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| Mickey Mantle #6. |
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| Mickey Mantle scoring, greeted by Cliff Mapes #7. Mantle homered in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1951, two days prior to Mantle's Major League debut on April 17, 1951. |
Mickey Mantle started his rookie season with the Yankees wearing uniform number 6. Cliff Mapes, who also wore number 3 for the Yanks previously,:
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| Cliff Mapes wearing number 3 in his 1948 rookie season. It's prior to the death of Babe Ruth August 16, 1948. Mapes wore number 13 the rest of 1948 and then 7 for the remainder of his Yankee career. |
Cliff Mapes
Position: Outfielder
Bats: Left • Throws: Right
6-3, 205lb (190cm, 92kg)
Born: March 13, 1922 in Sutherland, NE us
Died: December 5, 1996
Buried: Graham Memorial Cemetery, Pryor, OK
Debut: April 20, 1948 (Age 26-038d, 10,475th in major league history)
vs. WSH 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB
Last Game: September 28, 1952 (Age 30-199d)
Mapes started 1951 wearing 7 on his Yankee uniform. Bob Cerv started 1951 with the Kansas City Blues.
Both Mantle and Cerv played for the 1951 Kansas City Blues in the AAA American Association.
On July 31, 1951 Mapes contract was purchased by the St. Louis Browns from the New York Yankees.
The game logs for the three Yankees who wore number 7 in 1951 shows when they played in Yankee games:
Mickey Mantle (6): April 17 through July 13; .260 BA; sent down to Kansas City Blues.
Mapes (7): April 20 through July 26.
Bob Cerv (7): August 1 through August 20; called up from the Kansas City Blues; apparently Cerv was given the number 7 that had been worn by the recently departed Mapes. When returned to the Kansas City Blues Cerv was zero for at least his last 7 Yankee AB; .214 BA.
Mickey Mantle (7): August 24 through September 30; assigned number 7 after .361 BA in 40 games in KC.
From Cliff Blau:
Per the August 21, 1951, Hartford Courant, Mantle and Hogue recalled from minors, Cerv and Wiesler sent down.
Then Mantle was called for another military physical exam, which is why he didn't play until the 24th.
From Cliff Blau:
Per the August 21, 1951, Hartford Courant, Mantle and Hogue recalled from minors, Cerv and Wiesler sent down.
Then Mantle was called for another military physical exam, which is why he didn't play until the 24th.
Cerv replaced Mapes and Mantle replaced Cerv. That seems to be how number 7 got passed along.
So what happened to number 6? Wasn't that part of the Mantle legend, that he was given number 6 in spring training 1951 because he would follow the great Yankees who had worn numbers 3 (Ruth), 4 (Gehrig) and 5 (the aging DiMaggio in his final season)?
Note: Bobby Brown "missed 1½ seasons due to military service during the Korean War.".
Why didn't Mantle get number 6 back when he returned from KC? Veteran third baseman Bobby Brown played 103 games in 1951 but the first was not until April 26. In 1947,1948,1949,1950 Bobby Brown and only Bobby Brown had worn number 6, so the Yankees had given Brown's number to Mantle in spring training 1951 a further sign of the team's high regard for Mantle. In Brown's rookie season of 1946 he played in only 7 games and wore ... number 7.
In 1951 Brown was given number 9. Apparently when Mantle was sent down to KC Brown switched from 9 back to his familiar number 6. Maybe the Yankees did not expect Mantle back in 1951; maybe they no longer thought he would be great; maybe they just wanted to satisfy Brown. When Mantle returned in late August the next available number was 7 because Cerv had been sent down to KC. So much for continuing the string of consecutive numbers for great Yankees.
Bobby Brown kept number 6 for the remainder of the 1951 season and wore 6 in the 29 games he played in 1952 the last of which was July 6. Twenty year old third baseman Andy Carey apparently wore number 54 May 2 through May 11. Carey was probably sent down to AAA where he played 106 games in 1952 for Kansas City (AA) and Syracuse (IL). Carey played again for the Yanks August 2-15 and September 26-28 and was given number 6, which Carey wore for the remainder of his Yankee career, four games into the 1960 season.
In 1961 number six was worn for 13 games by Deron Johnson who was then traded to the Kansas City As (AL). Clete Boyer then switched from number 34 to 6, which Boyer wore for the remainder of his Yankee career: 1966. In 1965 Johnson led NL with 130 RBI. Other players including Roy White wore number 6 after Boyer.
The last person to wear a Yankee uniform with number 6 was four time World Series winning manager Joe Torre 1996-2008.
So what happened to number 6? Wasn't that part of the Mantle legend, that he was given number 6 in spring training 1951 because he would follow the great Yankees who had worn numbers 3 (Ruth), 4 (Gehrig) and 5 (the aging DiMaggio in his final season)?
Note: Bobby Brown "missed 1½ seasons due to military service during the Korean War.".
Why didn't Mantle get number 6 back when he returned from KC? Veteran third baseman Bobby Brown played 103 games in 1951 but the first was not until April 26. In 1947,1948,1949,1950 Bobby Brown and only Bobby Brown had worn number 6, so the Yankees had given Brown's number to Mantle in spring training 1951 a further sign of the team's high regard for Mantle. In Brown's rookie season of 1946 he played in only 7 games and wore ... number 7.
In 1951 Brown was given number 9. Apparently when Mantle was sent down to KC Brown switched from 9 back to his familiar number 6. Maybe the Yankees did not expect Mantle back in 1951; maybe they no longer thought he would be great; maybe they just wanted to satisfy Brown. When Mantle returned in late August the next available number was 7 because Cerv had been sent down to KC. So much for continuing the string of consecutive numbers for great Yankees.
Bobby Brown kept number 6 for the remainder of the 1951 season and wore 6 in the 29 games he played in 1952 the last of which was July 6. Twenty year old third baseman Andy Carey apparently wore number 54 May 2 through May 11. Carey was probably sent down to AAA where he played 106 games in 1952 for Kansas City (AA) and Syracuse (IL). Carey played again for the Yanks August 2-15 and September 26-28 and was given number 6, which Carey wore for the remainder of his Yankee career, four games into the 1960 season.
In 1961 number six was worn for 13 games by Deron Johnson who was then traded to the Kansas City As (AL). Clete Boyer then switched from number 34 to 6, which Boyer wore for the remainder of his Yankee career: 1966. In 1965 Johnson led NL with 130 RBI. Other players including Roy White wore number 6 after Boyer.
The last person to wear a Yankee uniform with number 6 was four time World Series winning manager Joe Torre 1996-2008.
The Yankees started wearing numbers permanently in 1929. They were assigned by the batting order, which is why Ruth got 3 and Gehrig 4. Yankee players who wore iconic numbers:
3: Ruth died August 16, 1948. Mapes switched to 13 before that.
| Cliff Mapes (1948) |
| Allie Clark (1947) |
| Frank Colman (1946-1947) |
| Eddie Bockman (1946) |
| Roy Weatherly (1946) |
| Bud Metheny (1943-1946) |
| George Selkirk (1935-1942) |
| Babe Ruth (1929-1934, RET) |
4: Lou Gehrig (1929-1939, RET)
5: DiMaggio wore 9 as a rookie in 1936.
| Joe DiMaggio (1937-1951, RET) |
| Nick Etten (1943-1945) |
| Frankie Crosetti (1932-1936) |
| Nolen Richardson (1935) |
| Tony Lazzeri (1930-1931) |
| Bob Meusel (1929) |
6:
| Tony Fernandez (1995) |
| Steve Sax (1989-1991) |
| Jack Clark (1988) |
| Rick Cerone (1987) |
| Mike Pagliarulo (1985) |
| Ken Griffey (1982) |
| Brad Gulden (1980) |
| Roy White (1969-1979) |
| Charley Smith (1967-1968) |
| Clete Boyer (1961-1966) |
| Deron Johnson (1961) |
| Andy Carey (1952-1960) |
| Bobby Brown (1947-1952) |
| Mickey Mantle (1951) |
| Joe Gordon (1938-1946) |
| Don Savage (1944-1945) |
| Tony Lazzeri (1929-1937) |
| Ben Chapman (1932-1933) |
| Dusty Cooke (1930-1931) |
7:
| Mickey Mantle (1951-1968, RET) |
| Bob Cerv (1951) |
| Cliff Mapes (1949-1951) |
| Bobby Brown (1946) |
| Aaron Robinson (1946) |
| Oscar Grimes (1944-1946) |
| Billy Johnson (1943) |
| Roy Cullenbine (1942) |
| Tommy Henrich (1939-1942) |
| Jake Powell (1936-1939) |
| Ben Chapman (1930-1936) |
| Tony Lazzeri (1933) |
| Jack Saltzgaver (1932) |
| Leo Durocher (1929) |
8: Included just for the heck of it.
| Yogi Berra (1948-1963, RET) |
| Aaron Robinson (1945-1947) |
| Bill Dickey (1930-1946, RET) |
| Johnny Lindell (1944-1945) |
| Johnny Grabowski (1929) |
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Names and Numbers. Saturday, August 9, 2008
In 1929 the New York Yankees became the first team to wear numbers on the backs of their uniforms on a regular basis.
In 1929 the New York Yankees became the first team to wear numbers on the backs of their uniforms on a regular basis.
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4 comments:
Thanks for this very interesting information.
IN 1950 Mantle was called up to the Yankees for Stengle to see him and other prospects. Mantle relates a story about someone yelling at home because he was wearing their jersey. whitey Ford once told me he remembered Mantle in 1950 and he wasn't wearing 6 or 7, but couldnt remember the number Mantle was wearing.
In late September 1950 Mantle and other top prospects were brought to New York for a little taste of the big leagues and the city. However, Mantle was not on the roster and did not play. Mantle worked out a bit.
On his YES Network bio, Ford said that he was married late in the 1950 season and that the team bus stopped at the reception for a while and teammates went in. Ford said that he went out to the bus and introduced himself to Mickey Mantle who was too shy to go inside.
On the subject of Cliff Mapes, he not only did he wear #7 before (Cerv and) Mantle, he also was the last Yankee to wear #3. In fact I have a Senators program/scorecard for August 17th, 1948, where Mapes is still listed with #3. That was the day AFTER Babe Ruth died.
Probably was a printer's mistake, since Ruth's jersey was supposedly retired earlier that season, but it's funny that nobody at the time ever pointed it out.
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