Scoreboard Numbers vs. Uniform Numbers: The 1931–34 Detroit Tigers and the Letter of the Law

Who’s the batter? Nowadays, fans attending a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park can just look at the player—his name and assigned number are on the back of his uniform, and his name is displayed prominently on a huge scoreboard. However, a hundred years or so ago, Tigers fans attending a baseball game at Navin Field in Detroit had to buy a scorecard to find out who was batting. Fans could see the ID number of the batter on the scoreboard on the outfield wall. (Figure 1.)

 

The fans would then check their scorecards which listed the player names and their scoreboard ID numbers. Scorecards not only brought in revenue from sales at the ballpark, they were also a source of advertising revenue from local businesses. Figure 2 shows the scorecard grid for a game between Detroit and St. Louis in June 1922: four ads surround the grid. Other ads in the scorecard included Adams Black Jack Gum, Hotel Fort Shelby, Michigan Parfay Co., the American State Bank, the Haskins Agency (underwriting), Max O’Leary (Ford dealership), Louis Schiappacasse & Co. (fruits, candy, nuts, produce), and Thompson Auto Co. (Federal Motor Trucks dealership).1

 

Figure 2. The Detroit scorecard grid section for a Tigers-Browns game in June 1922

 

Unlike today, when players are assigned uniform numbers that very rarely change within a season, and some players might wear the same number for their entire careers, the ID numbers of players at Navin Field could vary from game to game. Because of changes in the roster, due to in-season transactions such as trades or promotions/demotions from/to the minor leagues, as well as changes in the starting lineups due to managerial realignments of the batting order, ID numbers would be reassigned. A new scorecard had to be bought for each game, or at least for each series, since the scorecards could not be reused from one series to the next, nor could the numbers be memorized. For example, Figure 3 compares facsimile scorecards for two games between the Tigers and the Yankees in 1926 at Navin Field, June 10 and September 11, following the same format as the scorecard shown in Figure 2.

 

 

Only two players had the same ID number for both games—Jackie Tavener (7) and Hooks Dauss (11). Even player-manager Ty Cobb had different ID numbers (4 and 61) for these games, reflecting that he was in the starting lineup in one game and not in the other. The scoreboard ID numbers corresponded to the lineup positions for the first seven batters, while the eighth spot is occupied by two catchers with scoreboard ID numbers 8 and 9. The pitchers have numbers in the teens and low twenties. The other players have scoreboard numbers that seem somewhat unusual—ID number 49 is that of the third-string catcher, while the others seem assigned at random: 51, 61, 71, 112, 151, and 171. (We do not know why many of these additional numbers end with the numeral one, though perhaps limiting the unique numerals used aided in the operation of the manual scoreboard.) With 27 unique home series between the Tigers and other American League clubs, there could have been as many as 27 unique scorecards, though examination of existing examples suggests they did not always update for every series. Examination of Retrosheet box scores suggests the numbers 1-6 and 8 were assigned to many different players during the course of the season. See Figure 4.

 

Figure 4. Possible Scoreboard ID Number Assignments for Players on the 1926 Detroit Tigers

 

These constant changes were certainly not fan-friendly. A simpler system would be to assign one number per player—such as a uniform number—which could be used as scoreboard ID number all season. While the idea had often been proposed, the majority of major-league clubs—including the Detroit Baseball Club—were strongly opposed because they feared it would reduce the sales of scorecards. As stated by Jack Looney in his book Now Batting, Number…, “during the idle winter months prior to the 1931 season, American League president Ernest S. Barnard informed all clubs in the league that players must wear numbers. He suggested that regulars wear #1–7, the catchers #8-11, pitchers #12–24 and utility players the rest. The #13 was left to the discretion of each team.”2 As The Sporting News reported, “The American League decided to number all of its players in 1931. It appeared to be the opinion of the owners that such identification had helped to maintain the individuality of Babe Ruth. With a number on his back, no one had mistaken him for any other player.”3 Uniform numbers had previously been used briefly, by Cleveland in 1916 and by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1923.4 The Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees began using numbers on the backs of the uniforms of their players in 1929, and maintained the practice from then on.5 All eight National League clubs did so starting in 1932.6

The need for teams to assign one permanent ID number to each player is clearly demonstrated by Detroit Tigers scorecards from the 1930 season, the year before Barnard’s edict. Three are compared in Figure 5. See also Figure 6.

 

Figure 5. Comparison of the ID numbers shown in printed scorecards May 4, July 4, and September 27, 1930

 

In 1930, Detroit hosted 25 home series with at least 25 unique scorecards. A total of 36 players participated in at least one game. As was the custom, the ID numbers reflected the batting order, giving the leadoff hitter number 1, the next batter 2, etc. The catcher always occupied the eighth spot in the batting lineup, and both the first-string catcher and his primary backup were shown on the pre-printed scorecard, assigned numbers 8 and 9, respectively. A blank space beneath the catcher’s line was provided for the fan to fill in the name of the starting pitcher. Figure 6 presents a listing of the ID code numbers for the players on the 1930 Tigers, based on seven surviving scorecards viewed by the author.

 

Here are a few of the interesting aspects of the scoreboard numbers for the 1930 Tigers:

• During the season, manager Bucky Harris (who also had a code number in case he was activated) used numerous lineups and several player transactions took place. John Stone had at least five different code numbers—1, 112, 5, 6, 171. Likewise Bill Akers—61, 71, 7, 6, 223. Liz Funk, Roy Johnson, Mark Koenig, and Billy Rogell each had at least four different scoreboard numbers; Marty McManus and Charlie Sullivan each had at least three.
• The scoreboard number assigned to the most different players appears to be 7. The following seven players had scoreboard number 7 and batted seventh in the seven scorecards examined—Yats Wuestling, Billy Rogell, Roy Johnson, Bill Akers, Mark Koenig, Tom Hughes, and Johnny Watson. According to box scores for other games played at Navin Field, Frank Doljack, Bob Fothergill, and Liz Funk also batted seventh, so as many as ten players may have had ID number 7.
• The out-of-sorts scoreboard numbers on the seven scorecards examined include 31 (Charlie Sullivan), 49 (third-string catchers Tony Rensa, Gene Desautels, and Hughie Wise); 61 (Bill Akers, Paul Easterling, Mark Koenig, and Marty McManus); 71 (Akers, Bob Fothergill, and Koenig); 112 (Bucky Harris, Jimmy Shevlin, and John Stone); 122 (Roy Johnson and Shevlin); 149 (Harris), 151 (Easterling and Rogell); 161 (Hank Greenberg); 171 (Stone); and 223 (Akers). Examination of other scorecards would probably yield more players with these numbers and that there may be additional out-of-the-ordinary scoreboard numbers.

Given Barnard’s edict, one might expect that for the 1931 season, this situation would cease. And the Detroit Baseball Club did comply with the AL mandate to give uniform numbers to each of its players in 1931, but the club only followed the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. While the players were assigned uniform numbers, the Tigers did not display those numbers on the scoreboard. They continued to use variable scoreboard ID numbers in 1931–34, ensuring that fans still needed to purchase scorecards. For example, in 1933, when Hank Greenberg joined the Tigers for good, his uniform number for the entire season was 7, but his scoreboard number varied among four different numbers—61, 5, 6, and 7.

Figure 7 shows the scorecard grid from the Tigers official scorecard for the August 2–4, 1933, series versus the Chicago White Sox. The scoreboard number (Scr. Br. No.) is given on the left of the player’s name and the uniform number (Uniform No.) is shown on the right. The player’s uniform number presented in parentheses suggests that it was not as important as the scoreboard number (at least according to the Detroit Baseball Club). For the players in the starting lineup, only Greenberg’s scoreboard number (7) and his uniform number (7) are the same. Among the pitchers and players not in the starting lineup, none have the same scoreboard and uniform number.

 

 

Examining the practices of the Tigers in the 1931–34 period reveals how the practice of uniform number adoption was changing. There are many interesting aspects to discover about the ID numbers and the uniform numbers of the Tigers players for each season during the 1931–34 period. Many of these are presented in the Appendix to this paper, which is found online at SABR.org. Some items of particular note are given here:

• In 1931, three players had unusually high (out-of-sorts) uniform numbers—Johnny Grabowski (35), George Quellich (37), and Art Herring (41), as did two Detroit coaches—Jean Dubuc (43) and (future Hall-of-Famer) Roger Bresnahan (52). We don’t know whether these numbers had any special significance to those men or if the assignments were random. Only Herring continued in the major leagues beyond the 1931 season, but he changed to the uniform number 18 in both 1932 and 1933.
• In 1931, the Tigers reassigned six different uniform numbers within the season. Uniform number 5 was worn by both Marty McManus (107 games, April 14 through August 25) and Gene Desautels (3 games, September 23–27); uniform number 6: Frank Doljack (60 games, April 14 through July 25) and Orlin Collier (2 games, September 11–23); uniform number 8: Wally Schang (30 games, April 14 through June 22) and Muddy Ruel (14 games, September 14–26); uniform number 29: Marv Owen (107 games, April 16 through August 16) and Nolen Richardson (38 games, August 20 through September 27). Three players each wore uniform number 7 at one time or another during the season—Bill Akers (29 games, April 14 through June 8), Louis Brower (21 games, June 13 through July 27), and Billy Rogell (48 games, August 8 through September 27).
• Twenty men were on the Tigers in both 1931 and 1932, but only two of them had the same uniform number in both seasons—Tommy Bridges (16) and Dale Alexander (4). But only one 1932 player had a different uniform number in 1933—Frank Doljack (21 changing to 9). Eighteen men played for Detroit in both 1933 and 1934; only three of them had the same uniform number in both seasons—Chief Hogsett (17), Ray Hayworth (23), and Charlie Gehringer (2).
• Considering the uniform numbers ultimately retired by the Tigers—1 (in honor of Lou Whitaker, 2022), 2 (Charlie Gehringer, 1983), 3 (Alan Trammell, 2018), 5 (Hank Greenberg, 1983), 6 (Al Kaline, 1980), 11 (Sparky Anderson, 2011), 16 (Hal Newhouser, 1997), 23 (Willie Horton, 2000), 47 (Jack Morris, 2018)—the following 1931 Tigers were the first ones to wear them—Hub Walker (1), Gee Walker (2), Charlie Gehringer (3), Marty McManus (5), Frank Doljack (6), Earl Whitehill (11), Tommy Bridges (16). Note that the number 42 has been retired in all of MLB in Jackie Robinson’s honor.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In 1935, the Tigers finally did away with the practice of forcing fans to refer to variable scoreboard ID numbers for each game: the official scorecards provided only the players’ uniform numbers, which were used on the scoreboard. Even though the 1931–34 Tigers players had fixed uniform numbers to meet the mandate of the American League, the Detroit Baseball Club chose to use the same varying ID number system for display on the outfield scoreboard used in 1930 (as well as prior seasons). Examination of the uniform numbers for the Detroit Tigers during the 1931–34 seasons yields a fascinating story—revealing the strategy of the Detroit Baseball Club to circumvent the “spirit of the law” by keeping in place the scoreboard numbers while following the “letter of the law” by introducing uniform numbers, which were functionally irrelevant.

This is just one of the numerous engaging aspects that have emerged from my quest (which commenced in January 2001) to independently ascertain complete and accurate uniform numbers for the diamondeers who played for (and/or managed or coached) the Tigers (or who were on the active roster, but did not play—aka “Phantom Tigers”) from 1931 forward.7 (As described in previous articles, I have detailed other extraordinary aspects provided by the uniform numbers worn by Detroit Tiger players over the ensuing years.8) Other teams also participated in this practice of assigning scoreboard numbers, yet very little about them is mentioned in the many books about uniform numbers.9 Researching the topic is hereby heartily recommended to diehard fans of their teams, with the caveat that while the endeavor will be both challenging and rewarding, it will also likely be (very) frustrating, as exemplified by my not yet having been able to ascertain the uniform numbers (and scoreboard numbers) of Luke Hamlin and Roxy Lawson on the 1933 Detroit Tigers.10 

HERM KRABBENHOFT, a longtime SABR member—and frequent contributor to both the Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime—has been a Detroit Tigers fan since Zeb Eaton (uniform #17) hit a pinch grand slam against the Yankees (July 15, 1945). Herm’s first in-person Tigers grand slam was by Bill Tuttle (#5) on May 20, 1956, at Briggs Stadium versus the Senators. Other memorable Tigers home runs for Herm include four by Charlie Maxwell (#4) on Sunday, May 3, 1959, vs the Yankees.

 

Acknowledgments

I gratefully thank the following people for their valuable help with my Detroit Tigers Uniform Numbers project, from which this article evolved. Many of these people graciously provided photocopies or scans of their scorecards. Bill Anderson, Ray Billbrough, Tom Broecker, Ed Budnick, Bob Crabill, Dan D’Addona, Tom DeLisle, Dan Dickson, Steve DiNobile, Terry Duke, Bill Dunstone, Ann Ekstrom, Patrick Gallagher, Gary Gillette, Doug Goodman, Liz Goodrich, Jon Greenberg, Steve Greenberg, Michael Hazen, David Holtzman, Jim Jachym, Tom Jachym, Matt Jacob, Kevin Johnson, Maxwell Kates, Doug Kath, Tom Kearney, Ted Kowalski, Jim Lannen, Cassidy Lent, Jack Looney, Mitch Lutzke, Alan May, Bob McConnell, Kevin McGraw, Jeff Messens, Jerry Nechal, Art Neff, Jeff Ortiz, Steve Osborne, Mark Pattison, Larry Pilot, Dave Raglin, Jeff Robbins, Rich Robinson, Eric Rosekrans, Rick Schabowski, John Schoenrock, Dennis Sell, Kent Sheets, Dave Smith, Mark Stang, Tom Sticha, Walt Streuli, Mike Swanson, Fred Taylor, Keith Thompson, Patrick Todgham, Ron Wilczak, Alan Willey, Bob Wilson, Jim Wohlenhaus, and Mario Ziino. Thanks also to Cary Smith for photo research.

 

Dedication

I gratefully dedicate this article to Pete Palmer, who has been a tremendous help to me in many of my various baseball research projects. Thanks so much, Pete, for always being there with superb help and guidance and encouragement!

 

Notes

1. Advertisements in scorecards have been shown to reflect social history. Amy Tetlow Smith and Dave Smith, “Scorecard Advertisements as Social History,” Retrosheet, https://retrosheet.org/Research/SmithAT/ScorecardAdvertisements.pdf, January 26, 2014 (accessed January 20, 2025).

2. Jack Looney, “Now Batting…,” New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., (2006) 13–23.

3. John B. Foster, “American League Votes to Number All Players and Re-Elects President Barnard and Secretary Harridge for Five Years,” The Sporting News, December 18, 1930, 3.

4. Chris Landers, “Which team was the first to put numbers on the backs of its players’ uniforms?” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/this-day-in-baseball-history-the-yankees-become-the-first-mlb-team-to-put-number, January 22, 2018 (accessed January 20, 2025).

5. Tom Shieber, “Going Deep: The Forgotten History of Numbering Players,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover/going-deep/the-forgotten-history-of-numbering-players (accessed January 20, 2025).

6. “Baseball Uniform Numbers,” Baseball Almanac, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/baseball_uniform_numbers.shtml (accessed January 20, 2025).

7. The first exhaustive and comprehensive research on baseball uniform numbers was apparently conducted by Mark Stang and Linda Harkness, for which they received the 1992 SABR-Macmillan Baseball Research Award. Their groundbreaking research was published in Baseball by the Numbers (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1996).

8. Herm Krabbenhoft, “Fascinating Aspects About Detroit Tiger Uniform Numbers,” The National Pastime, Number 26 (2000), 77–84; Herm Krabbenhoft, “Who Wore Uniform Number 16 for the Tigers—Before Prince Hal?” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Volume 39 (Number 2) Fall 2010, 13–16.

9. Some examples: Bill Gutman, Yankees by the Numbers (New York: Skyhorse Publishing Co., Inc., 2015); Matthew Silverman, Al Yellon, Kasey Ignarski, Cubs by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Chicago Cubs by Uniform Numbers (New York: Skyhorse Publishing Co., Inc., 2016); Bill Nowlin and Matthew Silverman, Red Sox by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Boston Red Sox by Uniform Numbers (New York: Skyhorse Publishing Co., Inc., 2016); Davids Final, Pirates by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Bucs by Uniform Numbers (New York: Skyhorse Publishing Co., Inc., 2016); Matthew Silverman and Jon Springer, Mets by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Amazing Mets by Uniform Numbers (New York: Skyhorse Publishing Co., Inc., 2016).

10. In 1933, Roxy Lawson pitched in four games for Detroit after joining the Tigers on September 5. Luke Hamlin pitched in three games for Detroit after joining the Tigers on September 14.