About

While instances of baseball teams wearing numbers on their uniforms date as far back as the 1880s, and the Cleveland Indians began doing it regularly in 1916, the practice didn’t really take off until the New York Yankees in 1929 assigned numbers to their player corresponding to their position in the batting order (Ruth 3, Gehrig 4, etc). By 1932 all teams wore numbers.

Common tradition holds that position players are generally assigned numbers below 25 and pitchers above 25, though exceptions to this practice have always existed. Largely due to the whims of the players, its not at all unusual to see a few nontraditional numbers assigned (Brian McRae’s 56, Rey Ordonez’ 0 or Turk Wendell’s 99 to provide three examples in recent Mets’ history).

Numbers lend the only uniqueness to players that otherwise are all dressed alike. And because only one player can wear a particular number at a particular point in time, a number often defines a player’s moment in team history. Isolate the number, and you have a broader history — what Vonnegut called an “artificial extended family” linking one player’s moment to the next’s. Today’s Luis Castillo is yesterday’s Mookie Wilson is yesteryear’s Richie Ashburn.

As such this project was designed as a kind of guided history, using numbers instead of years to form and follow the history and ongoing progress of the team.

This site first went live on Feb. 22, 1999. It has been updated and redesigned often since then. It has resided at its own address since 2003. A visitor once described MBTN as “an online coffee table book.” The site over the years has garnered acclaim from the Wall Street Journal, Mets Inside Pitch and Paul Lukas’ Uni Watch, among countless links and references on the Internet.

Sometime in 2006, with a new baby at home and several freelance writing projects on the schedule, I decided the site had become far too unweildy to manage “by hand” and began to look into creating a web-based database that would help manage this data, integrated with a “blog-like” interface that would allow for faster and easier updates and additional forms of content (longer stories, interviews, etc). This itself turned into a giant project that went way over budget and way past deadline but was finally completed in 2008.

The site in the in between gave birth to a book, available in early 2008 from Skyhorse Publishing. Although based on the website, and in embryonic development for five years, the book, co-written with Met historian Matthew Silverman, contains a lengthier historic review, information and perspectives on the history of the uniform not included on the site and for the first time, publishes statistics based on mbtn.net’s proprietary research.

Although I liked the idea of an integrated site and database, I was never able to achieve the look and feel the data deserved, not could I keep up with the pace of changes and updates associated with a Drupal site. That led to the decision following the 2012 season to donate the data to the Ultimate Mets Database and set about again retooling the site.

 

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9 comments

  1. Andrew Sporn says:

    What number is Luis Natera, the new assistant hitting coach, wearing? Thanks!

  2. ed armstrong says:

    Hey Jon:
    Got this old book by a Mets’ batboy at a Good Will for 50ยข. If you’d like me to send it to you,
    email me a mailing address.

    Dominick Ardovino, The Bat Boy (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1967).

    Regards,
    Ed Armstrong

  3. ron landskroner says:

    I have a copy of the 1969 World Series yearbook, as well as a 1969 National League Champion pin button (ribbon detached but available) and a September 1969 issue of Time Magazine which features a story about the Mets. Also a black-and-white candid photo of Darryl Strawberry sitting the dugout before a game. Price negotiable. I live in Oakland, CA but will be visiting family in NY the first week of June.

  4. Pete Mahoney says:

    Hello,

    Something I wanted to let you know about. I was listening on YouTube to a Mets Broadcast against the Giants in San Francisco from Sunday May 22 1966. At about the 20 Minute Mark, Bob Murphy mention that Gerry Arrigo who had said just joined the team was in uniform wearing #26.

    I did not hear anything else regarding this and according to the records Arrigo wore #34. Don’t know if this was for the one game in Frisco or for the remainder of the road trip but I just wanted to let you know about it for your reference

  5. Matt says:

    Hello, I’m doing some research a 19th century baseball club from Wilmington, Delaware. I saw on Amazon you (or author with your name) were publishing a book in 2018 about that team.

    Are you the Jon Springer the author of that book and if so, can you email me back?

    Thanks!

  6. Tony DePaola says:

    I just noticed this afternoon(2/19/18),that Mets .com’s team roster has Vargas as # 40.I didn’t catch if you had this already listed,or not.

  7. Pete Mahoney says:

    I was going thru some things in my collection and came across something from 1966. Maybe you know about this already but just in case

    The Mets had a Player in Spring Training named Ron Nischwitz. He Pitched for Tigers and Indians from 1961 thru 1965.
    I have a Mets Spring Training Program from 1966 and he wore Number 64. I would think Non Roster Player

    In the First Edition of the Mets 1966 Yearbook it has him on the Roster as of April 10. Opening day was April 11 in Cincinnatti. In The Yearbook.There is also a Picture of him in Met Gray Jersey and Mets Cap on Page 18 with his Lifetime Statistics to that point.

    The Mets Program from the Opening Series at Shea Against the Braves from April 15 thru 17 with Ron being listed as a player on the roster wearing Number 34.
    I looked around to try to find a Reds Program from Opening Day but to no avail

    He did not play a game with the Mets but apparently may have been with the team. He spent 1966 at Triple A Jacksonville and never pitched again

    I think they use to carry extra players for the first couple of weeks back then. Don’t know why he would not have pitched if he was there. After his career he coached at Wright State University for 30 Years. He is Still alive and is even on Facebook.

    If he was there that would make I believe 8 Players that wore a Mets uniform but did not play for them

    Hope the Information helps

    Pete Mahoney

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