Checklist

1

Welcome back! Now things are starting to get difficult. Uniform number 1 has five hundred options to choose from. Way more than 00 (twenty-one players) and 0 (forty-five players). It was quite a challenge. There were twenty-three players who wore number 1 for ten years or more and another fifty-six who wore it over five years. There were eighteen players who had a career WAR over 40 and eleven Hall of Famers. There were some really cool names too, Rabbit, Snuffy, Granny, Sparky, Kiddo, Bubba and Sibby. There will be a nice group of honorably mentioned players. So, without further ado (I’ve always wanted to say that!), here are my top seven players for uniform number 1.

All seven choices wore uniform number 1 for well over five years, in fact, they all wore it over ten years, and all of them had career WAR over 40.  

Number 1:

“The Wizard of Oz”. What an amazing nickname for an amazing player. I always loved the 1986 Topps cards. It’s one of my favorite sets, probably more for nostalgic reasons than aesthetics, but this Ozzie Smith one is sweet. I was so happy to see his uniform number on full display.

Ozzie Smith probably doesn’t need an introduction. He played shortstop for nineteen years in the majors from 1978 to 1996 wearing uniform number 1 the entire time. He was on the Padres until 1981 when he was traded in a six-player deal to the St. Louis Cardinals, with Cardinal’s shortstop Garry Templeton (who also wore number 1) and Sixto Lezcano as the key pieces. Initially hesitant, Smith met with Cardinal’s manager Whitey Herzog and was convinced this was the right team. He would play the rest of career for St. Louis. He was with those Cardinals when I first discovered my love of baseball, and baseball cards, and the Wizard was a key player during the 80s and 90s. He was so much fun to watch, with his crazy backflips and infectious smile. Whenever I found an Ozzie Smith card in a pack, I was delighted. 

Smith was a 15-time All-Star. On the defensive end, he won the Gold Glove 13-times in a row. He also helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 1982. He won a Silver Slugger in 1987 and was honored with the Roberto Clemente Award in 1995. He would finish his career with a 76.9 WAR, accumulating 2460 hits with only 28 home runs. He had a career .337 OBP and a .268 batting average, with 580 stolen bases. Smith was elected to the Cardinals Hall of Fame.  He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 with a 91.7% vote, his first time on the ballot.

His uniform number 1 was retired by the Cardinals.

Number 2:

“Sweet Lou” Whitaker played second base for the Tigers for nineteen years and wore uniform number 1 for eighteen of those. He played from 1977 to 1995. During the ’80s the Tigers were a great team, with Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Lance Parrish, Kirk Gibson, Chet Lemon and pitcher Jack Morris. They won the World Series in 1984.

Like Ozzie Smith, Lou Whitaker played during my formative baseball years. In fact, when I was a kid, I wouldn’t pick a favorite team. I’m now a diehard Red Sox fan, but you know how kids are. For a period, I remember being a Tigers fan. I think it was more because I thought Tigers were cool than any actual baseball reason, but man those early ’80s Tiger’s players still hold a special place for me. I loved getting their cards. For Whitaker, I found this awesome 1996 Upper Deck with him making a leaping defensive play, the number 1 displayed prominently on his back. So cool!

Whitaker was a five-time All-Star. He won ROY in 1978, was a three-time Gold Glove winner and a four-time Silver Slugger. He has a career WAR of 75.1 with a .276 lifetime BA, 420 doubles, 244 home runs and a .363 OBP. He is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I think he could be. Do you?

His uniform number 1 was retired by the Detroit Tigers.

Number 3:

Next, we are going back a bit into baseball history, to the time before I was born. Pee Wee Reese played shortstop for sixteen years from 1940 to 1958 (he missed the ‘43, ‘44, and ‘45 seasons due to military service). He spent his entire career with the Brooklyn Dodgers (LA for his last season).

This 1958 Topps cards is so beautiful. I love the colors on these cards. This would be Pee Wee’s last season, and the Dodgers were newly moved to LA. I like this card because you can see the uniform number 1 on Reese’s back. He wore that number for his entire career.

Pee Wee’s real name was Harold Peter Henry Reese, but he gained the nickname when he was a young boy playing and winning marble championships (yes that was a thing) in Kentucky. I didn’t know much about Pee Wee until I watched the movie “42” (which is amazing and a must watch for everyone; baseball fan or not). I really respected that he was a player who supported the integration of Jackie Robinson into baseball. He didn’t just support him, he also showed solidarity by putting a comforting arm around Robinson during a rough fan heckling situation. That’s a stand up shortstop and person in my book.

Reese was a ten-time All-Star, winning a World Series ring with the Brooklyn Dodgers in ’55 and then again in ‘59 as a coach. He has a career 69.5 WAR with 2,170 hits, 126 home runs, 232 stolen bases and a career batting average of .269. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 via the Veterans Committee.

Reese passed away at 81 years old in 1999.

His number 1 was retired by the Dodgers.

Number 4:

Another player with a couple of great nicknames, Richie Ashburn played centerfield for fifteen years from 1948 to 1962, mostly for the Phillies (twelve years) and later in his career, two years with the Cubs and one with the Mets. He was sometimes known as “Putt-Putt” and “the Tilden Flash”, but regardless of what you called him, Ashburn makes uniform number 1 proud. He wore it for all fifteen of his seasons, while becoming a legend in Philadelphia.

I couldn’t find a card with his number displayed, but I’m a huge fan of the 1956 Topps design, so I picked it to highlight Ashburn on my uniform number 1 list. You must admit…it is a sweet looking card.

Ashburn started his Phillies career strong. He led the league in stolen bases and was voted into the All-Star game in 1948, his rookie season, while he finished 3^rd in ROY voting, behind Al Dark and Gene Bearden. He would go on to have five more All-Star appearances. He was also the NL batting champ in ’55 and ’58. 

Ashburn had a nice career. His career WAR was 64.3 with a .308 career batting average, 2,574 hits, 1,322 runs, and 234 stolen bases. He also had a nice .396 OBP. He is also 3^rd in putouts for centerfield, behind greats Willie Mays and Tris Speaker.

After retirement, Ashburn would become a popular commentator for the Phillies until his death. He is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame and was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 by the veterans committee behind plenty of fan support.

Ashburn passed away at the age of 70 in 1997 just a couple hours after broadcasting a game.

His uniform number 1 was retired by the Phillies.

Number 5:

I was very excited to include Bobby Doerr on the list. He spent his entire fourteen-year career as a second baseman for the Boston Red Sox from 1937 to 1951 (missing ’45 for military service). His 1941 Play Ball card is a great example of cards from the ‘40s. I’m not an art connoisseur, so I can’t adequately explain how elegant these cards are, but I’ll try. Beautiful colors, vibrant pictures, a great art-deco style. It’s like looking at a time machine. The perfect card to capture the essence of the era.

Doerr wore uniform number 1 his entire career with the Red Sox. He was a nine-time All-Star while batting over .300 three times and hitting 100 RBIs in 6 seasons. He was a forefather on a team with a storied past, known for some of the best players in Major League history (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Red Sox fan).

After leaving the game, Doerr would become a coach, helping shape Carl Yastrzemski’s legendary triple crown season. He finished with a career WAR of 54.4 along with 2,042 hits, 381 doubles, 89 triples, 223 home runs, and .288 career batting average. Doerr is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame and in 1986 was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Doerr passed away in 2017 at 99 years old.

Like all the players picked before him, his uniform number 1 was retired by the Red Sox.

Number 6:

Another example of a beautiful card, the 1934 Diamond Stars Buddy Myer is pure nostalgia. Myers played for seventeen years in the Majors from 1925 through 1941. He mostly played second base (with occasional stints at third and in the outfield), predominantly with the Washington Senators, but he also had two seasons with the Red Sox. He wore uniform number 1 for eleven seasons, all with Washington. He started his career during the time when numbers were rare, so it appears he wore number 1 his entire career.

Myer was a great player whose batting average was .300 or better in nine seasons. He won the batting title in 1935 and was a two-time All-Star. In 1933 he got into a fight was Ben Chapman, a player known not only for his dirty play, but his use of racist remarks (he infamously heckled Jackie Robinson in 1947 when Chapman managed the Phillies). Myer, who was not himself Jewish, but had Jewish heritage, was spiked by Chapman, who then berated Myer with anti semitic remarks, causing one of the craziest fights in baseball history; one that spread to the dugout and the fans.

Myer ended his career with a 48.4 WAR and a .303 batting average. He had career .389 OBP and struck out only 428 times in over 7000 at bats. That’s like 6%! He also had 965 walks, double the amount of career strikeouts.

Myer passed away in 1974 at the age of 70.

Number 7:

Another player I grew up watching, Tony Fernandez played for seventeen seasons from 1983 to 2001 (He missed the 1996 season due to injury). Fernandez played for the Blue Jays from ‘83-‘90, then was traded to the Padres along with his teammate “The Crime Dog” Fred McGriff for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. He would then bounce around a lot, playing for the Mets and Blue Jays in ’93, then the Reds, Yankees, Cleveland (Blue Jays again! ‘98-‘99), then went to Japan and was on the Seibu Lions, came back to play for the Brewers and ended his career with (Bueller, Bueller?), yep, the Blue Jays again. He wore uniform number 1 for fourteen of his seventeen seasons.

Fernandez was a five-time All-Star who was known for his stellar defensive play, winning four Gold Gloves. He was part of the 1993 World Series Champion Blue Jays and holds the record for RBIs in the World Series for a shortstop with nine. He’s also a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

 He ended his career with a WAR of 45.3, a .288 batting average, 2,276 hits, 414 doubles, 92 triples and 246 stolen bases.

Fernandez passed away at the age of 57 in 2020.

Final Score:

Uniform number 1 had a lot of players to choose from. I suspect that will be the case for many of the numbers moving forward. There are a lot of solid players coming up, so many of my lists will be very subjective. There will likely be some Red Sox bias, a lot of players I enjoyed watching in my lifetime, and a lot of snide remarks about the Yankees.   

Out of the seven players above three only played for one team. They also all had their uniform number for a long time. 4 had it 100% of their career, the other three 80%. THis is likely the case for all-stars and Hall of Famers, especially those who stayed with one team, but it seems common to have players wear a uniform number for a few seasons and then switch up (likely when traded or signing elsewhere).

As I mentioned at the start of this post, there were eleven Hall of Famers who wore uniform number 1, and over fifty players also met the five years plus criteria. There were also so many fun nicknames on this list. So, a few honorable mentions. Garry Templeton (3x All-Star) had number 1 for fifteen seasons and was traded for Ozzie Smith. Mookie Wilson (stupid 1986 Mets!) also for fifteen seasons. Hall of Fame pitcher Earle Combs had the number for seven seasons. Hall Of Famer “Rabbit” Maranville also had it for 3 seasons. He also has an awesome nickname and looks very rabbit like in some of his pictures. There were many great choices, but I digress. Maybe when I finish the first set of posts, I’ll do more.   

Make sure to check out the next post where things are sure to heat up with uniform number 2. I already know of one player that I’m not looking forward to putting on the list, but he deserves to be there. Can you guess who it is? Thanks for joining me!

PLAYER NAME	NUMBER of YEARS WORN	CAREER WAR	ALL-STAR APPEARENCES	OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Ozzie Smith	19	76.9	15	13 Gold Gloves World Series Champ (82) HOF (02)
Lou Whitaker	18	75.1	5	ROY (78) 3x Gold Glove 4x Silver Slugger World Series champ (84)
Pee Wee Reese	16	68.5	10	World Series Champ (55) HOF (84)
Richi Ashburn	15	64.3	6	HOF (95)
Bobby Doerr	13	51.4	9	HOF (96)
Buddy Myer	11	48.4	2
Tony Fernandez	14	45.3	5	4 x Gold Glove World Series Champ (93)

Sources:

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/

https://www.baseball-reference.com/

https://www.sabr.org

Shout out to all the cool cards and creative commons for my pictures! Thanks Topps and Upper Deck and Fleer and Donruss!