1931

John Smith played all of four games in the majors – and he got those four games within the span of less than 36 hours. He played first base for the Boston Red Sox in 1931. No one knew how big the number 9 would loom in Red Sox history (no player other than Ted Williams has worn it since 1939), but that’s the number John wore. It was the first year the Red Sox wore uniform numbers. He wore number 9 for his major-league debut on September 17th. For the most part, he was known as Jack Smith ...

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