majors. Graney got a hit but Ruth went on to win the game 4-3.
Years later, after Graney’s playing career ended, he was the first major league player to become a broadcaster, announcing games for the Indians from 1932 to 1953. In addition to these firsts, Graney was also the close friend and roommate of shortstop Ray Chapman, who in 1920 died tragically after being struck by a pitch from the Yankees’ Carl Mays.
Indians Experiment with Uniform Numbers in 1916
Graney participated in another baseball first on June 26, 1916. His Cleveland team, now known as the Indians, hosted the Chicago White Sox at League Park. As reported by the New York Times, “Cleveland American League players wore numbers on the sleeves of their uniforms in today’s game with Chicago for the first time in the history of baseball so far as is known. The numbers corresponded to similar numbers set opposite the players’ names on the score cards, so that all fans in the stands might easily identify the members of the home club”.
While Cleveland’s entire starting nine wore numbers when they took the field to start the game, Graney became the first number-wearing player to bat when he led off the bottom of the first inning.
The team continued using numbers for many other games that season and the next but then abandoned the practice.
In 1923 the St. Louis Cardinals briefly used numbers but another six years passed before teams permanently adopted the custom. On April 16, 1929 the Indians opened the season with uniform numbers; the Yankees also used numbers that year but their opening game was rained out so they had to wait until a later day to unveil their new look. Babe Ruth, who by now had given up pitching so he could play every day, wore the number 3 while his teammate Lou Gehrig used 4. These numbers represented the position the players batted in the lineup.
On May 13 that year the Yankees played the Indians, marking the first time both teams in a game wore uniform numbers. Other major league clubs soon adopted the number-wearing scheme, and by 1932 all 16 teams had adopted the practice.
Sources
The New York Times newspaper, June 27, 1916 issue.
Okkonen, Marc. 1991. Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century. Sterling Publishing.
Patterson, Ted. Undated. "Jack Graney, the First Player-Broadcaster". SABR Research Journals Archive.
Kevin Schindler - I have worked at scientific institutions for more than 20 years written more than 200 articles about science, history, and baseball.
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