Today (1929): The Back of Sports Uniforms Become a Statement

82 years ago, players on a baseball field were running around with absolutely no way for fans to indentify them.  Someone sitting in the upper deck at a Yanks game had to strain to see whether the guy at the plate was Lou Gehrig or maybe Johnny Grabowski.  It was on this day in 1929 that someone in the team’s front office decided to solve the problems associated with identifying what was essentially 30 white guys who were all wearing the exact same clothes.  The Yankees decided to give each player a number and just like that they created a trend that ultimately changed sports forever. 

 The simple task of adding numbers to the back of a jersey went on to create traditions such as retired numbers, established eternal links between certain players and their number such as #42 with Jackie Robinson or #99 with Wayne Gretzky and essentially added an element to sports that seems difficult to picture them without. 

And the teams and players aren’t the only ones having fun with it over the years.  Given free reign to use the combination of numbers and uniforms as they see fit, certain fans have grown to enjoy it as well…

---

Subscribe (for free!!) to our weekly sports podcast, deemed "incredible" by two out of three of our moms.

© JoeSportsFan.com, 2010. | Permalink | Tweet This