Jackie Robinson’s 42 is unquestionably the most iconic jersey number in baseball history. It’s the only number retired across the Major League Baseball, an honor bestowed on Robinson a half century after he broke baseball’s color barrier. Now, every player in the league dons 42 on Jackie Robinson Day each April. The number became further cemented into the national lexicon in 2013 when Legendary Pictures produced a movie about Robinson’s life, a film simply titled 42. But remarkably, Robinson is not the last Dodger to wear the number. That distinction belongs to Ray Lamb.

Robinson became only the second Dodger to wear 42 when the team issued him the number in 1947. Pitcher George Jeffcoat wore it in his lone appearance for the ’39 club. After Robinson retired in December 1956, the Dodgers unofficially made his number off-limits to other players. The team officially retired it in 1972. But somehow, in 1969, 42 was issued to rookie pitcher Ray Lamb.

“The interesting part of the story is that Lamb joined the Dodgers on the road in St. Louis, where he made his major-league debut,” recalled Robert Schweppe, an associate of Peter O’Malley and writer at walteromalley.com. “For some reason the Dodger equipment manager (Nobe Kawano) had a number 42 in his extra jerseys. When Lamb came to the Dodgers, he was given number 42.”

Dodgers historian Mark Langill pointed out that the Dodgers were focused on establishing roots in Los Angeles, not on retiring numbers of former Brooklyn players—even legends like Robinson. “They didn’t bring that Brooklyn Bum character west with them, they weren’t about that,” Langill told the Los Angeles Times in 2019. “They were about establishing their own identity.”

Wearing 42, Lamb made 10 relief appearances for the Dodgers that August and September, registering an excellent 1.80 ERA across 15 innings. At the end of the season, Kawano realized his error and asked for the jersey back, telling Lamb that the team was eventually going to retire the number. “Did I have that good of a year?” quipped Lamb.

The next season, Lamb switched to number 34. Ironically, that number, later worn by Fernando Valenzuela, will be retired in August 2025. Lamb posted a solid 6-1 record and 3.79 ERA out of the Dodgers bullpen in 1970. That winter, he and Alan Foster were traded to Cleveland for Duke Sims.

With the Indians, Lamb, a former 40th round pick in the 1966 amateur draft, wore number 30 and sported an epic glasses-mustache combination. During his five seasons in the majors, the USC product sported a 20-23 record and 3.54 ERA. Though his Dodgers tenure was brief, Lamb, who later became a successful commercial sculptor post-baseball, will forever hold a unique place in franchise history. “Jackie Robinson was such a great man,” said Lamb in 2019. “It is such an honor to be even remotely associated with him.”