This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Forum. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”
Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.
So says Schoolhouse Rock, and/or Blind Melon, anyway. Unlike a lot of the numbers that we’re going to cover over the next few days, weeks, and months, some infamy exists with the #3 on the global scene, on top of being notorious in Cleveland sports history. Babe Ruth is very likely the first name that comes to mind when you think of who has worn the number, historically in any sport. Like Ruth, the best Cleveland athlete to wear the number is Earl Averill who played in an era that most of us who opine on this World Wide Web deal wouldn’t have seen if we were born twenty years earlier than we were. In a more contemporary age, call it the era of color TV, the most famous 3 didn’t find its way to a jersey, but to the side of a car.
With respect due Hélio Castroneves, that car belonged to Dale Earnhardt, but forget Earnhardt. While you’re at it, forget Drazen Petrovic, Evan Longoria, Dale Murphy, Allen Iverson, John Starks, and even Harmon Killebrew. You stopped by for Cleveland sports, and Cleveland sports you shall receive. Our runaway winner here is obvious to anyone that’s been to an Indians game in the past 38 years, be it at Municipal Stadium or Jacobs/Progressive Field, where Earl Averill’s number has been on display and off-limits to every Cleveland Indian since 1975. Additionally, Howard “Earl” Averill was inducted into the Hall of Fame in ’75.
It may only be seven games into the shortened 48-game season, but we have a pretty good idea of who the Columbus Blue Jackets are and what we can expect for the rest of the season. The Jackets, a competitive, young team with a lot of heart, have lost five of their first seven games, with a goal differential of minus-9. They have looked competitive in three of those five losses, all by one goal margins. Their two wins were both one goal victories.
For some reason, our city has not been blessed with a great number of notable players wearing the #1. A handful of Indians infielders of varying importance surfaced in our search....along with a Browns wide receiver with a pop star namesake, and a couple of solid but mostly unspectacular point guards for the Cavs. To find the best of the lot, we had to go back to a time and a team too distant for even this old-timer of a writer to remember first hand.
This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, 