Updated: 12/9/25
This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 17:
= Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers
= Bill Kilmer: UCLA football
= Phillip Rivers: Los Angeles Chargers
= Jari Kurri: Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 17:
= Puka Nacua: Los Angeles Rams
= Carl Erskine: Los Angeles Dodgers
= Jeremy Lin: Los Angeles Lakers
The most interesting story for No. 17:
Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter/outfielder (2018 to 2023); Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher/designated hitter (2024 to present)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Anaheim, Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium)
Shohei Ohtani’s supernatural existence in a Major League Baseball uniform might be best captured in an English-created adjective you won’t find in any global dictionary. Yet.
It’s Ohtanic.
Create the Japanese character equivalent to this, and perhaps it’s a new branding opportunity.
In a June 2025 Substack post, Doug Glanville, the former MLB player-turned-media analyst, landed on that as the most appropriate way to summarize what he had analyzed of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher/hitter to that point in time.
“I landed on ‘Ohtanic’ … ‘When Shohei Ohtani does something that only Shohei Ohtani can do.’ ” Glanville explained. “Circular? Yes. True? Also yes. … He exists in this strange stasis. Maybe like the Last Action Hero or Batman — super, but without superpowers. Ohtani does not need smoke and mirrors. He is right there, in the open. And that is the point. …
“He embodies a kind of limitless greatness, rooted in craft, powered by discipline, and entirely human. And still, that does not quite capture the essence of who he is and what he does.”
Glanville wrote that nearly four years after Ohtani made the AL All-Star team, both as a hitter and pitcher, batting leadoff as the DH and starting on the mound, getting the first outs, and credited with the win as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.
“Ohtanic” was also generated nine months after Ohtani had what some called “one of the greatest performances in MLB history.” Going 6-for-6 with three homers, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases, reaching 50 homers for the season as well as 50 stolen bases, which clinched the NL West Division for the Dodgers as they would win a World Series. That also clinched Ohtani’s first NL MVP Award to go with the two he had previously in the AL.
At that moment, Joe Posnanski wrote on Sept. 20, ’24: Did Shohei Ohtani just have the greatest game in baseball history? … Let’s instead call it the most amazing game in baseball history. Let’s instead call Ohtani the most amazing player in baseball history. All the great players in baseball history, Ruth and Mays and Aaron and Bonds and Gehrig and Clemente and Pujols and Bench and Ichiro and Charleston and Mantle and Morgan and Griffey and Gibson and Trout and on and on… and we’ve never seen anyone like Shohei Ohtani.
Then came Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, on Oct. 16, 2025, four months after Glanville’s dictionary suggestion.
Ohtani, the starting pitcher, went into the seventh inning before coming out after allowing the first two batters to reach. He was credited for throwing six shutout innings (because the relievers didn’t allow anyone to score), striking out 10.
Ohtani, the DH batting leadoff, hit solo homers in the first, fourth and seventh innings, off three different pitchers, including one that went over the right-field pavilion roof listed at 469 feet, one of the greatest hit in the stadium’s history (and not even the longest he ever hit). His homer in the first gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. His homer in the fourth gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. His homer in the seventh gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead, that he aimed to continue before he was pulled after 100 pitches (66 strikes).
Sportswriters, historians and pop culture hyperbolists squeezed any digital thesaurus to see what was left to use for someone already referred to as “The Unicorn” or “GOAT of MLB history.”
The Washington Post’s Chelea James: “This was Beethoven at a piano. This was Shakespeare with a quill. This was Michael Jordan in the Finals. This was Tiger Woods in Sunday red. This was too good to be true with no reason to doubt it. This is the beginning of every baseball conversation and the end of every debate: Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player who has ever played the game … Friday night, (he) was Mona Lisa.”
New Yorker writer Louisa Thomas checked in with: “It was the greatest performance by the greatest player in history.”
Jayson Stark, writing for The Athletic/The New York Times under the headline “Ohtani, the Greatest Shoh on Earth, just had the greatest game in baseball history” declared: “A man named Ohtani had the single greatest game any human has ever had on a baseball field … assuming that term,’human,’ even describes him.”
This one in The Atlantic, “A Truly Awesome Performance,” had a lede by Peter Wehner that read: “On Friday night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, fans witnessed perhaps the greatest game by a player in the history of baseball, and one of the handful of greatest individual performances in any sport ever. But Shohei Ohtani’s performance shouldn’t be of interest just to sports fans. His triumph offers all of us a ray of hope at a troubled time.”
The piece ended: “So enjoy Shohei Ohtani while you can. He embodies athletic excellence, which will bring you joy, and moral excellence, which will bring you hope. We could benefit from some of both these days.”
Michael Weinreb, on his “Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture,” wasn’t convinced so much in: “Ohtani Is a Hero for the AI Age.”
While Ohtani had perhaps the most remarkable playoff performance by a single athlete in the history of baseball, and “I recognize it is too soon to process how these accomplishments might wind up being filtered through the lens of history. … (But) then I began to wonder if Ohtani’s performance will wind up meaning much of anything at all outside of baseball itself. And I wondered if — through no real fault of his own — Shohei Ohtani could wind up becoming the avatar of an empty cultural age. … He is everything and he is nothing. And you might argue, in an era where everyday life in America feels increasingly detached from reality, he is the quintessential hero of our age.”
A fictional (?) story that appeared in the Onion days earlier plays up this disconnect. With the headline, “Teammates Unnerved As Interpreter Begins Referring To Ohtani As ‘The Host’,” it suggested that Ohtani was taking on demi-god status.
“The Ascension, the Ascension, the Ascension—he’s always going on about the Ascension,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, admitting he was baffled by Ohtani tracing an ancient symbol on his forehead and sprinkling rosin in a spiral over his cleats. “I asked him what it meant, and he just smiled. Then Will said, ‘The hour grows near when all will know. The Ascension stirs beneath the red soil.’ It made me really uncomfortable.”
Breath deep and meditate on this:
Then came in November and December of 2025: A fourth career unanimous MVP Award, The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year Award for the fourth time (in company with Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and LeBron James; the only MLB player to win this more than once was Sandy Koufax in ’63 and ’65), his third consecutive Hank Aaron Award as the top hitter in the league, his fourth Silver Slugger and his fifth straight Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter award. And he’s included in the New York Times’ list of the “67 Most Stylish People of 2025,” for turning “a hand gesture originally featured in a Japanese cosmetics commercial into something of a craze” as he ran around the bases after a homer. (As long as he wasn’t flashing “6, 7” to the crowd).
Christmas came early for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023. The Los Angeles Angels were left with nothing more than a lump of … coal-ish something or other.
Not only did Shohei Ohtani come gift-wrapped, courtesy of the Angels, but a 10-year, $700 million deal (with much of it craftily deferred) made it the most expensive gesture and pivotal moment in Southern California professional baseball. It showed that there was a distinct business intersection of sports and entertainment.
It morphed into full-on, no shame, global Sho-business.
There had been welcome-to-L.A./SoCal galas in the past for Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham and Albert Pujols. A welcome back for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Same for the Los Angeles Rams.
Shohei Ohtani’s re-entering the SoCal galaxy as a re-imagined global icon raised the bar spectacularly to heights not seen before.
A press conference in the afternoon at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 14, 2023 made sure it was prime-time morning viewing in Japan the next day. It came six years after he already dazzled Orange County agreeing to play for Los Angeles’ Angels.
Even before then, the Southern California media market knew what it was seeing.
A 2017 piece on CBS’ “60 Minutes” explained to all of the U.S. what his profound achievements already were in Japan by age 22. Earlier that fall, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times went to Japan as well to write about how “Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani could be double threat in big leagues.”
The story started: “SAPPORO, Japan — The best player on the baseball team pitches and bats fourth. Not on a Little League team. Not on a high school team. On a professional team that plays at this country’s highest level. Shohei Ohtani has the kind of extraordinary talent that could change the sport. He’s done it here, and he soon could do it in the major leagues, all the while maintaining the innocence of a boy playing a kids’ game despite the scrutiny and pressure he faces as Japan’s most-popular athlete.”
Now at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani said through then-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara: “I am very humbled and happy to see all of you guys here … I was told that it was only media today, so I was not expecting this.”
Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis interjected: “It actually is only media.”
The first time in a Dodger uniform that Ohtani did something completely ridiculous, it had only been less than a month after he reached 40 homers and 40 stolen bases for the season in the same game, capped off by a walk-off grand slam.
Now, during a preposterous 20-3 Dodgers win, Ohtani had a box score readout:
A 6-for-6 day at plate as the leadoff DH, three homers in his last three at bats to reach 49 (tying the franchise single-season record), 50 (setting the new record) and 51 (adding an exclamation point in the ninth inning), two stolen bases earlier in the game to get to 50, a franchise-record 10 RBIs (which could have been 11 had not a runner scored on a wild pitch just before his 50th homer), and nearly hitting for the cycle as he was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple to end the third inning (after he already singled and doubled before that).
And, the Dodgers clinched a playoff berth with the win — another place Ohtani had not been granted access before.
“He changed history with a one-day rampage — September 19, 2024,” said Joe Davis on the SportsNet LA broadcast, trying to put a caption on the sustained visuals of disbelief, with a crowd of about 15,000 at the Marlins’ home field sounding like 50,000. Ohtani had to make a curtain call.
Davis had earlier noted this was the same ballpark where, in March of 2023, Ohtani, coming in as a relief pitcher, struck out then-Angels teammate Mike Trout to end the World Baseball Classic and give Japan the title over the United States.
“A guy who has made a career out of breaking the limits and bending baseball to his will has once again done something that nobody thought anyone would ever do. He has continued to defy … to reframe what’s possible in this game. … You’re Shohei Ohtani and none of the rules apply to you. First season in a Dodgers uniform unlike nothing we’ve ever seen.”
Game analyst Orel Hershiser searched for more context as the seventh inning of the telecast continued — not knowing the game and his stat line would become even more unreal.
“So much appreciation for what he has done for baseball, for Los Angeles, for the Dodgers, for his teammates,” said Hershiser, who had his own comet-like moment for the team and the city in 1988.
Davis added: “Go to Dodger Stadium and look at the impact his presence has had. It is a wall of ’17’ jerseys. It’s often non-stop tours, tourists from Japan, Japanese people from the states, they’ve hired Japanese-speaking tour guides just to cater that new part of the fan base he’s brought in.”
“It’s like Fernandomania,” said Hershiser, “but it’s Ohtanimania.”
These were all the records Ohtani either tied or broke in 2024 during his 54-homer, 59-stolen base season just a DH.
On June 16, 2025, Ohtani decided, 21 months after he walked off the mound at Angel Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader against Cincinnati with another torn ACL in his right arm, it was time to come back. Or, continue his rehab against live MLB batters.
Needing 28 pitches (managing 16 strikes) to compete in the top of the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani had a real test against maybe the most feared top-three hitters in the NL West (aside from the Dodgers’ own top of the order). Ohtani gave up two hits and a run, facing five hitters. He averaged 99.1 mph on nine four-seam fastballs and touched 100.2 mph to Luis Arraez. He came off the mound, had a batboy help him attach his body armor, declined water offered by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and wiped sweat from his face with a towel provided by coach Bob Geren. Ohtani went up to the plate and then struck out as the Dodgers’ leadoff man in the bottom of the first. In the Dodgers’ 6-3 win, Ohtani went 2-for-3 with a single and a double and drove in two runs.
Also on June 16, 2025: Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s former friend and interpreter, surrendered to a federal prison in Pennsylvania to start a nearly five-year prison sentence for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani.
Those two would continue to be the ying-yang of any Ohtani success.
When the Dodgers signed Ohtani, some again cried out how this would hurt the future of baseball. He was also uncovering a pathway toward a financially safe future for those who lived in but may want to move someday.
In deciding he would move his talents from the bargain he had become with the Anaheim billboard guy to the crown jewel chess piece on the Guggenheim stock exchange, Ohtani’s 6.6 million Instagram followers learned it first. One writer has referred to all this as covering “baseball’s first superstar of the digital era.“
The Shohei Ohtani Experience in Anaheim when he arrived in 2018 was clarified by Jeff Fletcher’s 2022 book, ““Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played. It has since been updated by Bill Plunkett’s 2025 book, “L.A. Story: Shohei Ohtani, The Los Angeles Dodgers, and a Season for the Ages,” about the ’24 season.
During the COVID push to play baseball in 2020, Ohtani kept our attention. Undivided. We might have thought several times as if we were in a pandemic mirage affected by some sort of virus we could not fully explain.
It was also interesting to see how both GQ and Time magazine made Ohtani its cover story leading into the 2022 season.
Time’s cover subhead said he “is what baseball needs.”
The story inside headlined “Mr. Everything” went on to explain: “Baseball’s savior has the body of a Marvel super-hero and plays with the joy of a child. In practice, when Ohtani laughs muffing a grounder, what carries across the infield could be the giggle of a cartoon mouse.”
It should also be noted that on the back cover of the Time issue, Ohtani is posing in a full-page ad for FTX, the “official crypto exchange partner of the MLB,” with the headline: “Hits, Pitches, Trades: He Does It All on the Platform That Trades it All.”In November of that year, the company went bankrupt. Somehow, Ohtani has come away clean from that relationship as well.
The things he accomplished in 2023 were even more incredible than what he did prior. It seemed impossible. As Jayson Stark noted in The Athletic, Ohtani was not only doing legendary things, but he has created another legend — Tungsten Arm O’Doyle — that didn’t even exist.
Stark started making a list of the just-stupid things Ohtani did in ’23 — again, no matter what it was, it was usually punctuated with “and the Angels lost, (fill in the score).”
The clincher was July 27 in Detroit — throwing a one-hit shutout in the opener against the Tigers, then hitting two homers in his first two at bats of the second game before coming out a bit dehydrated.
“Who the heck does this? Who the heck has ever done this?” wrote Stark. “The answer, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (via MLB.com’s resident Ohtani historian, Sarah Langs): That would be nobody, of course. … That’s out of the Marvel Superhero League.”
We saw the rise, and fall, of Ohtani’s ability to both extremes in a 2023 late August doubleheader in Anaheim. Wearing the cool Angels alternate uniform, he started on the mound in the opener, set the Reds down in order, then pounded a two-run homer in the bottom of the first.
After a couple batters in the top of the second, he came out of the game with arm issues. Yet, he returned to DH in the second game. He hit a double. It was even more astounding when it was revealed later that night he suffered a UCL tear in his elbow and he wouldn’t pitch again for the Angels. Turns out, ever.
In Anaheim, Japanese women came to games to watch him dressed in full kimonos. Men came with specially-made Ohtani shirts. Kids were in the Angels Team Store asking for almost anything Ohtani-related.
The Dodgers, of course, knew all this, and their analysts had to figure out a strategy that worked to everyone’s advantage at the end of the 2023 season when Ohtani was on the open market.
The Dodgers knew that since he wore No. 17 with the Angels, the 17th of every month in Japan had been known as Ohtani Day. Ohtani had worn No. 16 for Japan during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. When he came up as an 18-year-old for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, he was given No. 11, previously worn by Yu Darvish.
When he signed with the Angels, No. 11 was already retired for Jim Fregosi. Many Japanese pitchers had taken to wearing No. 16, made popular by Hideo Nomo when he first came up, as well as No. 18.
Ohtani had his own world to create with No. 17 when he started out hitting .285 with 22 HRs, 66 RBIs and 10 stolen bases as well as posting a 4-2 record on the mound with a 3.31 ERA and 63 Ks.
By the time he was finished in Anaheim, and then with the Dodgers, the Angels’ scoreboard operator couldn’t let it go by unnoticed.
Among the “17 Questions About Shohei Ohtani’s Extremely Large, Extremely Strange Contract” that Ben Lindberg wrote about in The Ringer, the one that caught our attention most was:
Because Ohtani’s contract is set up this way, he and his agent, Nez Balelo, can claim to have landed the biggest contract ever awarded to an athlete. Ohtani isn’t the type to brag publicly, but maybe being both the best player in his sport and the highest-paid player in any sport brings him some measure of satisfaction, even if it’s sort of a mirage. (A really lucrative mirage, admittedly.) Lionel Messi’s $674 million contract with FC Barcelona called for him to make $674 million over only four years, with at most modest deferrals. But 700 is bigger than 674, so on Wikipedia’s list of the largest sports contracts, Ohtani’s is on top…..
And …
Does this deal make Ohtani less likable? Your mileage may vary, but not in my mind. If anything, it’s admirable that he’s putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to wanting to win.
Joe Posnanski, who included an entire chapter on Ohtani in his 2023 book, “Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments,” had this takeaway on his Substack page about Ohtani’s Dodgers signing:
Shohei Ohtani refused to tell the press his dog’s name before he signed (with the Dodgers). This led some to speculate that he had named the dog after the team he was planning to sign with. Thursday, he put on his Dodgers’ uniform publicly for the first time, answered questions, and, yes, divulged the name of his dog. Shohei Ohtani’s dog is named “Decoy.” This proves, as if we didn’t already know, that while the rest of us are playing checkers, Shohei Ohtani is playing Chess960.
In July of 2024, ESPN posted the Top 100 pro athletes of the 21st Century. Ohtani was listed as No. 62, but with this disclaimer: When ESPN runs the sequel to this exercise in 2050, Ohtani is the likeliest candidate from baseball to rate worthy of the top 10. His first seven years in MLB have been transcendent. What before him was taken as fact — that nobody can hit and pitch at a high enough level to warrant doing both — is now null.”
More to come, for sure.
Who else wore No. 17 in SoCal sports history?
Make a case for:
Billy Kilmer, UCLA tailback (1958 to 1960):
The Pacific Coast Conference player of the year and fifth in the Heisman voting as a senior for his ability to lead the Bruins’ Single-Wing offense, the Citrus High of Azusa star was a charter member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984 and inducted in the College Football Hall in 1999. He spent his first year at Cirtus JC and transferred to UCLA in ’58. He also played on the UCLA basketball team under John Wooden. In that ’60 football season, he was involved in 163 rushing plays, threw 129 passes and punted 35 times, leading the nation in total offense (1,869 yards) and punting average (42.3). He also lasted 18 years as an NFL quarterback with San Francisco, New Orleans and Washington.
Jari Kurri, Los Angeles Kings right wing (1991-92 to 1995-96) and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim right wing (1996-97):
Wayne Gretzky’s move to L.A. led to his long-time Edmonton Oilers teammate coming over in a May ’90 three-way trade via Philadelphia as well. The Hockey Hall of Famer from Finland had 60 assists in the ’92-’93 Stanley Cup Final run and 31 goals the next season. He also recorded his 500th career goal as a King in ’92-’93. With the Ducks at age 36, he led the league with 82 games played (13 goals, 22 assists).
Phillip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers quarterback (2017 to 2019):
His three seasons in L.A. (two as a Pro Bowl participant) came after his first 13 as a Charger in San Diego. In 228 games the the franchise, he is the career leader with a 205 AV (Approximate Value), throwing for 59,271 yards (4,908 completes out of 7,591 attempts), 397 touchdowns (against 198 interceptions) and 2,917 first downs. Once he emerged as the No. 1 QB in his third season, he had 224 straight starts with the Chargers over a 14-season span. After a final year in Indianapolis, Rivers retired fifth all-time in passing yards and touchdowns, both of which are the highest-ranking among quarterbacks without a Super Bowl appearance. He wore number 17 jersey since the ninth grade to honor of his father, Steve, who wore the same number in high school.
Carl Erskine, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1958 to 1959):
The last two seasons of his 12-year career as a Dodger came in L.A. — and he was the Dodgers’ starting pitcher in their first game in Los Angeles at the Coliseum. The fan favorite wasn’t there long enough to play in the ’59 World Series (having pitched for the Dodgers in the ’49, ’52, ’53, ’55 and ’56 Fall Classics). In ’59, he lasted 10 games (three starts in 23 innings to begin the season). His L.A. stats: 4-7 in 41 games with an ERA around 6.00 when he was done at age 32, after having posted 20- and 18-win seasons in Brooklyn starting in 1948. He died at age 97 in 2024.
Rick Dempsey, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher (1988 to 1990): For the native of Woodland Hills and Crespi High of Encino who played on a famous Pony League team in 1963 coaches by a bank robber, Dempsey triumphantly caught the last pitch of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers on an Orel Hershiser strikeout, gave the ball to team GM Fred Claire, and now it’s on display in the Baseball Hall of Fame. His career spanned 24 seasons starting in 1969 before ending after a fourth decade. In a piece by Joe Posnanski about Dempsey’s career it was pointed out — Dempsey had longest of any MLB player never to make an All-Star team.
Roy Smalley III, USC baseball shortstop (1972 to 1973: The Westchester High standout was on two Trojan national title teams and named to the College World Series 1970s All-Decade team. First-team All-American in ’73 by the American Baseball Coaches’ Association and the The Sporting News, while also twice earning first-team All-Pac 8 he finished his two-year Trojan career with a batting average of .297, tallying 68 RBIs, 101 hits and 10 home runs. Smalley had MLB pedigree: His father was a former MLB shortstop and his mom’s brother was long-time manager Gene Mauch. Smalley was drafted four times by MLB teams between 1970 and 1973, but chose not to sign until the January 1974 amateur draft, where he was the No. 1 overall pick. He played 13 MLB seasons and was an All Star with Minnesota in 1979. He was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Rick Fox, Los Angeles Lakers forward (1997-98 to 2003-04): On the court, he averaged 12.2 points a game in 82 starts with the Lakers, coming over after his first six seasons in Boston. He also scored 20 points in the 2001 NBA Finals clinching game against Philadelphia. He was introduced to future wife Vanessa Williams by then girlfriend Tyra Banks. Of the court, Ulrich Alexander Fox was more known for TV shows like “Shameless,” “Oz” and “Greenleaf,” plus films like “Eddie,” and “He Got Game.”
Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers center (2005-06 to 2011-12): A 2012 All Star at age 24 (18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds a game) who was on two title teams, Bynum came in as an 18-year-old from high school in New Jersey as the 10th overall pick in ’05. The fact he missed the entire 2012-13 season with a knee injury was indicative of his career arch.
Erny Pinckert, USC football haflback (1929 to 1932): MVP of the 1932 Rose Bowl and a 1957 inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame, Pinckert came out of San Bernardino High and went on to be one of coach Howard Jones’ Thundering Herd. In the 1930 Rose Bowl, Pinckert caught a touchdown pass during a 47-14 win over Pitt. In the ’32 game, he pulled a pair of double reverses that produced touchdown runs of 30 and 27 yards in a 21-12 win over Tulane, clinching a national championship for the Trojans. In that game, Pinkert also saved a touchdown on defense when he pulled down Tulane halfback Wop Glover on a 59-yard run. Pinkert was first-team All-American in ’30 and ’31. Pinkert is also said to have been one of the models for the campus Tommy Trojan statue.
Mike Battle, USC football safety/kick returner (1966 to 1968): Born in South Gate and a standout at Lawndale High, Battle’s junior season on a national title team saw him lead the nation with five interceptions as a corner, safety and rover. Playing in three Rose Bowls, Battle played on teams that finished 26-6-1 in his career. He led the NCAA in punt returns in ’67 and holds the school record for 608 career punt return yards as well as having more than 1,000 yards in all returns, with three touchdowns. Dwight Chapin of the Los Angeles Times described the 6-foot-1, 167 pounder: “On the field, even in full football gear, Battle looks somewhat like a flamingo running for cover from a marauding lion. But only until the lion gets to him. Then the flamingo attacks.” The two-time All-American was drafted by the New York Jets and joined the team after its Super Bowl III win. He died at 78 on March 11, 2025.
Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams receiver (2023 to present): Let’s say it together — POO-kuh Nuh-KOO-uh. His actual name is Makea Nacua, and he had “Puka” added a baby because that word in Samoan means “fat and chubby.” The 22-year-old, fifth-round pick out of BYU set the NFL rookie record (playing 17 games) in ’23 with 105 catches and 1, 486 yards (fourth-best in the league) and six TDs.
Have you heard this story:
Alex Johnson, California Angels outfielder (1970 to 1971):
Johnson won the AL batting title with a .329 mark in ’70, his only MLB All-Star season, collecting 202 hits. No other Angel has ever led the league in hitting, and Johnson did it by getting two hits on the last day of the season to pass Carl Yastrzemski, .3289 to .3286. This was also a season that saw him fined several times for not running out ground balls or lazy play in the outfield, according to his exceptional SABR.com bio. And then there was the time AJ pulled a gun on teammate Chico Ruiz in the Angels clubhouse. It didn’t end well for the tormented outfielder traded away at age 28 and ending a 16-year MLB season with Texas in 1976.
Joe Kelly, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher (2019 to 2021, 2023-2024): Lots of cute stories about how Kelly relinquished this number to Ohtani and took No. 99 for 2024. All thanks to his wife’s social media conversations, and she apparently was justly rewarded as well. Still, there was a time when Dodgers fans were rebelling against seeing this No. 17 come into a game:
Jeremy Lin, Los Angeles Lakers guard (2014-15): For his one-and-only venture in L.A. (74 games, 30 starts, 11.2 points and 4.6 assists a game), he reclaimed the digits that he made famous when “Linsanity” broke out with the New York Knicks — which was really 35 games — 25 as a starter — during the 2011-12 season. Lin has said the numbers mean: No. 1 to represent himself, and No. 7 to represent God. He also wore No. 17 in his final NBA season with Toronto (2018-19), going with No. 7 as a rookie at Golden State, then with Houston, Charlotte, Brooklyn and Atlanta for a total of just 480 games. (FYI: He wore No. 4 at Harvard).
Red Badgro, USC football offensive and defensive lineman (1923 to 1926): He came from Orillia, Washington on a basketball scholarship, and he was also more of a baseball player, but took up football when he arrived at USC. As an end, he was United Press first-team and on the 1926 All-Pacific Coast team. He was also an All-Pacific Coast Conference member as a forward on the basketball team, and he hit .352 and was All-California on the Trojans’ baseball team. A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1981 for his nine seasons (1927 to 1936) with the New York Yankees, New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers (those were all three pro football teams as well as baseball), he was a three-time All-Pro and scored the first touchdown in the first NFL Championship Game for the 1934 Giants. He also played pro baseball for six years, including two with the St. Louis Browns (1929-30).
We also have:
Baker Mayfield, Los Angeles Rams quarterback (2022)
Brett Hundley, UCLA quarterback (2012 to 2014)
Darrin Erstad, California Angels/Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center fielder (1996 to 2006)
Mickey Rivers, California Angels center fielder (1973 to 1975, also No. 3 and No. 5 in 1971 and ’72)
Jim Bunning, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1969)
Roger McDowell, Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher (1993 to 1994; also No. 31 in 1991-92)
A.J. Ellis, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher (2008 to 2016)
Tom Paciorek, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (1971 to 1975; also No. 53 in 1970)
Roy Smalley, USC baseball shortstop (1972-1973)
Dustin Penner, Anaheim Ducks left wing (2006-07 and 2013-14, also No. 76 with Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2005-06 and No. 25 with Los Angeles Kings in 2010-11 to 2012-13)
Ryan Kesler, Anaheim Mighty Ducks center (2014-15 to 2018-19)
Bill “Cowboy” Flett, Los Angeles Kings defenseman (1967-68 to 1971-72)
Ilya Kovalchuk, Los Angeles Kings winder (2018-19 to 2019-20)
Bert Jones, Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1982)
Anyone else worth nominating?
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 
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