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Babe Ruth didn't wear a number until 1929, and then wore the # 3 for the rest of his career. It is possible that the flamboyant Babe Ruth wore #0 during a barnstorming tour but only as a joke. Never in the Majors.
The first team to use numbers on uniforms was the 1916 Cleveland Indians when they wore small numbers on the sleeves of their uniforms, as a way of identifying the players. This practice was short lived.
in 1929 the New York Yankees decided to wear numbers to the backs of their jerseys. The numbers corresponded to each player's general position in the lineup.for example Babe Ruth wore No. 3, since he usually batted third, and Lou Gehrig wore No. 4 as he batted fourth.
Visible from long distances, the numbers made it easier for fans to distinguish players from their seats, and easier for play-by-play radio announcers to identify players during their broadcasts.
Other teams soon followed, and by 1932, every one of the 16 major league teams featured numbers on the backs of their jerseys. Many Players have had their uniform number retired by their respective teams. Once a uniform number is retired that number could no longer be worn by another player from that team.
April 15, 1997 Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson's uniform number 42. From that point on the number 42 cannot be issued or worn by another Major league player from any team. The one exception is Mariano Rivera who already had the number, and will be the last player to wear the number 42. If you search for a player on Baseball-Almanac.com you could find the uniform numbers that players wore during their career, year by year.
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Rossin 1929 the New York Yankees decided to wear numbers to the backs of their jerseys. The numbers corresponded to each player's general position in the lineup.for example Babe Ruth wore No. 3, since he usually batted third, and Lou Gehrig wore No. 4 as he batted fourth.
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