70 YEARS AGO: YANKEES 1ST TEAM TO WEAR NUMBERED UNIFORMS

70 YEARS AGO: YANKEES 1ST TEAM TO WEAR NUMBERED UNIFORMS

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Wireless Flash) -- This Friday (Apr. 16) marks an important date for sports fans: it's the 70th anniversary of the day the New York Yankees became the first baseball team to regularly identify players with numbered uniforms. However, they weren't the first team to do so. Baseball historian Lyle Spatz says the Cleveland Indians actually beat the Yankees when it came to numbering uniforms by 13 years, but they only used numbers for a short time in 1916. Spatz says the Cleveland players didn't like the numbers and complained that the numbered uniforms made them look like convicts. Fans were also confused and thought the numbers were a ranking system showing which players were the best. In fact, it wasn't until 1929, when the Yankees adopted numbered uniforms that the idea caught on. But once the Yankees did it, other teams in the league quickly followed suit and numbered uniforms became the norm by the early '30s. As for player names on uniforms, that took a little longer: Spatz says names weren't universal until the '60s.

CONTACT: Lyle Spatz, ****; Annapolis, MD; (410) 269-4043