Nicknames on uniforms

[amare32]

Freaky Facts re Uniform Numbers

Darrell Evans "Howdy" Verification

I was poking around the Internet and found these.

[-kj]

Freaky Facts re Uniform Numbers

Dude, I totally missed this article, and the things that accompany it.  How freakin' cool.

[Sec19Row53]

Until I see visual proof, or something more than an anecdote published 25+ years after the fact, I refuse to believe that Andy Messersmith ever wore "Channel" on his uniform in a game.

The support from the Baseball Page in the "Howdy verification" isn't enough; I'd need visual proof to buy many of those.

[CJR]

Freaky Facts re Uniform Numbers

Anybody really surprised that out of 101 numbers, only five (if I counted right) of the people in their "Ultimate Scorecard" are hockey players?

[-kj]

Freaky Facts re Uniform Numbers

Anybody really surprised that out of 101 numbers, only five (if I counted right) of the people in their "Ultimate Scorecard" are hockey players?

Not at all. (And, actually, I only noticed four--Messier, Lemieux, Jagr, and Gretzky.)  And, they listed Hull as a notable 17, which strikes me as odd, given how long he wore 16 in St. Louis and Dallas.

[mjrbaseball]

There is one Major League Baseball player who wore his hometown on the back of his uniform.

Bill Voiselle was a pitcher during the '40s and '50s. During his final four seasons -- pitching for the Braves and the Cubs -- he wore number 96 ...

... because he lived in the town of Ninety Six, South Carolina (and still does).

http://www.historicbaseball.com/players/voiselle_bill.html

(Sorry, the photo only shows the uniform front, not the number on the back.)

[CJR]

Freaky Facts re Uniform Numbers

Anybody really surprised that out of 101 numbers, only five (if I counted right) of the people in their "Ultimate Scorecard" are hockey players?

Not at all. (And, actually, I only noticed four--Messier, Lemieux, Jagr, and Gretzky.) And, they listed Hull as a notable 17, which strikes me as odd, given how long he wore 16 in St. Louis and Dallas.

You missed Orr.  I counted four the first time through 'cause I missed Lemieux.  I noticed the Hull thing too, but ESPNBA doesn't know that much about hockey so they probably forgot about his #16 already.

[-kj]

You missed Orr. I counted four the first time through 'cause I missed Lemieux.

Actually, we both missed Ray Bourque in our counts as well, so now we're up to six.

[BooBee]

There is one Major League Baseball player who wore his hometown on the back of his uniform.

Bill Voiselle was a pitcher during the '40s and '50s. During his final four seasons -- pitching for the Braves and the Cubs -- he wore number 96 ...

Carlos May wore his birthday (May 17) on the back of his jersey when the White Sox went to their Bill Veeck pajama tops in 1976 and added names to their backs. Didn't last long though, as he was traded to the Yankees mid-season.

[Discrim]

you talkin about the 76 jerseys? cus i remember from that one book, the roads were gray versions of the hank aaron-era jerseys with Atlanta on the front but the homes had red pinstripes. not bad at all.

I don't know what era, but I'm talking about the blue/off-green/white jerseys pictured in this thread.

whoops, i thought you were talking about the braves' unis.  didn't realize you meant the hawks.  those are some sad unis tho.

[CJR]

You missed Orr. I counted four the first time through 'cause I missed Lemieux.

Actually, we both missed Ray Bourque in our counts as well, so now we're up to six.

No, I missed Jagr off of your list, shows that I get for reading too quickly.  He kinda wins that by default, not many other 68s to compete with.

Still, six hockey players out of 101 people.

[-kj]

No, I missed Jagr off of your list, shows that I get for reading too quickly. He kinda wins that by default, not many other 68s to compete with.

Still, six hockey players out of 101 people.

So, what you're saying is that neither of us can count?  

No love for the pucks, I tell ya.  Then again, 9 is a tough number to crack through, even if it's pretty close to The Number in hockey.

I wonder what we'd come up with if we did a hockey-only list.  Would be some interesting debate.

[CJR]

So, what you're saying is that neither of us can count?

Exactly :cool:

I wanna know what crack they were smoking when Dennis Rodman was picked as the best #91.

And more proof we can't count: Doug Gilmour at #93

We have:

4 - Orr

11 - Messier

66 - Lemieux

68 - Jagr

77 - Bourque

93 - Gilmour

99 - Gretzky

[yh]

I think the thing to remember about the relative scarcity of hockey numbers is that for the largest part of the history of big-time pro sports in this country there were only six NHL teams, relatively a third to a quarter of the size of the NFL and MLB.  So there were 3 or 4 times the number of athletes wearing these numbers.  And when you factor in the NHL's virtual non-existance on network or national cable television until the mid to late 90's, it's easy to see why so few hockey players cracked the list.

And I hope this doesn't open up a debate, but I am very glad to see who claimed #43.

[sj32]

Another thing that limits hockey players on the list is that before Gretzky, you never saw a number higher than "31" on an NHL jersey.  If you look at this list, 5 of 7 are higher than 31.  The lower numbers are in the domain of baseball, basketball and the offensive stars in football.  Hockey makes the list in the higher numbers because the competition is primarily defensive players and linemen in football.

[BooBee]

One more for the nickname list.  Phil Niekro wore "Knucksie" on the back of his '76 Braves jersey.  I think just about every player wore a nickname except Biff Pocoroba.

[sj32]

One more for the nickname list. Phil Niekro wore "Knucksie" on the back of his '76 Braves jersey. I think just about every player wore a nickname except Biff Pocoroba.

I still contend that the '76 Braves did not wear names on the backs of their jerseys.  They apparently had a photo shoot with the nickname jerseys, but when they played actual games, there were no names or nicknames.