Sports history is made every day of the year. February 9 is no exception. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.
29 - 2 - 7 - 24
February 9, 1916 - Baseball's National League voted and subsequently shot down a proposal by the New York Giants, Boston Braves, & Chicago Cubs to increase club player rosters maximum from 21 to 22. The small market Cincinnati Reds in fact wanted to reduce the rosters limit them to no more than 20 players per team. remember according to historian Larry Lester in a recent interview on the Sports Jersey Dispatch Podcast, Negro League teams only held 16-18 players per team. To place this all into perspective, current MLB squads may have up to 26 players on their everyday active rosters.
Satchel Paige courtesy Wikimedia Commons from ACME News Pictures in 1948
February 9, 1951 - The St Louis Browns signed 45 year old, veteran free agent pitcher Number 29, Satchel Paige, to a contract. Prior to this Paige had pitched two seasons in the Amercan League with the Cleveland Indians after spending almost 16 years in the Negro Leagues with various teams before Jackie Robinson's famous Brooklyn Dodgers signing broke the color barrier in MLB.
Speaking of Mr Paige, he also made history on this day in 1971 when he bcame the first player from the Negro Leagues to be selected to enter into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
February 9, 1980 - Rick Barry, Number 2 and 4 of the Houston Rockets, became first player in NBA history to sink eight 3-point shots in a single game. It was the final season for the future Hall of Fame Player. Barry, a 12-time All-Star played a total of 14 seasons between the ABA and NBA. He wore Number 24 for the majority of his career on teams he played on prior to the 1979-80 season.
February 9, 1989 - Kevin Johnson, Number 7 of the Phoenix Suns saw an end to a remarkable streak on this day. Johnson tied NBA free throw record streak of 57 in a row before missing a couple in this game against the Clipper. Still the All-star led all scoring with 34 points on the evening and the Suns won 120-113.
February 9, 1998 - At the 6th annual ESPN ESPY Awards one of the winners was Number 24 of the Seattle Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr. During the 1997 MLB season, Griffey led all players with 56 homeruns and 125 runs scored while batting .304 on the season.
