MLB Number 33s

The journey to find the most substantial Major League Baseball players that wore the number 33 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:

• Roy Campanella
• Frank Robinson
• Enos Slaughter
• Eddie Murray
• Mike Piazza
• Harold Baines
• Larry Walker

Another telling clue to find the best is to see who has the MLB number 33 retired by their respective teams. This list of retired number 33s includes:

• Mike Scott    Astros    October 3, 1992
• Eddie Murray    Orioles    June 7, 1998
• Honus Wagner    Pirates    February 16, 1952
• Larry Walker    Rockies    September 25, 2021

Roy Campanella

Born November 19, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher Roy Campanella. This legend played in the Negro Leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor leagues in 1946. In 1948, Campanella made his MLB debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and was a mainstay with the team until a car accident in 1958 paralyzed the star catcher. During his career, he batter .276 with 242 home runs and over 850 RBIs.

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Larry Walker Baseball HOF Player

Born December 1, 1966, in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, was Baseball Hall of Fame Right Fielder and First Baseman Larry Walker. This legend won three MLB Batting Titles, seven Gold Glove Awards, and was a National League MVP. Walker played for the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals during his productive 17-year MLB career, which saw him bat .313 with over 2100 hits.

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Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the greatest players that wore number 33 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. Larry Walker
2. Scott Rolen
3. Paul Blair
4. Eddie Murray
5. Roy Campanella
6. Eric Davis
7. Benito Santiago
8. DJ LeMahieu
9. Frank Robinson
10. Fernando Valenzuela
11. Enos Slaughter
12. Mike Piazza
13. Harold Baines
14. Bobby Abreu
15. Jason Varitek

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 a cropped version of the 1911 NY Highlanders at practice. Original data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards: Batting Cage, American League Park. N.Y., Baseball.Corrected title and date based on research by the Pictorial History Committee, Society for American Baseball Research, 2006. Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).. 

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.