The Florida Times-Union

Vote will determine what is most iconic jersey number

- Tim Walters

And then there were four.

We recently embarked on a journey to figure out which jersey number in sports is the most iconic of all-time.

We looked at numbers through profession­al and college baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer and on race cars.

Through carefully vetted research, we narrowed our choices down to 21, then had a panel of 13 experts further whittle that down to 16.

We’ve now had two votes, from 16 to 8, and from 8 to 4.

From the round of 8 to the final four, we’ve seen the exit of three athletes that could be considered the greatest of alltime in their respective sport.

Michael Jordan’s No. 23 lost to No. 7. Babe Ruth’s No. 3 lost to No. 44.

And Tom Brady’s No. 12 lost to No. 42. Of course, 23, 3 and 12 were worn by many other great athletes, but these three are the ones that perhaps made these particular numbers so sought after throughout sports history.

Here are the remaining 4 numbers, broken down into 2 votes, and athletes associated with those numbers.

You can vote at floridatod­ay.com, jacksonvil­le.com, palmbeachp­ost.com or any other USA Today Network site in the state of Florida.

(No. 8 seed) 7 vs. (No. 4 seed) 24

7:

Mickey Mantle, Ivan Rodriguez, John Elway, George Halas, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Johnson, Pete Maravich, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Jeff Gordon, Ken Griffey Jr,

No 24:

Barry Bonds, Miguel Cabrera, Rickey Henderson, Kobe Bryant, Willie Mays, Rick Barry, Manny Ramirez, Moses Malone, Charles Woodson, Darrelle Revis and Marshawn Lynch.

(No. 10 seed) 44 vs. (No. 6 seed) 42

44:

Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Willie McCovey, John Riggins, Jerry West, George Gervin, Pete Maravich.

Jackie Robinson, Mariano Rivera, Ronnie Lott, James Worthy, Lee Petty, Kyle Larson.

42:

 ?? ILLUSTRATI­ON BY TIM WALTERS ?? The Iconic Jersey Number vote is down to four choices.
ILLUSTRATI­ON BY TIM WALTERS The Iconic Jersey Number vote is down to four choices.
 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Reggie Jackson (44) and Jackie Robinson (42) were standard bearers for their jersey numbers.
GETTY IMAGES Reggie Jackson (44) and Jackie Robinson (42) were standard bearers for their jersey numbers.
 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Mickey Mantle (7) and Ken Griffey Jr. are two of the best to ever wear their jersey numbers.
GETTY IMAGES Mickey Mantle (7) and Ken Griffey Jr. are two of the best to ever wear their jersey numbers.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States