Greatest Indians of All Time by the Number

The Cleveland Indians were the first team to wear numbers back in 1929 and since then, nearly 1,400 players have worn Cleveland across their chests and numbers on their backs. In all that time, only 73 of 101 possible numbers (including 0 and 00) have been used and seven have been retired from use. Below follows the best player (and second best where applicable) to don that numeral for the Cleveland Indians. If players used multiple numbers, only their primary was considered. Each entry was selected by myself, not simply basing the answer off WAR, although that stat is included on each line as it says more than any one other particular stat.

0 Junior Ortiz C 1992-93, 0.0 WAR – no others
1 Bobby Avila 2B 1949-58, 27.9 WAR – next best Casey Blake
2 Jhonny Peralta SS 2003-10, 15.4 WAR – Brett Butler
3 Earl Averill CF 1927-39, 47.9 WAR, HOF, #3 retired 1975 – Woodie Held
4 Joe Sewell SS 1920-30, 45.6, HOF – Jim Hegan
5 Lou Boudreau SS 1938-50, 61.7 WAR, HOF, #5 retired 1970- Willie Kamm
6 Rocky Colavito RF 1955-59 & ’65-67, 22.9 WAR – Joe Vosmik
7 Hal Trosky 1B 1933-41, 29.8 WAR – Kenny Lofton
8 Albert Belle LF 1989-96, 27.3 WAR – Ken Keltner
9 Carlos Baerga 2B 1990-96 & ’99, 19.6 WAR – Luke Easter
10 George Uhle SP 1919-28 & ’36, 29.6 WAR – Max Alvis
11 Toby Harrah 3B 1979-83, 18.6 WAR- Doug Jones
12 Willis Hudlin SP 1926-40, 32.8 WAR – Roberto Alomar
13 Omar Vizquel SS 1994-04, 30 WAR – Asdrubal Cabrera
14 Larry Doby CF 1947-55 & ’58, 43.4 WAR, HOF, #14 retired 1994 – Wes Ferrell
15 Sandy Alomar, Jr C 1990-00, 13.3 WAR – Johnny Allen
16 Al Smith OF 1953-57 & ’54, 10 WAR – Larry Brown
17 Shin-Soo Choo RF 2006-12, 21.7 WAR – Dave LaRoche
18 Mel Harder SP 1928-47, 47.9 WAR, #18 retired 1990 – Duane Kuiper
19 Bob Feller SP 1936-56, 65.2 WAR, HOF, #19 retired 1957 – Oral Hildebrand
20 Frank Robinson 1B 1974-76, 0.9 WAR, HOF – Ray Narleski
21 Bob Lemon SP 1946-58, 37.5 WAR, HOF, #21 retired 1998 – Mike Hargrove
22 Jason Kipnis 2B 2011-Active, 16.1 WAR – Roy Weatherly
23 Bruce Campbell RF 1935-39, 9.2 WAR – David Justice
24 Manny Ramirez RF 1993-00, 29.9 WAR – Early Wynn
25 Jim Thome 1B 1991-02, 47.9 WAR, #25 unofficially retired 2014 – Mike Garcia
26 Brook Jacoby 3B 1984-92, 15.8 WAR – Bob Wickman
27 Herb Score SP 1955-59, 13.6 WAR – Leon Wagner
28 Charlie Jamieson LF 1919-32, 24 WAR – Rick Manning
29 Andre Thornton DH 1977-87, 24.1 WAR – Satchel Paige
30 Joe Carter CF 1984-89, 14.3 WAR – Dick Donovan
31 Cliff Lee SP 2002-09, 16.2 WAR – Jim Perry
32 Al Smith P 1940-45, 5.5 WAR – Dennis Martinez
33 Luis Tiant SP 1964-69, 26.1 WAR – Ed Morgan
34 Odell Hale 2B 1931-40, 16.1 WAR – Joe Charboneau
35 Stan Williams RP 1965-69, 7.1 WAR – Pedro Ramos
36 Gaylord Perry SP 1972-75, 29 WAR, HOF- Rick Waits
37 Dennis Eckersley SP 1975-77, 13.3 WAR, HOF- Jake Westbrook
38 Eric Plunk RP 1992-98, 10 WAR – Bert Blyleven
39 Gary Bell RP 1958-66, 12.6 WAR – Len Barker
40 Bartolo Colon SP 1997-02, 22.6 WAR – Bud Black
41 Charles Nagy SP 1990-02, 25.2 WAR – Victor Martinez
42 Sonny Siebert SP 1964-69, 19.7 WAR – Mike Jackson
43 Sid Monge RP 1977-81, 7.8 WAR – Rick Sutcliffe
44 Don McMahon RP 1964-66, 3.8 WAR – Don Hood
45 Paul Assenmacher RP 1995-99, 3.8 WAR – Tom Brennan
46 Bob Howry RP 2004-05, 2.5 WAR – Steve Dunning
47 Jesse Orosco RP 1989-91, 3.2 WAR – Shelley Duncan
48 Sam McDowell SP 1961-71, 42.3 WAR – Travis Hafner
49 Jose Mesa RP 1992-97, 10.5 WAR – Tom Candiotti
50 Jensen Lewis RP 2007-10, 2.2 WAR – Julian Tavarez
51 Bibb Falk RF 1929-31, 4 WAR – Bud Anderson
52 C.C. Sabathia SP 2001-08, 27.5 WAR – John Farrell
53 Paul Shuey RP 1994-02, 7.2 WAR – Rafael Perez
54 Chris Perez RP 2009-13, 4.1 WAR – David Riske
55 Orel Hershiser SP 1995-97, 8.7 WAR – Roberto Hernandez (Carmona)
56 Fernando Cabrera RP 2004-07, 0.6 WAR – Frank Herrmann
57 Kyle Crockett RP 2014-Active, 1.2 WAR – Jason Boyd
58 T.J. House SP 2014-Active, 1.1 WAR – Steve Farr
59 Carlos Carrasco SP 2009-Active, 7.1 WAR- Matt Miller
60 Rod Allen DH 1988, -0.2 WAR – No others
61 Jason Stanford RP 2003-07, 1.9 WAR – Rich Rundles
62 Jim Poole RP ’95-96 & ’98-99, 1 WAR – Greg LaRocca
63 Rafael Betancourt RP 2003-09, 7.8 WAR – Justin Masterson
64 Tom Kramer RP 1991 & ’93, 1.3 WAR – Jason Davis
66 Willie Martinez RP 2000, 0.1 WAR – Mark Higgins
67 Chris Nichting RP 2000, -0.1 WAR – No others
68 Scott Jordan CF 1988, -0.2 WAR – No others
73 Ricardo Rincon RP 1999-02, 2.9 WAR – No others
76 Tom Magrann C 1989, -0.3 WAR – No others
77 Jack Armstrong SP 1992, -0.4 WAR – No others
88 Rene Gonzales 3B 1994, 0.4 WAR – Josh Outman
00 Paul Dade RF 1977-79, 0.8 WAR – Rick White