MLB Number 34s

The journey to find the most substantial Major League Baseball players that wore the number 34 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:

• Red Ruffing
• Lloyd Waner
• Waite Hoyt
• Lou Boudreau
• Bucky Harris
• Hack Wilson
• Brooks Robinson
• Rollie Fingers
• Nolan Ryan
• Kirby Puckett
• Frank Thomas
• Randy Johnson
• Trevor Hoffman
• Roy Halladay

Another telling clue to find the best is to see who has the MLB number 34 retired by their respective teams. This list of retired number 10s includes:

• Rollie Fingers    Brewers    August 9, 1992
• Rollie Fingers    Athletics    July 5, 1993
• Nolan Ryan    Rangers    September 15, 1996
• Nolan Ryan    Astros    September 29, 1996
• Kirby Puckett    Twins    May 25, 1997
• David Ortiz    Red Sox    June 23, 2017
• Roy Halladay    Phillies    August 8, 2021

David Ortiz

Born November 18, 1975, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was Baseball Hall of Fame Designated Hitter David Ortiz. This legend was a ten-time MLB All-Star and won three World Series Championships. Ortiz was also a Silver Slugger winner and a Home Run Derby Champion. His explosive power with a bat in his hand helped elevate the Boston Red Sox to the top spot in the MLB rankings for much of his career. 541 Career Home Runs with 2472 hits and a .286 Batting Average make David Ortiz a great player in the game's history. Ortiz played for the Minnesota Twins and the Red Sox during his 20-year career in the Bigs.

More Information

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Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the greatest players that wore number 34 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. Brooks Robinson
2. Kirby Puckett
3. Bobby Shantz
4. Randy Johnson
5. David Ortiz
6. Andy Van Slyke
7. Roy Halladay
8. Bret Boone
9. Benito Santiago
10. Luis Castillo
11. Rollie Fingers
12. Nolan Ryan
13. Fernando Valenzuela
14. Corey Kluber
15. Denny McLain
16. Red Ruffing

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 1933 Goudey baseball card of Red Ruffing of the New York Yankees #56.

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.