3 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 3 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 some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

5 - 7 - 34 - 33 - 99 - 14 - 8 - 4 - 21 - 23

January 3, 1920 - The Boston Red Sox baseball club owner Harry Frazee announced an agreement to sell slugger Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 in cash and a $350,000 loan; start of the 84 year "Curse of the Bambino"

January 3, 1931 - Montreal Maroons centre Nels Stewart scored fastest 2 goals in NHL history with a pair 4 seconds apart in a 5-3 win over Boston Bruins at Montreal Arena

January 3, 1943 - Future NHL Hall of Famers Number 5, Max Bentley and Number 7, Doug Bentley assist on brother Reg Bentley's only NHL goal in Chicago Blackhawks' 3-3 tie with the Rangers in NYC; only time in NHL history trio of family members score and assist on a scoring play

January 3, 1981 - NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers retire jersey Number 34,  in honor of Austin Carr

January 3, 1983 - Dallas running back, Number 33, Tony Dorsett set an NFL record with 99-yard rush in the Cowboys' 31-27 defeat at Minnesota Vikings

January 3, 1991 - LA Number 99, Wayne Gretzky became the fastest and youngest player in NHL history to score 700 goals (886 games at age 29 years, 342 days) in LA Kings’ 6-3 win over the NY Islanders at the Nassau Veteran Memorial Coliseum

January 3, 1993 - "The Comeback", QB Number 14, Frank Reich led the Buffalo Bills back from a 32-point deficit, to defeat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a wild card playoff game, the greatest comeback ever in NFL history

January 3, 1994 - Steve Young, Number 8 of the San Francisco 49ers became the first quarterback to win 3 straight NFL passing titles despite a 37-34 OT loss to the Philadelphia Eagles; first to lodge 3 consecutive passer ratings of 100+

January 3, 2004 - Panthers kicker Number 4, John Kasay tied NFL-playoff record with 5 field goals to lead Carolina to a 29-10 win over Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round of playoffs in Charlotte, North Carolina

January 3, 2016 - Number 21, Jimmy Butler breaks Number 23, Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls record for points in an NBA half, scoring 40 of his 42 points in the second half to lead the Bulls in a 115-113 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

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.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Nels Stewart in a Montreal Maroons uniform between 1925 and 1932, taken by an unknown.