The retiring of a number to honor a player likely began with the New York Yankees. The Yankees were not the first team to experiment with numbers on uniforms to identify players, but they were the first to wear numbers permanently and retired Lou Gehrig's number 4 in 1939. This book covers retired numbers in baseball's major and minor leagues. In the major league section of the book, a player's name is followed by his retired number, the name of the team that retired it, the year that it was retired, the player's primary position, and the teams he was affiliated with during his playing career. The author then presents a brief summary of the player's career and lists any major awards or honors he won. Retiring numbers in the minor leagues is a bit different; a player who excels in the minors isn't usually with a team for long because he is promoted to the majors. In the minor league section, a player's name is followed by a brief summary of his significance. After both the major and minor league sections, readers will find team-by-team and numerical lists of honored players.

What do Mark Koenig, Red Rolfe, Frank Crosetti, Sandy Alomar, Bobby Murcer, Wayne Tolleson, and Derek Jeter all have in common? They all wore number 2 for the New York Yankees, even though nearly eight decades have passed between the first time Koenig buttoned up a Yankee uniform with that number and the last time Jeter performed the same routine. The 1929 New York Yankees were the first Major League baseball team to begin regularly wearing uniform numbers. That team, led by superstars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, was assigned its numbers based on the batting order. This is why Ruth wore 3, Gehrig 4, and so on. Soon other teams in other cities caught on, and before long every team in baseball were wearing numbers. But like many things in baseball history, it all started in the Bronx. Over 1,500 players have worn pinstripes in their careers, makes for a lot of good stories. Yankees by the Numbers tells those stories for every Yankee since ’29—from Earle Combs (the original #1) to Charlie Keller (the only Yankee to ever wear #99)—providing insightful and humorous commentary about the more memorable players, from a fan’s perspective. Each chapter also features a fascinating sidebar that reveals which players were the most obscure to wear a certain number, and also which numbers produced the most wins, home runs and stolen bases in club history. For data seekers, a “Yankees Alphabetical Roster” is a complete listing of every single Yankee since 1929, the numbers they wore, and their years of service at the House that Ruth Built. Updated through the 2014 baseball season, this second edition of Yankees by the Numbers is a book that every Yankee fan, young or old, should own and cherish. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Baseball "by The Book."

The definitive history of the world's greatest baseball team—with an all new afterword by the author.

This is the first team history of the New York Mets—or any other team—to be told through a lighthearted analysis of uniform numbers. Ordinary club histories proceed year by year to give the big picture. Mets by the Numbers uses jersey numbers to tell the little stories—the ones the fans love—of the team and its players. This is a catalog of the more than 700 Mets who have played since 1962, but it is far from just a list of No. 18s and 41s. Mets by the Numbers celebrates the team's greatest players, critiques numbers that have failed to attract talent, and singles out particularly productive numbers, and numbers that had really big nights. With coverage of superstitions, prolific jersey-wearers, the ever-changing Mets uniform, and significant Mets numbers not associated with uniforms, this book is a fascinating alternative history of the Amazin's. 75 b/w photographs. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Every New York Yankees fan has a bucket list of activities to take part in at some point in their lives. But even the most die-hard fans haven't done everything there is to experience in and around the Bronx. From visiting Stan's Sports Bar to sitting in the bleachers for the roll call, author Mark Feinsand provides ideas, recommendations, and insider tips for must-see places and can't-miss activities near Yankee Stadium. But not every experience requires a trip to New York; long-distance Yankees fans can cross some items off their list from the comfort of their own homes. Whether you're attending every home game or supporting the Yanks from afar, there's something for every fan to do in The New York Yankees Fans' Bucket List.