The New York Yankees Were The First Team To Ever Do This To Their Uniforms

Let's go Yanks! Currently, at the time of this article, the New York Yankees are leading over the Cleveland Guardians 2 - 0 in the American League Championship. The Yankees were the Number 1 team in the American League East for the 2024 season while the Cleveland Guardians were Number 1 in the American League Central. The Yankees are only 2 wins away from going to this year's World Series, potentially with the Mets, marking the second ever Subway Series World Series between the two teams.

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It's actually funny that the Yankees and the Guardians are facing off right now for the American League Championship. Not because that's how the classic baseball comedy Major League concluded, but because they were both integral to how baseball teams wear their uniforms today.

First of all, before they made their recent name change, the Cleveland Guardians were known as the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were the first team to introduce numbered uniforms in the major leagues. The first time that a Major League team wore numbers was on June 26, 1916. Inspired by the usage of numbers in Football and hockey, the Cleveland Indians added large numbers to their left sleeves for a Game on their home field. The experiment lasted only a few weeks before being shelved. The Cardinals tried something similar seven years later, only for the numbers to be scrapped due to what manager Branch Rickey called "continuing embarrassment to the players."

Read More: How Did The New York Mets Get Their Iconic Blue and Orange Look?

The idea remained taboo, viewed as unnecessary and unbecoming until Jan. 22, 1929, when the Yankees announced that they were putting numbers on the backs of their players' uniforms -- and they were there to stay. In 1929, the New York Yankees became the first team to make numbers a permanent part of the uniform. The move was a no-brainer: New York was coming off of two straight World Series titles, with a lineup featuring names like Ruth and Gehrig -- exactly the kind of players you'd want fans to be able to identify from anywhere in the stadium.

Numbers were handed out based on the batting order in the lineup. In 1929, Earle Combs wore #1, Mark Koenig #2, Babe Ruth #3, Lou Gehrig #4, Bob Meusel #5, Tony Lazzeri #6, Leo Durocher #7, Johnny Grabowski #8, Benny Bengough #9, and Bill Dickey #10.