Yankees by the Numbers: A Complete Team History of the Bronx Bombers by Uniform Number

What do Mark Koenig, Red Rolfe, Frank Crosetti, Sandy Alomar, Bobby Murcer, Wayne Tolleson, and Derek Jeter all have in common? They all wore #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.

Since 1929, the Yankees have issued 73 different numbers to more than 1,500 players. That’s a lot of overlap. That also 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. Complete with more than 100 baseball cards (courtesy of the Topps Company), 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, the 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.

Bill Gutman is a sportswriter and author. His books include Tales from the 1969–1970 New York Knicks, What if the Babe Had Kept His Red Sox? and Jeremy Lin.