Colorado Rockies: The best Rockies to wear each uniform number (#31-#40)

We continue our series on the best Colorado Rockies players to wear each and every uniform number with numbers 31-40.

Since the Colorado Rockies first started playing games in 1993 and since then, Rockies players have worn 76 different uniform numbers. Today, we will go through the numbers 31-40.

For this installment, we consulted three different sources because two of the sources had anomalies: Baseball-Reference, Baseball Almanac, and the Rockies media guide. More on the anomalies in a moment. We are also only considering the time that the player wore that specific uniform number.

Included in this installment will be a number that is retired by the Rockies and a few battles for the best player to wear the uniform. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Number 31- Roger Bailey

Here’s where the anomaly was between Baseball-Reference and Baseball Almanac. Baseball-Reference says Roger Bailey wore #38 in 1995 and 1996 but he wore #31 from 1995-1997 (if a player has multiple tenures on the team, it just has the first and last year they wore it). Baseball Almanac says he wore #38 in 1995 and 1996 and #31 only in 1997.

However, the Rockies media guide says that he wore it in 1995 and 1997 so that is what we are going with on this list. The likely reason for the anomalies is that Bret Saberhagen wore the number in 1995 but he was acquired in late July. Bailey wore the number until Saberhagen was acquired. Saberhagen had the number in 1996 when he was injured for the entire season and once he left via free agency, Bailey reclaimed the number in 1997.

With Saberhagen being acquired on July 31, Bailey only wore the number from April to July in 1995. In that span, he pitched to a 3-4 record with an ERA of 4.81 exclusively out of the bullpen, which was better than his 4.98 ERA (108 ERA+) for the season. He also made some spot starts in August and September.

Once he reclaimed the number in 1997, he pitched to a 9-10 record with an ERA of 4.29 (121 ERA+) in 29 starts with a bWAR of 3.7.