23 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 23 throughout history by remembering the athletes and the jersey numbers that they wore.

Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

9 - 22 - 13 - 6 - 7 - 15 - 3 - 63 - 18 - 4 - 34 - 24 - 23 - 11

January 23, 1934 - Murray Murdoch, Number 9 on the New York Rangers roster, played in his 400th straight NHL game on this date. The Rangers skated past the Ottawa Senators 5-2 in the game. Mr. Murdoch's streak continued until he hit the milestone of 508 consecutive games.

January 23, 1959 - Elgin Baylor, who wore Number 22 for most of his NBA career, was voted as the Co-MVP of the NBA All-Star game with Forward Bob Pettit. Baylor who was the Rookie Strong Forward of the Minneaplois Lakers also wore the number 34 for a small segment of that season on the hardwoods in Minnesota.

January 23, 1965 - Do you think one player can make a difference? Led by newly acquired Wilt Chamberlain, wearing Number 13, the Sixers forced Boston Celtics' center Number 6, Bill Russell to miss all 14 of his shots as the 76ers cruised to a 104-100 victory.

January 23, 1968 - Joe Medwick, who wore Number 7  for the majority of his MLB career with the St Louis Cardinals was selected to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame on this date.

January 23, 1968 - 18th NBA All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: East beats West, 144-124; MVP chiosen for the game was none other than Philadelphia 76ers, PG, Number 15, Hal Greer

January 23, 1972 - 22nd NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: AFC beats NFC, 26-13; MVPs chosen for their top notch play in the game were a pair of Kansas City Chiefs teammates, Place Kicker, Number 3, Jan Stenerud and Linebacker, Number 63, Willie Lanier

January 23, 1973 - 23rd NBA All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: East beats West, 104-84; MVP selected for the contest was Boston Celtics, C, Number 18,  Dave Cowens

January 23, 1975 - Former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Number 4, Ralph Kiner was honored with selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame

January 23, 1978 - NFL Pro Bowl, Tampa Stadium: NFC beats AFC, 14-13; MVP selected for the game was Chicago Bears, RB, Number 34, Walter Payton

January 23, 1979 - Former New York and San Francisco Giants  as well as New York Mets center fielder, Number 24, Willie Mays was elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

January 23, 1981 - New York Islanders star Number 22, Mike Bossy became the first in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games

January 23, 1998 - NBA legend, Chicago Bulls, Number 23, Michael Jordan scored in double figures for 800th consecutive game in a 100-98 OT win over New Jersey; adds 40 more double-figure scoring games to his NBA record before retiring for the second time (1998)

January 23, 2015 - Golden State Warriors guard Number 11, Klay Thompson scored the most NBA points in a quarter (37) and most 3-pointers in a quarter (9) in Warrior's 126-101 win over Sacramento Kings

January 23, 2018 - Cleveland Cavaliers Forward, Number 23, LeBron James became the 7th and youngest (33 years 24 days) to reach the 30,000 NBA point milestone during 114-102 loss to San Antonio Spurs

January 23, 2022 - Buffalo wide receiver Number 13,  Gabriel Davis scored an NFL playoff record 4 TDs in the Bills' epic 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in their divisional-round playoff at Arrowhead Stadium

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A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com