Today in baseball: Names on jerseys make debut

Bill Veeck was always known as an inventor in the baseball world. He was responsible for the ivy at the outfield wall at Wrigley Field. He promoted the game in every possible way. Today in 1960, Bill Veeck came up with something that would become the standard in MLB.

On March 13, 1960, then the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Bill Veeck sent out his players to the field, wearing road jerseys with their last names on their back in an exhibition game vs the Cincinnati Reds. The other owners in MLB and most of his own players did not like the novelty.

The other owner protested against the innovation, but the commissioner’s office will rule that next to the traditional uniform numbers, each team will have the option of putting last names on the back.

This has pretty much become the standard in Major League Baseball. Only a few teams refused to adapt to the novelty. The New York Yankees never have put family names on their jerseys, neither home nor road. The Boston Red Sox also do not have names on the back of their home jerseys and neither do the San Francisco Giants, who do sport names on the back of their road jerseys though.