ESPN's Most Famous Player Numbers

[AgPete]

It's on the main ESPN page right now. It's a flash presentation with the most famous player numbers. It picks the most famous player to have the numbers 00-99 and lets you vote who you would have chosen. Nifty little feature. Cal Ripken beat out Troy Aikman for #8. :mad: I don't know if it's because I'm a bigger fan of football and basketball but I find that I remember those sports' players the most when it comes to numbers. Mickey Mantle over Jon Elway for #7? I can accept that one I guess, mainly because Mantle's autobiography has a huge #7 on the cover. :D Jackie Robinson is the only number in baseball that stands out for me and that's because of the universal retirement of his number. I actually would have picked Dale Earnhardt's #3 over Babe Ruth. He might have been the Babe but I've never watched a NASCAR race in my life and even I knew his number. LOL I probably would have picked Lou Gehrig's #4 over Bobby Orr. That's another baseball number that stands out for me but I don't watch hockey.

[ISiddiqui]

Cal Ripken SHOULD beat out Aikman for #8. You have a HoF QB, fine, but on the other side, you have a SS that hit for power (when that was rare) and played in over 2300+ games in a row!

And Babe Ruth ALWAYS gets #3.

[AgPete]

Troy Aikman is winning by a landslide in the poll for most popular #8. :D Cal Ripken was the classiest player of the late 20th century but even with all the fanfare he received (I watched him break Gehrig's record) I still don't remember his number.

[Maple Leafs]

No honorable mention for Wendel Clark as #17? He may not be a hall of famer, but there's a reason why every kid in Canada had a #17 hockey jersey during the 80's and 90's. They gave a mention to Brett Hull, who's more associated with #16.

Besides, how many cases can you think of where a player's career ends and, despite his number not being officially reitred, nobody ever wears the number again for that team? Wendel left Toronto three times, and still nobody has had the stones to take #17. Woe to the first guy who tries... are you listening, Brad Boyes?

(Quick impression of everyone at FOFC: "What the hell is he talking about?")

Anyway, they also forget to list the Blue Jays as one of Al Oliver's teams. Uniform number trivia: Al Oliver and what other former Blue Jay were the only pro sports teammates to wear #0 and #00?

[rkmsuf]

Robert Parish

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by rkmsuf
Robert Parish Incorrect. You're thikning of former Blue Jay Danny Ainge. Robert Parrish, of course, played for the Expos.

[AgPete]

I really need to catch up on baseball, I didn't know Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire had the same number. I think this is more of a generational vote than anything, but I would have picked Magic Johnson's #32 over Jim Brown. Magic is winning by a huge margin over Brown in the votes. When I think of Brown, I think of that ugly Cleveland Browns uniform, not his number. LOL I'm a Cowboys homer so #12 will always be Roger Staubach, but I guess I can accept Bradshaw since he did win the most Superbowls. :p

[rkmsuf]

duh, of course...

Cliff Johnson is the answer...

[mckerney]

Originally posted by AgPete
I actually would have picked Dale Earnhardt's #3 over Babe Ruth. He might have been the Babe but I've never watched a NASCAR race in my life and even I knew his number.

Picking Earnhardt would have shocked me, I thought the list was for sports.

[AgPete]

Originally posted by mckerney
Picking Earnhardt would have shocked me, I thought the list was for sports.

Of course, that would probably be the first argument against Earnhardt. :)

BTW, the link is on espn page 2 now.

[Radii]

Originally posted by AgPete
Of course, that would probably be the first argument against Earnhardt. :)

BTW, the link is on espn page 2 now.

I would have thought the fact that he shares a number with Babe Ruth is a good enough argument against Earnhardt.

I was shocked to not see Gerhig get #4, and shocked to hear anyone suggest that anyone other than Mantle get #7 :)

[AgPete]

Bah.... Damn Yankees. They don't deserve any numbers! :D

[sterlingice]

Troy Aikman is winning by a landslide in the poll for most popular #8.

You do realize this is the same group of nimrods who brings you such great poll answers as Kobe with something like 20% towards the greatest basketball player of all time and the 98 Yankees as the best team of all time. These dolts don't have a memory beyond last week much less be able to compare different players from different eras and sports.

SI

[AgPete]

Originally posted by sterlingice
You do realize this is the same group of nimrods who brings you such great poll answers as Kobe with something like 20% towards the greatest basketball player of all time and the 98 Yankees as the best team of all time. These dolts don't have a memory beyond last week much less be able to compare different players from different eras and sports.

SI

Didn't Troy Aikman and Cal Ripken retire in the same year? (Ripken might have retired after Aikman.) I know it pains Cowboys haters, but Aikman's #8 pops up in more people's heads than Cal Ripken's #8. ;) I think it speaks more for the declining popularity of baseball rather than poor memories since both retired at the same time. Football is America's National Pastime now. :)

[sterlingice]

I'm questioning their judgement as well as their memories

SI

[AgPete]

I agree with you that Cal Ripken means more to baseball than Troy Aikman does to football. A lot more! But I don't think baseball is as important to America as football. Baseball has a great history but even basketball has replaced it in prominance because of basketball's attempts to become a world sport. Sorry, baseball lost me after the strike that ended the World Series. I tuned in for Ripken's record breaking game, the McGwire/Sosa home run race, and Game 7 between the Diamondbacks and Yankees but other than that, nothing in baseball has pulled me back. I don't even sim current years in OOTP, I stick with historical recreations. LOL

[albionmoonlight]

Originally posted by sterlingice
You do realize this is the same group of nimrods who brings you such great poll answers as Kobe with something like 20% towards the greatest basketball player of all time and the 98 Yankees as the best team of all time. These dolts don't have a memory beyond last week much less be able to compare different players from different eras and sports.

SI


Like those polls every year about the team in the current Super Bowl. If the winner has a good defense (i.e. Ravens, Buccs) they are compared to the 85 Bears, 72 Dolphins, and 78 Steelers and always do well by the comparison. If the winner has a good offense (i.e. Rams), they are compared to the 89' 49ers and the 84 Dolphins and always do well by the comparision. To take these people seriously we would have to assume that every year since the beginning of their life, every major professional sports league has had a champion greater than it has ever had before. Funny.

[oykib]

I don't think that it has to do as much with the popularity of the respective sports as you guys think. It's really more simple.

Football players are numbers. It's as simple as that. You can see the faces of baseball and basketball players clearly. Hockey players can be easily identified on TV by their faces as well. You can't see football players faces.

Not only that-- but your number in football also defines your position. That's not the case in the rest of the sports. That was the case in Ruth's day in baseball. That's part of the reason why everyone can identify Ruth and Gehrig's #3 and #4. That's where they batted in the batting order.

[AgPete]

Very good point oykib.

[Mustang]

Cal Ripken isn't the greatest #8 unless he was chasing the greatest #4, Lou Gehrig...