MLB Number 17s

The Major League Baseball players and other personnel that wore number 17 is  quite the interesting group to take a look at. To find the best we go through the normal routine and first up is those that are in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

• Herb Pennock
• Dizzy Dean
• Dazzy Vance
• Earl Averill
• Enos Slaughter
• Ernie Lombardi
• Jim Bunning
• Ken Griffey Jr.

The next cartegory of study to find the best of baseball's uniform 17 wearers is to look at the folks who had the number retired by the clubs they were affiliated with. That list includes:

• Ted Kluszewski - Big Klu was the long time First Baseman of the Cincinnati Reds who retired his number 17 on July 18, 1998.
• Mel Harder- The Chief was a long time Pitcher and Manager of the Cleveland Indians, 36 year total withthe club! The organization placed Harder's number 17 into honorable preservation on July 28, 1990.

Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the greatest players that wore number 17 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. The amount of awards such as MVPs and All-Star selections are sprinkled in in comparison to the years they wore the number. 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 bonus points if in the Hall of Fame and for earning any Gold Glove Awards and/or Cy Young Awards. We call that calculated number our Ranked Formula and use it as a basis of Comparison to give you the Top Five at the uniform number (The rest are shown below in our chart). 

1. Keith Hernandez
2. Todd Helton
3. Mark Grace
4. Scott Rolen
5. Camilo Pascual

The stats may not be placing this group in order of importance but what it does do is identify the top players.

Here are our stats and findings:

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons from Harris-Ewing Photographers. It is of "Big train" and "Bucky" meet again, this time as foes. Walter Johnson and "Bucky" Harris meet again in Washington, this time as managers of opposing teams. Bucky's Detroit Tigers lost the first game of their series to the "Big Train's" Senators 8-2.

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.

Now it is that time where we take the information we have already gathered along and combine it with the number of wins his team garnered over the player that they replaced, the years that they wore the number and compare it with all the others that displayed the number prouudly on their MLB uniforms. The results are this:

• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Scott Rolen
• David Cone
• Todd Helton
• Keith Hernandez
• Dazzy Vance
• Jim Bunning
• Bret Saberhagen
• Sammy Sosa
• Tim Hudson
• Enos Slaughter
• Kevin Appier
• Bucky Walters
• Dwight Gooden
• Lance Berkman
• Toby Harrah
• Kenny Rogers
• Jim Fregosi
• Mark Grace
• Dizzy Dean
• Lon Warneke
• Herb Pennock
• Omar Vizquel
• Vida Blue
• Matt Holliday
• Al Dark
• Sad Sam Jones
• Nelson Cruz
• Felipe Alou
• Darryl Strawberry
• Sam McDowell
• Camilo Pascual
• Bob Friend
• Darrell Porter
• Virgil Trucks
• Andy Messersmith
• Tommy Henrich
• Bill White
• Ernie Lombardi
• Charlie Root
• Bob Rush
• Cecil Cooper
• Bump Hadley
• Shin-Soo Choo
• B.J. Surhoff
• Travis Fryman
• Ken McMullen
• Joe Adcock
• Elbie Fletcher
• Earl Torgeson
• Van Mungo
• Mickey Rivers
• Aramis Ramirez
• Darin Erstad
• Al Rosen
• Bobby Murcer
• Eddie Joost