30 January in Sports History

Here is what happened in Sports Jersey History on January 30: Listen in to learn more about sports history along with me from the uniforms and jerseys the players wore. Special guest jersey take by 

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

73 - 22 - 78 - 72 - 44 - 16 - 99 - 20 - 13 - 32 

January 30, 1936 - The new owners of baseball's Boston Braves did a survey of newspaper journalists to pick a new team moniker. There were 1327 different nicknames submitted for review and a handful were strongly considered. The winner was announced in the Boston Globe the next morning that the team would now be known as the Boston Bees however the franchise would return to 'Braves' name in 1941. The entries started with every letter of the alphabet except the lettre "X."

31 Jan 1936, Fri The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

January 30, 1968 - NFL Draft: Ron Yary from USC first pick by Minnesota Vikings. Yary would wear the Number 73,  for the Vikes as the future Hall of Fame player would end up playing 15 seasons, making it to 7 Pro Bowls and was a 6 time All-Pro.

January 30, 1973 - 26th NHL All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Eastern Division beats Western Division, 5-4; MVP: Greg Polis, Number 22 of the Pittsburgh Penguins, LW

January 30, 1973 - 1973 NFL Draft: John Matuszak from University of Tampa first pick by Houston Oilers. John wore Number 78 in his time with the Oilers. he was probably better known by his Number 72 with the Raiders in later years of his career.

January 30, 1978 - Addie Joss & Larry MacPhail were both elected to Baseball Hall of Fame. Joss was a great pitcher for Cleveland from 1902 to 1910, many years before uniform numbers were worn. MacPhail was a famous lawyer and quite the baseball executive before World War II, with the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, and was a one-third owner of the Yankees from 1945 through 1947.

January 30, 1983 - At the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California the Super Bowl XVII was played as the Washington Redskins outlasted the Miami Dolphins, 27-17; MVP: was Washington's bruising Runningback John Riggins, who wore Number 44. The Question of the Day? Who was the Dolphins starting QB in the game. The Answer is David Woodley, Number 16. Remember this is a few years before ole Number 13 Dan Marino was drafted.

January 30, 1990 - Los Angeles Kings center Wayne Gretzky, wearing his famous Number 99 set an NHL record by scoring his 100th point of the season for the 11th straight season! The "Great One" reached the milestone record with an assist in a 5-2 Kings' win over visiting New Jersey Devils

January 30, 1994 - Super Bowl XXVIII, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA: Dallas Cowboys beat Buffalo Bills, 30-13; MVP was Dallas Cowboy Runningback Number 22, Emmitt Smith.

January 30, 1996 - Future Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wearing his legendary Number 32 jersey after a 5 year retirement; re-entered the League with his old team to help the LA Lakers to 128-118 win over Golden State at the Great Western Forum. He still had the "magic" to as he scored 19 points,  hauled down 8 rebounds and registered 10 assists.

January 30, 1998 - All-Star Florida Marlin catcher Darren Daulton who wore Number 20 with the club in his one partial season there, retired. Daulton had spent the previous 14 seasons as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies wearing Number 10.  A little known fact is that he did play part of the 1983 season on a call up from the minirs to the Phillies wearing Number 29.

January 30, 2000 - In the Big NFL Game of the season, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta the very memorable Super Bowl XXXIV was played. It came down to the last play, last second, and the final 1/2 yard on the field as th St. Louis Rams stopped the Tennessee Titans, 23-16. The game's MVP was Quarterback Kurt Warner, Number 13 of the Rams.

January 30, 2002 - The Utah Jazz, legendary Number 32, Karl Malone became only the second player in NBA history at the time to register 34,000 career points. The talented power forward tossed in 18 points in a 90-78 win over the Chicago Bulls at the Delta Center. The top player at that time was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Number 33  with 38,387 points playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks.

January 30, 2018 - Houston Rockets forward James Harden, who wore Number 13 registered the highest scoring triple-double in NBA history when he recorded 60 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists as the Rockets outlasted the Orlando Magic, 114-107 in Houston. Harden also has worn lucky 13 for the Brooklyn Nets.

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