This part of the video sent me spiraling down a rabbit hole...
yankeesselkirk#3.jpg
Who in high heck was wearing #3 on the Yanks?
Only seconds before, the video was full of
Babe Ruth footage...but then it suddenly skipped forward a little into the future and some skinny lefty replaced
'The Bambino'??
Whuh???
Turns out that the season following
Ruth's departure,
George Selkirk was already outfitted in the hallowed
#3 uniform.
Stunning.
Didn't we all think there was a respectful 'mourning' period for the venerated number when 'The Babe' left town?
There is literally an infinite amount of other numbers to choose from
(size limits would dictate that the highest number you would be able to fit on the back of a uniform would probably be nine digits, but I digress),
but when the
1935 season started
BOOM!!! George was already wearing
#3,
as if the greatest player to walk the Earth didn't make that numeral famous???
It all comes to this. The
Yankees regularly handed out the venerated number right up until
Babe Ruth passed away in
1948, and then it was finally retired.
Here's who donned it:
George Selkirk (1935-1942)
Bud Metheny (1943-1946)
Roy Weatherly (1946)
Ed Bockman (1946)
Frank Colman (1947)
Allie Clark (1947)
Cliff Mapes (1948)
(Alert: early on, there was also a player wearing #7, but I'm doing everything I can not to also venture down that rabbit hole. Life's too short. Oh, screw it! I'm going...)