No. 44's

 

Ever since I can remember, No. 44 has always been my favorite number. I can't say for sure when it started, but during my formative years I recall the likes of Hank Aaron, Jerry West, and Leroy Kelly wearing that number and that was good enough for me. And being from the Syracuse area, well, no. 44 is famous here for all the great SU football players that wore that number.

In baseball, we'll start with two baseball greats that wore No. 44.

National Baseball Hall of Famer, Hank Aaron.

1973 Topps card #100.

National Baseball Hall of Famer, Willie McCovey.

1970 Topps card #250.

Next we'll show early famous No. 44's from Syracuse University starting with Jim Brown (1954 - 1956), followed by Ernie Davis (1959 - 1961 including the 1961 Heisman Trophy winner, becoming the first African-American to do so), and then Floyd Little (1964 - 1966). These gents rank among the finest running backs to ever play the game.

National Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown.

 

Image of Jim Brown while at SU, courtesy of Pinterest. I once owned an early Jim Brown card, as well as many other early 70's football and basketball cards. But ever since my early card collecting years I lost interest in sports other than baseball. So years ago I sold my entire football and basketball card collections for a nice sum at a big card show in downstate. The money from that sale helped pave the way for me to improve my baseball card collection.

College Football Hall of Famer, Ernie Davis.

Image of 1961 Ernie Davis Nu-Cards, card #143, courtesy of Trading Card Database (TCDb). Davis was the first pick in the 1962 NFL Draft. Selected by the Washington Redskins, he was then almost immediately traded to the Cleveland Browns. Davis was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 1962 and died less than a year later at age 23, without ever playing in a professional game. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979, and was the subject of the 2008 Universal Pictures film The Express: The Ernie Davis Story, based on the non-fiction book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher. I've never had an Ernie Davis card. This would be a cool one to have.

National Football Hall of Famer Floyd Little.

1968 Topps, card # 173, courtesy of TCDb. This was one of the cards I once had but sold as noted above.

National Football Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly.

Image of 1970 Topps card #20, courtesy of TCDb. This was also one of the cards I once had but sold.

National Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West.

 Image of 1970-71 Topps card #160, courtesy of TCDb. Another card I once had but sold.

National Basketball Hall of Famer Pistol' Pete Maravich.

Image of 1972-73 Topps card #5, courtesy of TCDb. And another card I used to have.

In more recent years, the Reds had a couple of pretty decent No. 44's in...

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Eric Davis.

1986 Topps card #28.

Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Adam Dunn.

2006 Topps Opening Day card #115.

And of course there's this No. 44...

Art card.

I must confess, seeing those vintage football and basketball cards I once owned makes me yearn for them again. But I don't regret selling them as my baseball card collection has significantly improved from that action. 

Do you have a favorite number? Why?

Thanks for clicking.

CinciCuse Bill