Moment #98: Numbers are Worn for the First Time in 1929 | MLB's ALL-TIME MOMENTS

This MLB offseason, we are starting a countdown of the 100 greatest moments in baseball history. These moments helped make the game what it is today. They all had an impact in the short or long term and endure to this day in the hearts and minds of baseball fans everywhere. We continue with #98: when the Yankees and Indians wore numbers on the backs of their jerseys for the first time.

Sports jerseys are one of the hottest selling pieces of clothing in the country, but what if all the players on the same team wore the exact same uniforms? It would certainly be harder for elite athletes to make extra money through their jersey sales and it would also make watching a game on TV very confusion. If television were invented before 1929, baseball fans watching at home probably would have gotten pretty frustrated.

That's because until 1929, no teams even wore numbers on their uniforms. That changed, though, when both the Yankees and Indians decided to set the standard for baseball uniforms, when they began wearing jerseys that were different for each player; a different number was adorned on the back of each player's jersey.

Thirteen years prior, the Indians had actually worn numbers on the fronts of their uniforms for a short time, but after seemingly being convinced by fans and the media that something like that wouldn't last, they slowly phased them out. They could have had the honor all to themselves, but now they have to share it with the Bronx Bombers, who really are the ones who revolutionized jersey numbering.

When January, 1929 came around and the Yankees announced they would begin wearing numbers on the backs of their uniforms, the Indians decided to get back into the number game and copy what the Yanks had planned. This time around, the decision was actually met with a lot of optimism from fans and writers. Perhaps it helps that the powerhouse Yankees were the ones to bring up the idea near the height of their reign.

Everyday starters would receive their number based on where they hit in the batting order. Of course, with so much lineup shuffling nowadays, this method would be impossible, but in simpler times, managers generally picked out one lineup and stuck with it. Thus, Babe Ruth was given No. 3 and Lou Gehrig was given No. 4 etc.

Think about the ramifications of this decision initially by the Yankees and also by the Indians. This was the beginning of sports merchandising as we know it today and it also had a huge effect on the legacy of many players. Of course, the greatest players in each team's history are honored by having their jersey numbers retired. It is one of sports' highest honors to have a team say "you meant so much to this franchise that nobody will ever wear your number again".

Ironically, it is the Yankees who have sparked a debate over how often teams should retire jersey numbers in professional sports. When they retired Derek Jeter's No. 2 jersey on May 14, 2017, it became the final single-digit number the franchise deemed off limits. Therefore, all future Yankees will have to wear double-digit numbers. That makes sense, though, given the fact all the legends for the Bronx Bombers in the early days of numbers were given single-digit numbers if they were an everyday hitter.

While the Yankees are generally credited with being the first team to wear numbers on the backs of their uniforms, that actually wasn't the case. Yes, they announced the idea first and were supposed to wear the numbers on Opening Day, April 16, 1929, the same day Cleveland was to debut their new uniforms. However, the Yankees' game was rained out and the Indians' was not. So, if the question comes up: the Indians were officially the first team to wear numbers on the backs of their uniforms.

Uniquely, the first time two teams played each other with each wearing numbers on the back of their uniforms was on May 13, 1929 when Cleveland and New York met for the first time since the change. They were clearly the early adopters, so did the trend catch on quickly like many publications believed it would? Yes. By the early 1930's almost every MLB team was wearing numbers on the backs of their uniform.

Fans in Philadelphia who didn't know their team as well were the last to get the help of the numbers on the backs of their uniforms. The powerhouse Athletics resisted the movement until 1937 when they became the final MLB team to adopt the practice of wearing numbers on the backs of their uniforms. Imagine all the money Jimmie Foxx could have made on his jersey sales if they had started putting numbers on the back from the get go!

Just kidding, baseball jerseys wouldn't be sold widely for several decades and didn't appear almost at all until 1965 when Manny Koenigsberg offered replica major league uniforms out of a catalog he sold baseball apparel through. This was just scratching the surface of what the apparel business would eventually be and you can be sure, unlike today with tons of licensing agreements with the league, the likenesses of players' jerseys he sold back then didn't make them a penny.