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Uniform Number Archives

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If you’ve been following me and my Texas Rangers fandom for any length of time, you should know that uniform numbers fascinate me.  I’m always looking up information on players, and it’s something I’ve been doing for awhile.

Some Background:

I grew up in Philadelphia, and when I was young, it was the era of Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, and Pete Rose.  To this day I can still recall their numbers without looking it up (32, 20, 14).  But it went further than that.  Unless they retired someone’s number, I would always think “Hey, that’s so and so’s old number”.   That mindset extended to when I moved to Texas in the early 90’s and because a fan of the Texas Rangers.

Back in 2006, I happened upon this book, which was a list of uniform numbers for every team.  It was a goldmine!  Yeah, the internet was around at this point, but things like Baseball Reference were not.  This was an awesome book, I picked it up, and used the data on the Rangers as a starting point to launch uniform number history on my website.  Back then it was far more spartan than what I have now, but I’ve spent over a decade working the numbers now.

Over that time, I got some notoriety over my research with Rangers uniform numbers.  The first person to say something about it was Victor Rojas when he was here as a radio broadcaster.  I wish I kept those old emails, but I don’t have them anymore.  Vic gushed about my research, which was most kind.  However, as time went on, I got noticed by Eric Nadel, who has name dropped me on radio broadcasts a few times as having done a ton of research. Then there was TR Sullivan who tweeted about my number archive a few times, but then in his final article for MLB.com before he retired, he threw me a lot of love (the article was about uniform numbers).

Every Texas Rangers media guide from 1972 – 2023.

Forward to now:

So a few months back, I was making a pass, as I noticed a few things that needed massaging, and I was about 1/4 of the way through the pages, and then I had a brilliant idea.  One of the things I always wanted to do was make a full pass on the entire history of the club.  The problem with that is that I needed source material.  I had all the media guides from 1972-2023, and that’s what I was working through.  But then I ran into a fan (hi Tim!) who had spring training media guides for all the Washington Senators years (1961-1971), so that was a great help.

The problem with this is that the media guides only show you what the uniform numbers are during spring training.  They’re printed during then, so anything that happens DURING the season was more of a question.  This became more of a thing the further back in time I went.  I’ve been keeping track of the changes in the last 15 years or so on my site, so I was pretty confident on those.  But I’m never foolish enough to think I’m 100% accurate, so that’s when I had the idea to check out every player.

But that brings me back to the brilliant idea.  It occurred to me that if I cross reference the data I already had with the 63 years of media guides with what Baseball Reference had, I can make my dream a reality.  That’s because Baseball reference has “game logs” – which show you every single game that a player has played and on what date.  For example, click this – it will show you all the games that Pudge played in 1998.  This became particularly useful the further back I went in time, because it would show you guys who were up for a very few (or one) game.  This was the breakthrough.  Coupling the media guides with my own data, and BBR’s data I was able to find what I wanted (mostly).

So in this past week I completed a project that took well over a year (due to various health issues in-between) – I went and looked at every year of the franchise, from 1961 through 2023, and examined EVERY SINGLE STINKIN PLAYER against these three sources, and I’m pretty confident I have a comprehensive pile of data on the entire roster history of the franchise.  It was really weird when I clicked publish on the last page.  It was the end of a long trail.

One of my favorite compliments about this research is that I did find a few errors in Baseball Reference’s data.  Things I could prove.  For example there was a player that I could prove was wearing a number that BBR did not have – the evidence was that I found a complete game on Youtube for that date showing what I said was wright.  BBR took it onboard and updated their data based on what I sent.  This happened a couple of times in my research.

Anyway, take a look at the archive.  I spent a lot of time digging into everyone and coming up with the history of the players.  I’m quite proud of what I’ve done here.

Still to do:

Despite making a complete run through all the players, there’s still things for me to do.  There’s a few major bullet points that I still need to research.  Like:

  1. Oddities.  Things like Eddie Stanky.  He managed the team for one day (22 Jun 1977), and I can’t find his uniform number.  The only way I can think of would be to find a program from that EXACT date.  There’s only one picture I’ve seen of him – it’s in his manager’s office, but the #44 in that picture was the number on a locker, which likely was not his, as Luccesi was fired the same day Stanky managed his one game.
  2. Cup of Coffee guys.  There’s quite a few players over history who get called up, ride the bench for a few days, and then disappear, never to return.  The problem with guys like that is that since they didn’t technically PLAY, they’re not in the baseball reference archives.  You have to have at least one game played to be in there, and guys like that don’t show.  The most recent example of this is Matt Bush.  In 2023, he was called up on Sep 30th.  Was on the roster through the end of the season, but didn’t pitch so he doesn’t show as an active player for the Rangers in 2023 on BBR.  I have several of these guys on my pages, but that’s because I have been paying attention.  Guys who did that in years gone by will be impossible to find, without having access to the team’s master archives of transactions and player information.  Something I’m unlikely to get access to, I’d imagine.  I list guys like that on my pages as “dnp” (for did not play).
  3. Conflicts.  As good as my info is (as well as BBR), it’s not infallible.  All told, I found 27 conflicts that I can’t figure out on my own via some deep dive or something.  The problem with conflicts is basically I need some data that can resolve the conflict one way or the other.  I can think of two ways to resolve this (barring something odd like running to the actual player themselves who might remember).  These two are the aforementioned master archive of the Rangers player history.  The other would be programs. I have a handful of older programs, but not a lot of them.  Especially in the years prior to me moving here.  If you’re still reading this, that’s where you could come in.  Below I have posted the full list of conflicts that I can’t figure out.  There’s 27 of them.  Given how many players and how many years I’ve gone through, that the list is just 27 is pretty darned good, actually.

Summary:

So that’s what I’ve been working on for the past year and a half or so on my site here.   A complete refresh of every uniform number over ever year of the franchise.  A metric ton of data to go through, but I’ve finished it.  It was a lot of fun, and as my wife said “the kind of project that’s right up your alley”.

However, you could help me.  Take a look at the conflicts below, and the affected dates.  If you have any programs from these dates, I want to hear from you.  Specifically I want to see the page that has the roster for the game, and the exact date of the program.  That would help enormously.

John Blake, the VP of the Rangers has said that he’s willing to help me, but he is a busy man.  I want to whittle down the list of conflicts before I hit him up as what I’m asking will be a big ask of someone there (I doubt Blake himself would go trawling through the archives for me).

Thanks for reading, and check out the pages.  I had a ton of fun putting it together, and I’ve had a few people also curse me out saying it was super easy to get lost in here, just awash in memories of players gone by.

— Joe

Conflicts:

Here is my list of conflicts.  They’re mostly conflicts (two people wearing same number at the same time).  But a couple of them are unknown dates (like so and so switched from 15 to 14, but on an unknown date).  If they’re on this list, you should assume I can’t resolve the conflict I mention for each.  If you can help (with verifiable proof) with any of these, get in touch.  Tkx.

  1. ?? (1977) – What number did Eddie Stanky wear?
  2. #3 (1986) – Ruben Sierra & Jerry Browne are both shown to be wearing #3 in Sep 1986.  Sierra wore 3 the entire season as far as I can tell.  I cannot explain why Baseball reference also has him wearing #47 in season, as I can find no reference to that.  I also cannot resolve the conflict of Jerry Browne wearing #3 in Sep 1986.  Could he have worn 47 instead?
  3. #6 (1968) – Have Tim Cullen wearing 6 from Aug 2 – Sep 29, and Dick Billings from Sep 11 – 29.
  4. #7 (1965) – Have Ken Hamlin wearing it entire season.  Conflict is Chuck Cottier wearing it from Sep 1 – 15.
  5. #9 (1982) – Larry Parrish switched from 9 to 15, but on an unknown date.
  6. #10 (1984) – Have Ned Yost wearing it all year, but also Kevin Buckley from Sep 4 – 25.  (Buckley also had #10 in Spring 1985.
  7. #14 (1972) – Have Jim Mason wearing 14 in Spring Training, then from Jul 27 – Oct 4 (end), but I also have Dalton Jones wearing it from Jun 2 – Oct 4.  I also have a note of Mason wearing #2 in 1972, but no note as to when.  As a side note, I have Lenny Randle wearing #2 until Jul 23.  It’s possible Mason wore #2 when he came up in late July, but I can’t prove it.
  8. #15 (1971) – Have both Tom Ragland and Dave Nelson wearing #15 from Sep 24 – 30.  Nelson moves to #1 as he had that in 72?
  9. #18 (1966) – Have both Bob Humphreys & Dick Lines wearing #18 the entire season, although I also show Humphreys wearing #23, but no idea on date of change.
  10. #18 (1975) – Clyde Wright – shows 18 from st through Sep 26, but also shows wearing #38 at some undetermined time at BBR.  However, Stan Perzanowski – shows 18 from Jul 25 – Sep 28 and into 1976, so this was probably his number.  But when I look at #38, Tom Robson – Shows #38 from Jul 17 – Sep 18.  This conflicts with the note from earlier that shows Clyde Wright with #38 in 1975.  UPDATE: I found a program from 20 Jul 1975 that shows Wright wearing 38.  It gets more confusing when I found programs showing Mike Kekich wearing #18 from Jun 4- Sep 26
  11. #20 (1970) – Have Joe Coleman wearing #20 all season, but also Jeff Burroughs from Jul 20 – 30.
  12. #20 (1992) – I show Jeff Robinson wearing #20 until Jun 4, but also Russ McGinnis wearing it from Jun 3 – 25.  Cannot resolve the Jun 3 & 4 conflict there.
  13. #29 (1961) – I show Ron Stillwell wearing 29 on Sep 17, but that conflicts with Bob Johnson who wore it from Jul 19 through end of season.
  14. #29 (1985) – I show Jose Guzman wearing 29 & 23 on his Sep 10 – Oct 1 dates, but can’t break it down. Problem is that Matt Williams is also shown wearing 29 from Sep 10 – Oct 5.
  15. #29 (1986) – Pete Incaviglia is shown to have started the season wearing #5. At some point he switched to #29, but I’m unable to determine an exact date. I *THINK* it’s Jun 23rd, but I’m not positive.
  16. #32 (1991) – I show Calvin Schiraldi wearing 32 in 3 games on Jun 21, 28, & Jul 3. However, I also have Terry Mathews wearing 32 starting on Jun 21 as well.
  17. #33 (1980) – I show Don Kainer wearing 33 & 43 from Sep 6 – Oct 5.  However, I can’t figure out which games he wore which number. NOTE: Only four games total between those dates. I also show Doc Medich wearing 33 the entire season, too.
  18. #34 (1968) – I have Fred Valentine wearing 34 until Jun 14, but also Steve Jones from May 15-19.
  19. #34 (1976) – Nelson Briles wore both 34 & 23 in 1976.  I can’t find out dates for either.  He did end the season with 34, tho – as he wore it in 1977 as well.
  20. #35 (1968) – I have Sam Bowens wearing 35 until Jul 16, but also Hank Allen from Apr 18 – Sep 29.
  21. #41 (2001) – Ken Caminiti started the season with #41 and switched to #11, but on an unknown date
  22. #46 (1980) – I show Bob Babcock wearing 46 from May 26 – Sep 24), however BBR says he also wore #20, but I can find no dates for either of these.  Rusty Staub wore #20 the entire season in 1980 as well, so, is BBR’s reference to 20 for Babcock an error?  It seems to be, as I only have Babcock wearing #20 in spring for 1980.
  23. #48 (1985) – I show Dave Stewart wearing 48 until Sep 12, but BBR also says he wore 43, but I can’t find any dates or info on that.  Both numbers don’t show anyone else wearing in season, so ???
  24. #51 (2015) – I show Ross Ohlendorf wearing #51 from May 17 – Jun 3, and again from Sep 1 – Oct 3. However, BBR also says he wore 25 this season, but gives no dates.  I also show Wandy Rodriguez wearing both 51 & 25 this season – no dates.  Fun to mix in – Mike Napoli also wears 25.
  25. #56 (1973) – I have Jim Merritt wearing 56 during the season, but BBR says #16, and I can’t find any other reference to that. That would also conflict with Jim Shellenback, who wore 16 in Sep 1973.
  26. #56 (1996) – Have Danny Patterson wearing 56 in spring as well as Jul 26 – Aug 2 & Sep 18 – 27.  However BBR also has him wearing 46, but I can’t find a reference to that.  Perhaps Sep 18 – 27?
  27. #61 (1994) – Have James Hurst wearing 61 from Apr 4 to May 22.  BBR also says he wore 25, but I don’t have any info as to what dates these things were.