MLB Number 1s

The journey to find the most substantial Major League Baseball players that wore the number 1 on their uniforms starts by looking at who the Baseball Hall of Fame has in their hallowed halls. Enshrined number ones of professional baseball are:

1936 Goudey World Wide Gum card of Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

• Paul Waner
• Rabbit Maranville
• Earle Combs
• Jim Bottomley
• Freddie Lindstrom
• Chuck Klein
• George Kell
• Pee Wee Reese
• Bobby Doerr
• Joe Morgan
• Richie Ashburn
• Ozzie Smith
• Cool Papa Bell

Cool Papa Bell and other members of the 1943 Homestead Grays, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Let us also take peek at what people that wore the number had that number retired by the team. These folks include:

• Billy Meyer, who played both catcher and was a manager, whose number 1 was retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954.
• Bud Selig who was the founder of the Milwaukee Brewers had the number 1 symbolically retired on April 6, 2015 by the team.
• Pee Wee Reese the legendary short stop, had his jersey 1 put away out of further use by the Dodgers organization on July 1, 1984.
• Bobby Doerr the great Red Sox second baseman had his number uno memoralized at Fenway on May 21, 1988
• Fred Hutchinson pitched for the Detroit Tiger as well as managed the Cincinnati Reds and had his mangerial Reds jersey retired on October 19, 1964 in Cincy.
• Ozzie Smith was one of the top short stops of all time with the St Louis Cardinals ball club and they retired his Redbird 1 uni on September 26, 1996.
• Richie Ashburn the standout outfielder of the Philadelphia Phillies had his playing shirt encased in glass on August 24, 1979.
• Billy Martin played second base once upon a time but most famously managed some great Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees squads. The Yanks thanked him by retireing his manager number on August 10, 1986.

Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the most significant players that wore number 1 in MLB history based on performance stats. We do not have all of the players from some of the Negro Leagues in place yet, but when we do, we will certainly update the list, so please excuse us on this. The criteria is simple; we pulled stats from Baseball-Reference and Stat-Head on some important numbers. Is the player in the Hall of Fame? What were the Wins After Replacement or the team victories gained or lost after they entered the lineup versus the player they replaced? Where do they rank in the following categories in history: Home Runs, Runs Produced, Strike Outs, ERA? We mash this information up and see how many of the criteria rankings they have and then multiply that number (0-6) times the number of years they wore the particular uniform number we are discussing and then add it to the number of Golden Gloves and Cy Young Awards won plus give bonus points if in the Hall of Fame. We call that calculated number our Ranked Formula and use it as a basis of Comparison to provide you with the Top Fifteen at the uniform number. 

1. Ozzie Smith played the position of Hall of Fame, Shortstop/H wearing the number on the San Diego Padres (78, 79, 80, 81) St. Louis Cardinals (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96) for 19 seasons as he batted 0.262 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.328, with 28 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
2. Joe Morgan played the position of Hall of Fame, Second BasemanH/, Left FielderD, Third Baseman, Center Fielder wearing the number on the Philadelphia Phillies (60) for 1 seasons as he batted 0.271 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.427, with 268 career Home Runs, and 5 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
3. Bobby Richardson played the position of Hall of Fame, Second Baseman/H, Third Baseman, Shortstop wearing the number on the New York Yankees (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66) for 9 seasons as he batted 0.266 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.335, with 34 career Home Runs, and 5 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
4. Kenny Lofton played the position of Hall of Fame, Center Fielder/H, Left FielderD, Right Fielder wearing the number on the Chicago White Sox (02) San Francisco Giants (02) Chicago Cubs (03) for 2 seasons as he batted 0.299 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.423, with 130 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
5. Del Crandall played the position of Hall of Fame, CatcherH/, First Baseman, Right Fielder, Left Fielder wearing the number on the Milwaukee Braves (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63) for 11 seasons as he batted  for his career, had an On Base percentage of , with 179 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
6. Orlando Hudson played the position of Hall of Fame, Second Baseman/H, Third BasemanD wearing the number on the Toronto Blue Jays (04, 05) Arizona Diamondbacks (06, 07, 08) Minnesota Twins (10) San Diego Padres (11, 12) for 8 seasons as he batted 0.273 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.412, with 93 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
7. Jim Landis played the position of Hall of Fame, Center FielderH/, Right Fielder, Left Fielder wearing the number on the Chicago White Sox (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64) for 8 seasons as he batted  for his career, had an On Base percentage of , with 93 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
8. Lou Whitaker played the position of Hall of Fame, Second BasemanH/D wearing the number on the Detroit Tigers (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95) for 18 seasons as he batted 0.276 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.426, with 244 career Home Runs, and 3 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
9. Cool Papa Bell played the position of Hall of Fame wearing the number on the Homestead Grays (43, 44) for 2 seasons as he batted 0.325 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.446, with 57 career Home Runs, and 2 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
10. Willie Davis played the position of Hall of Fame, Center FielderH/, Right Fielder, Left FielderD wearing the number on the Montreal Expos (74) for 1 seasons as he batted 0.279 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.412, with 182 career Home Runs, and 3 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
11. Luis Castillo played the position of Hall of Fame, Second Baseman/H wearing the number on the Florida Marlins (97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05) Minnesota Twins (06, 07) New York Mets (07, 08, 09, 10) for 14 seasons as he batted 0.29 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.351, with 28 career Home Runs, and 3 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
12. Pee Wee Reese was a Hall of Fame Shortstop and Third Baseman wearing the number 1 on the Brooklyn Dodgers (40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57) Los Angeles Dodgers (58) for 16 seasons as he batted 0.269 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.377, with 126 career Home Runs.
13. Richie Ashburn played the position of Hall of Fame, Center FielderH/, Left Fielder, Right Fielder, Second Baseman wearing the number on the Philadelphia Phillies (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59) Chicago Cubs (60, 61) New York Mets (62) for 15 seasons as he batted 0.308 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.382, with 29 career Home Runs.
14. Bobby Doerr played the position of Hall of Fame, Second Baseman/H wearing the number on the Boston Red Sox (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51) for 13 seasons as he batted 0.288 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.461, with 223 career Home Runs.
15. Bengie Molina played the position of Hall of Fame, Catcher/HD wearing the number on the Anaheim Angels (00, 01, 02, 03, 04) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (05) Toronto Blue Jays (06) San Francisco Giants (07, 08, 09, 10) for 11 seasons as he batted 0.274 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.411, with 144 career Home Runs, and 2 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.

Here are the stats from Baseball-Reference that support our rankings:

So what do you thinks of our top fifteen based on performance numbers? Let us know your feedback by emailing us at PigskinDispatch@gmail.com

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The photo above in the banner is from Wikimedia Commons. This is a photograph of St. Louis Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith stands at first base with Philadelphia Phillies first baseman John Kruk. Courtest of the Missouri State Archives.

Special thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and the most wonderful book by Larry Lester and Wayne Stivers, The Negro Leagues Book, Volume 2.