MLB Number 4s

The Baseball Hall of Fame gets us started in our search for the top players that wore number 4 in Major League Baseball.

Yankees legends Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth pose for pictures on May 6, 1927 at West Point US Miliatary Academy. It was taken by an unknown. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

• Lou Gehrig
• Rogers Hornsby
• Mel Ott
• Jimmie Foxx
• Bill Terry
• Joe Cronin
• Luke Appling
• Goose Goslin
• Kiki Cuyler
• Lou Boudreau
• Chick Hafey
• Jim Bottomley
• Billy Herman
• Ralph Kiner
• Joe Sewell
• Hack Wilson
• Duke Snider
• Chuck Klein
• George Kell
• Ernie Lombardi
• Billy Williams
• Red Schoendienst
• Joe Morgan
• Paul Molitor
• Joe Gordon
• Whitey Herzog
• Craig Biggio

Next up the uniform numbers of players that were retired by teams are:

• Luke Appling this top notch Short Stop had his jersey number 4 retired by the Chicago White Sox on June 7, 1975.
• Earl Weaver the winning manager of the Baltimore Orioles will forever be remembered in Camden Yards since his uniform number was put away on September 19, 1982.
• Duke Snider the former center field player of the Brooklyn Dodgers had his digits hung in the rafters on July 6, 1980.
• Ralph Kiner the legendary left fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates had his uniforn number retired on September 19, 1987.
• Lou Gehrig the NYC homegrown 1st baseman and clean up hitter of the Yankees had his pinstripes placed in hallowed grounds on July 4, 1939.
• Paul Molitor the fantastic DH and infielder of the Milwaukee Brewers was honored with a preserved number on June 11, 1999.
• Mel Ott the powerhitting right fielder had his jersey put in a place of honor by the New York Giants on July 17, 1948.
• Joe Cronin the famous Short Stop and Manager is forever remembered by the Red Sox Nation with his number retired at Fenway on May 29, 1984.

Special thanks to Baseball-Reference.com

Ralph Kiner

Born October 27, 1922, in Santa Rita, New Mexico was Baseball Hall of Fame Left Fielder, Ralph Kiner. This legend was the National League Homerun leader in 1946–52. Kiner was a six-time MLB All-Star spending the majority of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also spent time in the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs organizations.

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Okay, now it is time to put our knowledge to work and pick the greatest players that wore number 4 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. Yadier Molina a Hall of Fame Catcher, First Baseman, and Third Baseman wearing the number 4 on the St. Louis Cardinals (2006-21) for 16 seasons as he batted 0.277 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.399, with 176 career Home Runs, and 9 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
2. Robin Ventura  a Hall of Fame Third Baseman, First Baseman, Shortstop, Second Baseman, and sometimes even a Pitcher wearing the number 4 on the New York Mets (1999-2001) for 3 seasons as he batted 0.267 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.444, with 294 career Home Runs, and 6 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
3. Craig Biggio, a Hall of Fame Second Baseman, Catcher, Center Fielder, Left Fielder, and Right Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Houston Astros (1988-89) for 2 seasons as he batted 0.281 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.433, with 291 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
4. Joe Morgan was a Hall of Fame Second Baseman, Left Fielder, Third Baseman, and Center Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Cleveland Indians (1960-61) for 2 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.
5. Bobby Grich was a Hall of Fame Second Baseman, Shortstop, First Baseman, and Third Baseman wearing the number 4 on the California Angels (1977-86) for 10 seasons as he batted 0.266 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.424, with 224 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
6. Brandon Phillips, a Hall of Fame Second Baseman, Third Baseman, and Shortstop wearing the number 4 on the Cincinnati Reds (2006-16), Atlanta Braves (2017), and Los Angeles Angels (2017) for 12 seasons as he batted 0.275 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.42, with 211 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
7. Gary Gaetti was a Hall of Fame Third Baseman, First Baseman, Shortstop, Left Fielder, Pitcher, Second Baseman, and Right Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Kansas City Royals (1993) for 1 seasons as he hit 360 career Home Runs, and had 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
8. Mel Ott was a Hall of Fame Right Fielder, Third Baseman, Center Fielder, Left Fielder, and Second Baseman wearing the number 4 on the New York Giants (1933-47) for 15 seasons as he batted 0.304 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.533, with 511 career Home Runs.
9. Lou Gehrig was a Hall of Fame First Baseman, Right Fielder, Left Fielder, and Shortstop wearing the number 4 on the New York Yankees (1929-39) for 11 seasons as he batted 0.34 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.632, with 493 career Home Runs.
10. Jim Landis was a Hall of Fame Center Fielder, Right Fielder, and Left Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Detroit Tigers (1967) for 1 seasons as he had 93 career Home Runs, and 4 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.
11. Paul Molitor was a Third Baseman, Second Baseman, First Baseman, Shortstop, Center Fielder, Left Fielder, and Right Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Milwaukee Brewers (1978-92) Minnesota Twins (96, 97, 98) for 18 seasons as he batted 0.306 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.448, with 234 career Home Runs.
12. Luke Appling was a Hall of Fame, Shortstop, Third Baseman, Second Baseman, and First Baseman wearing the number 4 on the Chicago White Sox (1933-50) for 17 seasons as he batted 0.31 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.398, with 45 career Home Runs.
13. Rogers Hornsby was a Hall of Fame Second Baseman, Shortstop, Third Baseman, First Baseman, Right Fielder, Left Fielder, and Center Fielder wearing the number 4 on the St. Louis Cardinals (1923 &  1933) and St. Louis Browns (1936-37) for 4 seasons as he batted 0.358 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.577, with 301 career Home Runs.
14. Duke Snider was a Hall of Fame Center Fielder, Right Fielder, and Left Fielder wearing the number 4 on the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947-57), Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-62), and the New York Mets (1963) for 17 seasons as he batted 0.295 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.54, with 407 career Home Runs.
15. Gil Hodges was a Hall of Fame First Baseman, Catcher, Left Fielder, Third Baseman, Right Fielder, Center Fielder, and Second Baseman wearing the number 4 on the Brooklyn Dodgers (1943) for 1 seasons as he batted 0.273 for his career, had an On Base percentage of 0.487, with 370 career Home Runs, and 3 Gold Glove Awarded Seasons.

The statistics that back up our selctions are courtesy of Stathead.com and Baseball-Reference.com:

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

By all accounts some of the most significant players in MLB history that wore number 4 are:

• Luke Appling
• Paul Molitor
• Goose Goslin
• Josh Gibson
• Duke Snider
• Craig Biggio
• Joe Cronin
• Billy Williams
• Lou Boudreau
• Billy Herman
• Joe Gordon
• Joe Sewell
• Ralph Kiner
• Kiki Cuyler
• Chuck Klein
• Red Schoendienst
• Hack Wilson
• Ernie Lombardi
• George Kell
• Jim Bottomley
• Chick Hafey
• Whitey Herzog
• Joe Morgan
• Bobby Grich
• Robin Ventura
• Bob Johnson
• Tony Phillips
• Miguel Tejada
• Vern Stephens
• Rusty Staub
• Gil Hodges
• Julio Franco
• Dolph Camilli
• Ben Chapman
• Wally Berger
• Lenny Dykstra
• Yadier Molina
• Gary Gaetti
• Carney Lansford
• Babe Herman
• Sid Gordon
• Max Bishop
• Jeff Heath
• Lu Blue
• Mickey Vernon
• Howie Kendrick
• Alex Gordon

Earl Weaver makes the list as the top non-player for the MLB uniform number 4. Earl took the Orioles to the American League Pennant in 1979 but fell to the Pirates in the World Series in 7 games.

The photograph in the banner above is courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons collection of public Domain pictures. It is of Yankees stars Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth May 6, 1927 at West Point. It was taken by an unknown.

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.