MLB Number 22s

The journey to find the most substantial Major League Baseball players that wore the number 22 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:

• Paul Waner
• Dizzy Dean
• Sam Rice
• Red Ruffing
• Satchel Paige
• Lefty Gomez
• Jim Palmer
• Gaylord Perry
• Mike Schmidt
• Tony Gwynn
• Rickey Henderson
• Oscar Charleston
• Whitey Herzog
• Bert Blyleven
• Tony La Russa
• Randy Johnson

Another telling clue to find the best is to see who has the MLB number 22 retired by their respective teams. This list of retired number 10s includes:

• Jim Palmer had his number 22 retired by his former club the Baltimore Orioles on September 1, 1985

Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the greatest players that wore number 22 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 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 Fifteen at the uniform number. 

1. Mike Schmidt
2. Andruw Jones
3. Jim Palmer
4. Roger Clemens
5. Oscar Charleston
6. Devon White
7. Mark Langston
8. Oscar Charleston
9. Tony Gwynn
10. Randy Johnson
11. Clayton Kershaw
12. Gaylord Perry
13. Gary Pettis
14. Mike Matheny

The stats may not be placing this group in order of importance but what it does do is identify the top 25

Here are our stats and findings:

The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of the Public Domain of the 1930-31 Homestead Grays. Authorities on the Negro Leagues have made them the consensus pick as the best team ever.

Standing: Cumberland Posey*, Bill Evans, Jap Washington, Red Reed, Smokey Joe Williams*, Josh Gibson*, George "Tubby" Scales, Oscar Charleston*, Charlie Walker, Jr.
Kneeling: Chippy Britt, Lefty Williams, Jud Wilson*, Vic Harris, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, Ambrose Reed, Ted Page. (*Hall of Fame)

Photo taken by the Harrison Studio

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.