In his major league debut, Parker Messick wore No. 77, becoming the second player in team history to don the jersey.
Jack Armstrong first wore it during his lone season in Cleveland in 1992.
The 33 year gap between the number making an appearance on the playing field is the fifth longest gap in team history and the longest by a jersey number that debuted post-1930.
Here’s the list
- 93 years – No. 71 (Johnny Hodapp in 1929 to Xzavion Curry in 2022)
- 68 years – No. 61 (Grover Hartley in 1930 to Alex Ramirez in 1998)
- 49 years – No. 56 (Bob Seeds in 1930 to Sandy Wihtol in 1979)
- 35 years – No. 49 (Ray Gardner in 1930 to Jack Spring in 1965)
- 33 years – No. 77 (Armstrong to Messick)
- 29 years – No. 68 (Turner Ward in 1990 to Jefry Rodriguez in 2019)
I’m not sure why they used a few high numbers in 1929 and 1930, but that was out of the norm for that era which led to the extreme gap.
There are three other numbers which have been out of circulation for at least 20 years which have the potential to join the list eventually
- No. 75 – Only worn by Mike Walker in 1988
- No. 69 – Only worn by Luis Medina in 1988
- No. 76 – Only worn by Tom Magrann in 1989
- No. 73 – Last worn by Ricardo Rincon in 2002
- No. 64 – Last worn by Fernando Cabrera in 2004