April 16, 2010
Yankee Stadium – The Bronx, New York
Today in Yankees History:
April 16, 1929

Both the Yankees and Cleveland Indians head into their respective Opening Day games with numbered uniforms. After the Yankees are rained out vs. Boston at Yankee Stadium, Cleveland becomes the first Major League Baseball team to permanently use uniform numbers.  The Yankees debut their numbers on April 18 vs. Boston.  The New York Yankees were the first team to honor their Legends by retiring a player’s number.  They have since retired:

#4 Lou Gehrig (1939)
#3 Babe Ruth (1948)
#5 Joe DiMaggio (1952)
#7 Mickey Mantle (1969)
#37 Casey Stengel (1970)
#8 Yogi Berra (1972)
#8 Bill Dickey (1972)
#16 Whitey Ford (1974)
#15 Thurman Munson (1979)
#9 Roger Maris (1984)
#32 Elson Howard (1984)
#10 Phil Rizzuto (1985)
#1 Billy Martin (1986)
#44 Reggie Jackson (1993)
#23 Don Mattingly (1997)
#49 Ron Guidry (2003)

Although #42 Jackie Robinson was retired throughout Major League Baseball in 1997, Yankees pitcher, closer Mariano Rivera remains the only active player and will be the last Major League Player to display #42 on his uniform.

The Cleveland Indians have retired the following numbers:

#19 Bob Feller (1957)
#5 Lou Boudreau (1970)
#3 Earl Averill (1975)
#18 Mel Harder (1990)
#14 Larry Doby (1994)
#42 Jackie Robinson (1997)
#21 Bob Lemon (1998)

Major  League Baseball – it is a numbers game.