Hardiman Cureton: UCLA football Clay Matthews Jr.: USC football Dennis Harrah: Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 60:
Chin-Lung Hu: Los Angeles Dodgers Andrew Toles: Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 60: Andrew Toles: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2016 to 2018) Southern California map pinpoints: Dodger Stadium
Andrew Toles (60) is acknowledged (above) by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and coach Bob Geren and (below) by teammates in the Dodgers’ dugout after scoring on a Corey Seager single in Game 3 of the 2016 National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. Toles hit .462 (6 for 13) with an.082 OPS in the six-game series. (Both photos: Harry How/Getty Images)
Every year since 2019, the Los Angeles Dodgers try to keep it under the radar about the ways they have kept Andrew Toles in their collective hearts and minds.
In his three Major League Baseball seasons, the 5-foot-9, 190-pound left-handed hitting outfielder was in just 96 games and 249 plate appearances. His. 286 batting average factors into a career 1.9 WAR. He will likely never play again, but the Dodgers have never looked at from that lens.
In years past, by renewing him as a player under contract on the restricted list, Toles and his family have had some peace of mind that his MLB health insurance will continue. Toles’ ongoing struggle with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The anxiety, a daily concern to his existence, was likely exacerbated by a career-setback knee injury at a time when he was making strides to be an every-day, reliable player.
One battle after another.
Media reports have made it appear there is a simple action of kindness the Dodgers take every spring, but there is far more to it. In the spring of 2026, the Dodgers eventually issued a statement of some clarification in a statement:
“We’ve been in contact with the Toles family and have worked together on how to best move forward. Continuing with the previous setup was no longer possible due to eligibility. The Toles family has asked that Andrew’s privacy be respected. Out of respect to the Toles family, we will not comment any further.”
Out of respect to this story and how the Dodgers have proceeded, it is always worthy of our attention.
Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers Bill Kilmer: UCLA football Phillip Rivers: Los Angeles Chargers
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 17:
Puka Nacua: Los Angeles Rams Carl Erskine: Los Angeles Dodgers Jari Kurri: Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 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)
Everything, everywhere all at once, Shohei Ohtani’s ability to be a Major League Baseball hitter and pitcher has become the ying and the yang of a supernatural existence wearing the uniforms of Southern California’s two franchises since 2018.
To best capture what this has been like, there is an English-created adjective you don’t find in any global dictionary or with a Japanese-translatable character. Yet.
In a June 2025 Substack post, former MLB player-turned-media analyst Doug Glanville seized on what he felt was a true measurement of the seismic things worth documenting for future generations:
“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 came up with this word nearly four years after Ohtani made the AL All-Star team as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. He was named both as a hitter and pitcher. He batted leadoff as the DH and started on the mound, credited with the victory in the final box score. But that’s a mere exhibition.
“Ohtanic” came nine months after Ohtani had a game in Miami for the Los Angeles Dodgers that resulted in him going 6-for-6 with three homers, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases, he reached the 50 HR mark as well as the 50 SB mark for the season. The game also clinched the NL West title for the Dodgers. Had he also pitched in that game, consider the superlatives added in.
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.
Shohei Ohtani just had one of the greatest performances in MLB history:
6-for-6 3 Home runs 2 Doubles 1 Single 10 Runs Batted In 4 Runs Scored 2 Stolen Bases
He became the first player in MLB history to reach the 50/50 (and now 51/51) club.
Then, on Oct. 16, 2025, during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, this happened:
Add to that Ohtani, as the starting pitcher, went into the seventh inning and 100 pitches (66 strikes) before coming out. He was credited with throwing six shutout innings and striking out 10 Milwaukee Brewers hitters. As the DH — effectively, hitting for himself — Ohtani rocked solo homers in the first, fourth and seventh innings, off three different pitchers. The last one went over the right-field pavilion roof and was listed at 469 feet, one of the greatest hit in the stadium’s history. It wasn’t even the longest he ever hit.
Sportswriters, historians and pop culture hyperbolic hyperbolists may have essentially squeezed all available digital thesaurus in landing on his status of “The Unicorn” or “GOAT of MLB history.” Still, we’re circling back to “Ohtanic.”
Like Titanic, only a larger disaster if it ever submerges into the depths of our memories as something too good to believe.
The Washington Post’s Chelea James wrote of that playoff performance: “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.”
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.” New Yorker writer Louisa Thomas checked in with: “It was the greatest performance by the greatest player in history.”
To punctuate if further, Peter Wehner wrote in the Atlantic under “A Truly Awesome Performance: “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. … 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.”
That was written just months after ICE raids in Los Angeles, including the Little Tokyo area of DTLW, brought to light photos such as this:
If Ohtani came perhaps at the right time in our existence, in one stream of thought, there was another idea more philosophically obtuse that Michael Weinreb reflected on with his “Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture,” under the headlined: “Ohtani Is a Hero for the AI Age“:
“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.”
Breath deep and meditate on more iterations of adulation:
Above is an excerpt of the New York Times’ list of the “67 Most Stylish People of 2025,” for the way he turned “a hand gesture originally featured in a Japanese cosmetics commercial into something of a craze” as he ran around the bases after a homer.
Where do we find a true origin story amidst all the Ohtani gaga?
Christmas came early for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, and the cross-town Los Angeles Angels were left with nothing more than a lump of coal. If only it was something more like Gerrit Cole if they could have pried him away from the New York Yankees in a deadline trade that would have sent Ohtani to the Big Apple for a different kind of curtain call.
Not only did Ohtani come gift-wrapped courtesy of the Angels, but it took the Dodgers a creative way to set up a 10-year, $700 million deal with much of it craftily deferred so it wouldn’t prevent them from building a heftier team around him. He most expensive gesture and pivotal moment in Southern California professional baseball created the most distinct example of the big business intersection of sports and entertainment.
That’s just no-sham, no-shame, global Sho-business.
In the past, a welcome-to-L.A./SoCal gala fetted for the likes of Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, or David Beckham had their own fanfare. But Ohtani was just changing addresses that involved a carpool lane on the SoCal freeway. He put in six seasons in Orange County. Now it was time for DTLA. There was no need for re-introductions, but the Dodgers did so anyway at a press conference set specifically in the afternoon at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 14, 2023 so that it was prime morning viewing in Japan the next day.
A 2017 piece on CBS’ “60 Minutes” explained to all U.S. viewers what was happening in Japan when Ohtani was 22 and trying to figure out his next move.
Earlier, 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.”
When he showed up at Dodger Stadium a week before Christmas, 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.”
Michael Cooper: Los Angeles Lakers LenDale White: USC football Eddie Meador: Los Angeles Rams Wally Joyner: California/Anaheim Angels Maurice Jones-Drew: UCLA football Jim Hardy: USC football and Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 21: Alyssa Thompson: Angel City FC Zack Greinke: Los Angeles Dodgers Walker Buehler: Los Angeles Dodgers Milton Bradley: Los Angeles Dodger
The most interesting stories for No. 21: Eddie Meador: Los Angeles Rams cornerback/halfback/free safety (1959 to 1970) Michael Cooper: Los Angeles Lakers guard (1978-79 to 1989-90) via Pasadena High Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles (Coliseum, Staples Center), Inglewood (Forum), Downey, Pasadena
The defense has never rested in creating a case for Eddie Meador and Michael Cooper as members of their respective Hall of Fames.
Those who knows the stories of Meador with the Los Angeles Rams and of Cooper with the Los Angeles Lakers — two defensive specialists in their craft, each of whom had 12 pro seasons in L.A. — might get overly defensive if pushed on the matter of what constitutes fame and proper recognition.
Meador has been in the Pro Football Hall of Fame discussion in more recent years. It seems he comes up far more often now than when he finished 12 seasons with the Rams in 1970, a standout on a team known year after year for its defensive prowess. He has made the Senior Blue-Ribbon Committee initial list for the Class of ’24 and ’25, survived a few cutdowns, but never made it to the final ballot. In October of 2025 he was on the first-look list of 52 players too be considered for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026. Meador was among eight defensive backs, making it even more difficult to break free from the crowd.
Cooper, the spindly small forward/shooting guard who stood 6-foot-7 and may have weighed 175 pounds, also played all 12 of his pro seasons in L.A. It was as a Laker during its Showtime Era, he was matched up specifically against the opponent’s most dangerous offensive player — Boston’s Larry Bird, Chicago’s Michael Jordan, San Antonio’s George Gervin. The role Cooper filled on that Laker dynasty rewarded him with inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
Sometimes the cards come up in your favor. Occasionally, they don’t. The house wins, no matter what your strategy, as you angle for a sense of rhyme with reason.
Double down, push your chips to the middle, and see what comes up. Go all in.
A website once existed under the domain EdMeador21.com. The homepage read:
Welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Nomination site for Eddie Meador: Leader, Hero, Father, Athlete, Champion, Legend. Also an endorsement quote from former teammate Merlin Olsen.
Meador’s son, Dave, was behind the Internet campaign.
“The voters don’t remember watching him play,” Dave Meador said on a podcast just a couple of months before his father’s September of 2023 passing. “And even if they were football fans, they weren’t necessarily watching the Rams or number 21 on the Rams at the age of 13, 10 or whatever. I think that’s a little bit of a barrier. Out of sight; out of mind.
“We are blessed to have had Dad with us all these years. We are proud of his football career, no doubt. But we are prouder of the man he was to us and to so many.”
Going back to 2009, Meador’s lack of Hall induction was being processed and questioned.
From Bleacher Report: “It is astonishing that Meador has yet to be inducted into Canton. He has gone to the same amount of Pro Bowls as 15 other defensive backs that are already inducted. … Tackles were not a recorded statistic in his era, but he exceeded 100 tackles in several seasons. He once had 126 tackles in a 14-game season, which is an impressive rate for a free safety. He was fast, quick, tough, and smart. For all he did on the field, he did even more off the field. He was very active in charities, especially with the Special Olympics. His leadership abilities were seen from his days in college up until the day he retired from the NFL.”
A six-time Pro Bowl selection. Two-time first-team All NFL. One of three safeties named to the NFL’s 1960s All Decade team — St. Louis Cardinals’ Larry Wilson and Green Bay Packers’ Willie Wood, the other two, are both enshrined at Canton, Ohio.
Meador continues to hold the franchise records for interceptions (46, five returned for TDs). And blocked kicks (10). And fumble recoveries (18 from the opp0nents, plus four more of his own teammates). Named to the Rams All-Time franchise teams when votes took place in 1970 and 1985.
They referred him as “The Gremlin” for his relentless play. Because it’s all true.
“I probably was as good a ballplayer as some of the people that’s already in there,” Meador told the Los Angeles Times in 2009, then at his home in Natural Bridge, Virginia, after years of living in Downey. “Maybe not, but I think that.”
The Rams got him as a relative bargain, the 80th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1959 NFL draft. The team’s 10th player chosen at that point. (FYI: The Rams later in Round 28 also took Rafer Johnson out of UCLA, No. 333 overall, but he had other plans). Only one Pro Football Hall of Famer came out of that draft, for now, was cornerback Dick LeBeau, out of Ohio State, taken by Cleveland in the fifth round.
Ed Meador is shown as part of an award ceremony for two boys from Burbank.
Meador was simply an athlete — tailback, defensive back and kick returner for tiny Arkansas Tech.
The pivot point in Meador’s time with the Rams came when head coach Harland Svare moved him from left cornerback to free safety.
Eventually, new defensive-minded head coach George Allen saw Meador, at the height of the Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” days, as the one who the most fearless. Meador called the Rams’ defensive signals. During a run where he was named to five straight Pro Bowls from ’63 to ’68, he collected 24 interceptions and returned two for touchdowns.
Meador also became a valued punt and kickoff returner. He for some reason felt responsible to be the holder on the field-goal unit team. Just in case.
Meador once explained how his versatility gave him an advantage during in a key win against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969. Before he intercepted a Norm Snead pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown, he was the holder at a point when the Rams lined up for a field goal trying to erase a 10-0 deficit.
“I looked over at the linebacker on the other side,” Meador recalled, “and I said to myself, ‘I’m going to take this ball and run it.’ I about killed (kicker Bruce) Gossett when he came running in to kick it. By the time he got to me, I was up and taking off.”
For the last two years of his career, he was president of the NFL Players Association.
The Rams staged an Eddie Meador Day in 2018 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where they played for a short while after moving back from St. Louis as their current home in Inglewood was being built. Meador stood in the end zone on the field he played on, waving to thousands of Rams fans and they chanted his name.
“If the Hall of Fame doesn’t happen in his lifetime or doesn’t ever happen, the L.A. Rams gave him a Hall of Fame moment,” said his daughter, Vicki.
In a 2023 Meador obituary written for the Los Angeles Times, Vicki also forwarded a photo of her dad wearing the Rams’ No. 21 jersey and his trademark Brill Cream hair cut:
“I was a 12-year-old kid working as a water boy at Rams camp during the summer of ‘59 in Redlands. While being ignored by most of the veterans, one rookie was always cordial and went out of his way to make me feel like I was part of the team. It was Meador, who ended up being one of the greatest defensive backs in Rams history. He not only should be in the Hall of Fame, but if the Rams did the right thing they’d retire his No. 21!”
Another letter posted from reader Rick Magnante of Encino:
“Growing up in Los Angeles in the ‘50s and seeing my first professional football game at the Coliseum, I won’t forget those stars, the likes of Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy Hirsch, Jon Arnett, Les Richter and, of course, the undersized but truly appreciated Meador. In today’s game, the art of open-field tackling is a thing of the past. Meador stood out as singularly the best to date that I’ve ever seen. The fact that he is not in the Hall of Fame is hard to fathom. His career and numbers stand the test of time. Today they give out inductions like Schrafft’s mints. Please give Eddie the respect and recognition he deserves.”
Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductee Michael Cooper speaks at his enshrinement ceremony in Uncasville, Conn. On stage with him is his former Lakers head coach Pat Riley (Class of ’08), former Los Angeles Sparks star Lisa Leslie (Class of ’15), who Cooper coached; and former Lakers teammate Magic Johnson (’02). (David Butler II-Imagn Images)
In 1974, Michael Cooper and his Pasadena High team was featured on the local favorite KNBC-Channel 4 High School Game of the Week, as it faced El Rancho. With Ross Porter on the call.
Cooper’s grandmother, who had glaucoma and couldn’t see the TV screen well, wondered if there was a way for him to stand out from the rest of the players on his team, making it easier for her to spot him. So Cooper wore high white socks, two sweat bands on his wrist and left his white tie strings hang out of his shorts.
“I looked different,” Cooper recalled. “And I had the game of my life. I had 24 points, 15 rebounds, three dunks and like four or five blocks. That was going to be my attire from there on out. Whether I was with the Lakers or anybody, I was gonna wear long white socks, two sweatbands and my strings out.”
Wearing No. 42, Cooper credited high school coach George Terzian for teaching him the fundamentals, particularly playing defense with feet positioning instead of reaching with arms and hands.
After two seasons at Pasadena City College, Cooper transferred to the University of New Mexico for his junior and senior seasons and became the Lakers’ third-round pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, 60th overall.
This was before Jerry Buss’ ownership, or the arrival of Magic Johnson selection. It was a piece of the “Showtime Era” that would reveal itself later with fans chanting “Cooop,” and Chick Hearn punctuating a dunk with a “Coop-A-Loop” declaration.
Larry Bird deemed Cooper “the best defensive player who ever guarded me … I’ll take that to my grave with me.” Cooper said he developed that mindset early when Jerry West was the Lakers’ head coach at time time he joined the roster.
“I’m heading to training camp. I get to Loyola Marymount, and when I walk into the gym I see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon. So, we get into practice and stuff. Jerry pulls me to the side and he goes, ‘Coop, I already have scorers. I got 30 points in Kareem. I got 27 to 28 from Jamaal Wilkes. I got 22 to 25 in Norm Nixon. There is not enough balls to go around for you to get shots. So, I need somebody to play defense.’
“So, I said, ‘Hey, I already got the fundamentals down. I got the aggressiveness down.’ And now I’ve been told that this was going to be my role. So, I took that to heart, embraced it, got better and better.”
Picked on the NBA’s All-Defensive team first team eight times and second team three times, Cooper was able to hoist the title of 1986-87 Defensive Player of the Year as the Lakers outlasted the Celtics in six games for the NBA title. Cooper’s most memorable offensive performance came in Game 2 of the 1987 Finals, when he drained a then-playoff record six 3-pointers and finished with 21 points and nine assists to give the Lakers a 2-0 series lead.
For the most part, Cooper came off the bench even as many remember him on the court for the bulk of the game’s minutes. Of 872 games played for the Lakers, only 94 were as a starter. But that was all part of the Lakers’ entertainment presentation. It allowed for him to be singled out with the chants of “Coooop” when he reported in from the scorers table and give the game some extra energy when needed.
The most games he started in a season was 20 of 82 games in the 1984-85 campaign. The NBA’s Sixth Man Award was established for the 1982-83 season. The best Cooper ever finished in the voting was his Defensive Player of the Year campaign in ’86-87 when he was off the bench for all but two of his 82 regular season games.
Following his playing career, Cooper served as a special assistant to Lakers general manager Jerry West for three years, joined the Lakers coaching staff for four seasons (1994-97) under Magic Johnson and Del Harris. As a head coach for eight season with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, he started as the league’s coach of the year in 2000. The team won two league titles (2001 and ’02) and one runner-up (2003) with a record of 178-88 (.699) in the regular season and 26-16 (.619) in the post season. He also had a four-year run as the USC women’s basketball coach (2009-13) with a record of 72-57 (.558). Currently, he serves as the head coach for Cal State L.A.
Cooper remains the only person to win a championship as a player or coach in the NBA, WNBA and NBA Developmeal League (the later with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in 2006).
In a Los Angeles Time story headlined “Why Michael Cooper finally made it to Springfield,” the conclusion is that it was a long time coming as he became an overlooked but well-deserving candidate. The Basketball Hall has always been a reflection of a player’s entire career in the game — from high school to college to professional, to Olympics and international play, to contributing as a coach and executive. Cooper’s resume checks off several boxes.
Magic Johnson had become one of Cooper’s greatest allies in this process of vetting and discernment by a block of voters who the public doesn’t really know as much about. The same goes for the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame.
Michael Cooper defends Detroit’s Dennis Rodman in a game at the Forum in Inglewood in 1988. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
It will be noted Cooper is now one of 14 Hall of Famers who averaged fewer than 10 points (along with players like Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo. Cooper’s greatest offensive season was 11.9 points in ’81-82 season. But Rodman, Wallace and Mutombo were also named to NBA All Star teams. Cooper never had that.
Cooper said West once told him that you have to have at least been a former All-Star and All-NBA player to get your jersey retired with the Lakers. That didn’t happen. But with the Hall of Fame induction, the Lakers plan to retire Cooper’s No. 21 on Jan. 13, 2025 at Crypto.com Arena, joining Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Jamaal Wilkes, Wilt Chamberlain, Pau Gasol, Gail Goodrich, Shaquille O’Neal, James Worthy and George Mikan.
“When I sit there and they asked me to pull that rope, and I can finally see No. 21 up there in the rafters with everybody else, it’s going to be a moment because, if you know, dying is part of living. And one day we’re all going to leave this earth,” said Cooper. “But the one thing that I get the opportunity to leave for my grandkids, my great grandkids — even with the advancement of these arenas changing, and pretty soon the Lakers will have to get a bigger place and all that — but you know what, whenever they change this arena, they have to put that jersey up there. And my grandkids will be able to say, ‘You know what, that’s my grandfather up there.’ ”
Who else wore No. 21 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
Wally Joyner, California Angels/Anaheim Angels first baseman (1986 to 1991, 2001):
Best known: The “Wallyworld” experience just blocks away from Disneyland during the late 1980s was something to behold. The baby-faced Mormon out of BYU came out of nowhere and was named to the AL All-Star team as a 24-year-old rookie — in the first two months of his big league career, he led the majors in homers. The Angels were just hoping he would be a suitable replacement for Rod Carew.
Joyner would finish with 22 HRs, 100 RBIs and a .290 batting average and runner-up to Jose Canseco (33 HRs, 117 RBIs, 15 SB) in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. If it makes a difference, Joyner finished eighth in the 1986 AL MVP voting; Canseco was 20th. That was also the only All-Star Game selection season Joyner would have in 16 MLB campaigns, ending back with the Angels in 2001 at age 39.
As Will Leitch once wrote about him: “If you were a kid in rural Illinois who collected baseball cards, suddenly no one was more important than Joyner. This was a player no one knew who was suddenly the most popular player in the sport. Getting his rookie card was like the Shroud of Turin, the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction” or the Maltese Falcon. Nobody cared about Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr. or Mike Schmidt. Joyner was all that mattered.”
In his second season, Joyner had a 34-homer, 117 RBI season and .285 average, with a career-best 4.1 WAR. But after six seasons, Joyner left, accepting a one-year, $4.2 million free agent deal with Kansas City — he stayed a Royal until they traded him after the ’95 season — instead of a four-year, $15.75 million deal from the Angels.
He didn’t want to leave.
“Wally Joyner stood at the press room podium at baseball’s winter meetings with tears in his eyes, unable to speak,” the L.A. Times’ Ross Newhan wrote in December, 1991. “The pressure of two months of futile negotiations, of a decision he never expected to have to make after six years with the Angels, was seeping out in an unexpected display of emotion. No one cries at leaving a last-place team, but … Wally Joyner did. Call that a crying shame.”
Not well remembered: Joyner came back to the Angels as a free agent in 2001 and took No. 5 — pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa had No. 21, but was released half-way into the season. The thrill was gone.
Jim Hardy, USC football quarterback / defensive back (1942 to 1944), Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1946 to 1948):
Best known: The Fairfax High standout who started going to Trojans games in 1931 at age 8 became the MVP of the 1945 Rose Bowl, throwing two touchdown passes and running for another in a 25-0 win over Tennessee despite battling a 101 fever the night before. Hardy also dropped three key punts for USC that landed on the Tennessee 5, 8 and 7 yard lines in succession. In Hardy’s senior season, he set USC passing records with 58 completions, 739 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. That came a year after he threw three touchdown passes in the Trojans’ 29-0 win over Washington in the ’44 Rose Bowl. He also had 13 career interceptions as a defensive back. He made it into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1994. Hardy, who also played third base for USC’s baseball team from 1944 to ’46, ended up with the Rams during their first three years in L.A. after a stint in the Navy. He became the general manager of the Los Angeles Coliseum from 1973 to 1986, which included the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was noted to be the “oldest living” USC and Rams player when he died at age 96 in 2019.
Best known: Before coming to Westwood, the generously sized 5-foot-7 running back made himself known to Southern California football fans when he, as a high school junior, scored four touchdowns for Concord De La Salle in a 29-15 win over Long Beach Poly in 2001. During a career at UCLA — he led the team in rushing all three years, set a school record in all-purpose yards (4,688), rushing yards from scrimmage (3,322), touchdowns (33), and an NCAA record of 28.5 yards per punt return — he also made a name for himself in changing his name. During his junior (and final) year of 2005, he learned from Coach Karl Dorrell that his grandfather, Maurice Jones, died of a heart attack while at the Rose Bowl to see the UCLA-Rice game. Drew, who took the last name of his maternal mother but was raised by his maternal grandparents, had his name legally changed to Jones-Drew, and in the NFL was most often referred to as “MJD.” He was named to the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 — not overlooking the fact he set the school’s single-game rushing mark with 322 yards and five touchdowns against Washington in his sophomore year.
LenDale White, USC football running back (2003 to 2005):
Best known: Fifty-two rushing touchdowns in three seasons established a Trojan career record as the “Thunder” to Reggie Bush’s “Lightning” combination during the team’s span of national dominance. White ran for three TDs in USC’s 55-19 win over Oklahoma in the 2005 Orange Bowl, and a year later, he had three more TDs as USC lost to Texas 41-38 in the 2006 Rose Bowl. In that game, with 2:13 left in regulation and USC holding a 38-33 lead, the Trojans were at Texas’ 45-yard line and needed two yards on fourth down to keep possession and run out the clock. Everyone knew the handoff would be to White. It was. He came up a yard short. Texas got the ball and won the game. “There’s nothing I can do to shake that,” said White, who finished his USC career with a powerful 3,159 yards, averaging 5.8 yards a carry. “He was kind of a free spirit, marched to his own drum,” quarterback Matt Leinart once said of him. “But I’ll tell you what, man, when the lights turned on, that dude was one of the best football players I’ve ever played with. He was one of the best teammates I’ve ever played with.”
Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2018 to 2024):
Best known: The last pitcher standing for the Dodgers when they won the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium in Game 5, Buehler preserved a 7-6 victory by striking out the last two Yankee hitters in the bottom of the ninth. This was just three days after he threw five shutout innings and got the win in Game 3 that put the Dodgers up, two games to one. That put him on a short list of eight players — since saves became an official stat in 1969 — who had both a win and a save in the same playoff series. A two-time NL All Star, Buehler finished third in the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year voting (8-5, 2.62 ERA, 151 Ks in 137 innings). He missed the entire 2023 season with second Tommy John surgery and then went through a 2024 regular season with stats that didn’t show he was all that ready to come back — a 1-6 mark with a 5.38 ERA. But then came the post-season. In the NLDS against San Diego, Buehler gave up six runs in five innings of his only start, Game 3, and took the loss as the Dodgers fell behind two games to one and appeared doomed. Somehow, they recovered. In Game 3 of the NLCS against the New York Mets, Buehler started, and something interesting happened. After pitching from a full windup to the leadoff hitter, he settled into a stretch. With better body control, he threw four shutout innings, striking out six. If injuries to Dodgers starters such as Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw and Michael Grove hadn’t occurred, Buehler may not have even been on the post-season roster, but there he was now in the World Series. He then became a free agent and went to Boston. Not well remembered: Bueller wore No. 64 in eight appearances during his debut season of 2017 with the Dodgers — both Yu Darvish and Trayce Thompson had been sharing dibs on No. 21.
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2013 to 2015):
Best known: A year after he vacationed as a free agent with the Angels in Anaheim wearing No. 23, Greinke logged three standout seasons for the Dodgers, creating a formative top-of-the pitching rotation with Clayton Kershaw that many compared to the days of Koufax and Drysdale.
The eclectic and rather mysterious Greinke, a 2009 AL Cy Young winner with Kansas City, went to two All Star games with the Dodgers and posted a 51-15 record with a 2.30 ERA over that time, gaining Cy Young and MVP votes, plus a Silver Slugger and a two Gold Gloves. He had an NL-best 8.9 WAR when he finished 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA in 2015. That’s when his six-year, $147 million deal with the Dodgers reached the halfway point and gave Greinke the option to opt out. He did. He declined the Dodgers new six-year, $160 million deal, and off he went to Arizona for six years and $206 million. His time in Arizona went 3 1/2 season. He put in 20 seasons, finishing where he started with Kansas City at age 39 with a 2-15 record and 5.09 ERA.
Best known: The Gatorade National Player of the Year as a sophomore in 2021 out of Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City (48 goals, 14 assists in 17 games) had been playing on semi-pro teams since age 13 against college-aged players and signed an NIL deal with Nike at age 17 (along with her sister, Gisele) before becoming the youngest player ever drafted into the NWSL. The No. 1 overall pick by hometown Angel City FC in January of ’23 came with Thompson signing a three-year deal. In April, 2023, the third-generation Angeleno debuted with the U.S. Women’s National team (wearing No. 17) in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia. In September of 2025, Thompson agreed to a five-year contract with Chelsea of the Women’s Super League for a $1.65 million transfer fee,the greatest in women’s soccer history. Thompson was the club’s all-time scoring leader with 21 goals in all competitions. Thompson has three goals and three assists in 22 games with the national team.
Tayshaun Prince, Dominguez High of Compton basketball (1996 to 1998):
Tayshawn Prince, right, has his No. 21 retired by Dominguez Hill along with former teammate Tyson Chandler (32).
Voted Mr. California Basketball, Prince — aka “Tay,” aka “Compton Kid” — won three CIF titles and back-to-back state titles during his time at Dominguez. The 1998 McDonald’s All-American led Dominguez to a 96-9 record, averaging 22.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.0 blocks and 5.2 assists a game as a senior when the Dons went 32-3. As a junior, he averaged 20.0 ppoints, 10 rebounds, 5.0 blocks and 5.0 assists during a 30-4 season. A finalist for the Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award, he had a 3.3 GPA and was on the school’s honor roll for three years. Prince stayed all four years at Kentucky and was SEC Player of the Year as a junior (2001). He won an NBA title with Detroit (2004), was a four-time All-NBA Defense and won an Olympic gold medal for Team USA (2008). His No. 21 was retired by Dominguez High in 2023.
The Daily Breeze, March 23, 1967
Dana Pagett, El Segundo High basketball (1963-64 to 1966-67); USC basketball (1968-69 to 1970-71):
The Daily Breeze, March 17, 1967
Best known: The CIF-3A Player of the Year and second-team Parade All-American at El Segundo High was on coach Cliff Warren’s team that won 34 consecutive games before a 62-56 overtime loss to Monrovia in the Southern Section 3-A championship game. El Segundo won five tournaments that season and Pagett was named the most valuable player in four of them. While averaging 16.1 points and 10 assists a game as a senior, the Daily Breeze story announcing him as the South Bay Player of the Year on a team that included future NBA players Paul Westphal of Aviation and Stan Love of Morningside and future MLB pitcher Bart Johnson of Torrance included: “His assists often counted for twice as many points as he scored himself.” Said Warren: “He was the best player the South Bay ever had.” Pagett signed a letter of intent to go to West Virginia University, but he had a change of heart and stayed home, picking USC over UCLA. Pagett became a valuable third guard on the USC basketball team, still wearing No. 21, and playing behind Paul Westphal and Mo Layton. “He was the first recruit in the area to get away from John Wooden at UCLA,” Warren said. A 1971 NBA Draft pick by Philadelphia, Pagett signed with Portland and spent a year in the ABA with the Virginia Squires (1971-72). Still wearing No. 21. Not well remembered: After working as an assistant coach at Loyola Marymount University and Long Beach State, Pagett went to Rancho Santiago Community College in Santa Ana and had a long run as a head coach starting in 1982. In 2006 Pagett was added to the Santa Ana College Athletic Hall of Fame for his 15-year run that included leading the Dons to the state tournament 11 times. He also led the Dons to four conference titles and the school’s only state championships (1989-90 and 1990-91). Pagett is Santa Ana College ‘s all-time winningest men’s basketball coach with a 323-165 (.662) record and his .662 winning percentage ranks second in SAC history. He is also in the California Community Colleges Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Nolan Cromwell, Los Angeles Rams defensive back / free safety (1977 to 1987):
Seven years after Meador left the Rams, Cromwell, a converted quarterback from Kansas and Big 8 Offensive Player of the Year, took the number and ran off another 11 years with the team, becoming a Pro Bowl player four seasons in a row (1980 to ’83) and collecting 37 interceptions, returning four for touchdowns, and setting a franchise record 671 in return yards. He was also a standout on special teams as a holder who could run the fake field goal. Cromwell made it onto the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1980s.
Tony Gwinn, Long Beach Poly High basketball (1973 to 1976):
The future Baseball Hall of Famer known as “Mr. Padre” from his career in San Diego had basketball on his radar as well. As a point guard on the Jackrabbits teams that went 30-1 his junior year and won the CIF-4A title before more than 10,000 spectators at the Long Beach Sports Arena, Gwynn’s team was considered the best in the state. They also went 23-7 his senior season and lost in the playoffs trying to repeat. Gwynn, All-CIF Southern Section second team, went on to be an All-Western Athletic Conference basketball and baseball player at San Diego State.
Steve Grady, USC football tailback (1966 to 1967): After distinguishing himself at L.A.’s Loyola High as a wingback and middle linebacker, where he ran for 2,097 yards and scored 217 points in 12 games as a senior on a CIF title team (wearing No. 36), the CIF State Player of the Year gravitated to Coach John McKay’s Trojans teams as the running back in between Heisman winners Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson. He had a combined 519 yards and 1 TD in his career, with 108 yards coming in a win over Oregon as Simpson’s injury replacement. After a brief NFL stint, Grady returned to coach at Loyola High and was named its head coach in 1976, staying through 2004 with nearly 270 wins and CIF titles in 1990 and 2003. He was inducted into the CIF Southern Section Hall of Fame.
Lynn Cain, USC football fullback (1975 to 1978): A heralded defensive back at L.A.’s Roosevelt High and then the California Community College State player of the Year in 1974 at East L.A. College, Cain arrived at USC to start at fullback blocking for tailback Charles White on the Trojans’ ’78 national championship team. After a seven-year NFL career (that included a stop with the Los Angeles Rams in 1985 wearing No. 31), he returned to coach at East L.A. College and L.A. Southwest College.
John Hadl, Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1973 to 1974): He put No. 21 on for two seasons between Eddie Meador and Nolan Cromwell — keeping the number he had for the 11 previous years with the San Diego Chargers — and was second in the MVP voting in ’73 when he led the team to a 12-2 mark and a Pro Bowl nomination. Hadl, also once a fabled quarterback at Kansas, was gone the next year to Green Bay. But Hadl would return to Los Angeles — as the coach of the United State Football League’s Express, as a mentor to rookie quarterback Steve Young.
Cliff Branch, Los Angeles Raiders receiver (1982 to 1985): The last four seasons of his 14-year NFL career, all with the Raiders, game him a platform to perform in L.A. With the ’83 Super Bowl champs he had a 99-yard TD reception from Jim Plunkett to help defeat the Redskins in Washington, D.C.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Anaheim Angels pitcher (1997 to 2001): What drove Shiggy to Anaheim was piling up a 57-45 record and 3.33 ERA during six seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball. The 28-year-old middle reliever didn’t net nearly the attention as other Japanese players did who came to the U.S., yet by the time he left the MLB in 2005, he logged nine seasons and had the most appearances by an Asian pitcher in the U.S. (517), far ahead of Hideo Nomo’s 323 in 12 seasons. Hasegawa is included in the book, “Hall of Name: Baseball’s Most Magnificent Monikers” by D.B. Firstman (2020) with the entry: “Four short yet lyrical syllables in the first name and four more int he last. The name looks daunting to pronounce but is actually reasonably easy once you hear it a couple of times. And speaking of hearing it, no less a public speaking authority than the late Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard deemed Hasegawa’s name as one of his favorites to say over the P.A. system.”
Jim Brewer, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (1964 to 1975), California Angels pitcher (1976): Back when recording a save was much more difficult algorithm to achieve, Brewer was the franchise leader with 126 when he retired, and he needed more than 800 innings and 300 games over a 12-year span to do that. He was also on the 1973 NL All-Star team at at a time when the Dodgers used to refer to the team’s bullpen as “The Brewery.” Brewer remains in the Top 5 of the franchise save leaders.
Mack Calvin, Los Angeles Lakers guard (1976-77): The Long Beach Poly prep star went onto Long Beach City College and then showed enough at USC over two seasons to become an NBA draft pick by the hometown Lakers, albeit the 14th round in 1969. The ABA’s Los Angeles Stars looked more attractive, and that’s where Calvin landed (wearing No. 20) with coach Bill Sharman. Calvin averaged 16.8 points per game to make the ABA All-Rookie Team, and the Stars went to the ABA Finals before losing to Indiana. He had a 44-point game during the division semifinals against Dallas and averaged 15.8 points and five assists a game in the six-game finals. Over the next five seasons with Florida, Carolina and Denver, Calvin was a five-time ABA All Star. The ’76-’77 season was split between Denver, San Antonio and finally the Lakers (for 12 games) before he was dropped from the roster and sat out a year. He came back for two more NBA seasons with Utah and Cleveland. As an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers, Calvin took over as head coach for two games in 1992.
Jeff Fryer, Loyola Marymount University basketball guard (1986-87 to 1989-90): The 6-foot-2 sharpshooter out of Corona Del Mar High in Newport Beach, who led the nation as a junior with 126 3-point makes out of 334 attempts, set an NCAA record with 11 3-pointers made during the Lions’ 149-115 upset over defending champion Michigan in the 1990 second-round game played at Long Beach. Fryer’s 41 points led LMU as he attempted 15 3-pointers and also shot 15 for 20 in the game. During his four years starting at LMU, 940 of Fryer’s 1, 545 shots came from 3-point range and he established an NCAA career mark of 363 made 3-pointers. He was also 26-for-26 in free throws in the NCAA Tournament.
Have you heard this story
Milton Bradley, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2004 to 2005):
“Trouble” or “Anger Management” were not products that the Milton Bradley board game company created, but they could summarize the season-and-a-half this former Long Beach Poly High standout spend with the Dodgers, one of eight teams he suited up for in 12 years. Bradley, whose birthday of April 15 was the same day all of MLB honors as Jackie Robinson Day, once said about how he had No. 21: “That’s the number they gave me in rookie ball, so I just kind of stuck with it. You know, you can’t wear 42 anymore, so I always said, 21 is half of 42; if I can be half of the player, half of the person, Jackie Robinson was, then I will have been a success. That’s my motto.”
His first major display of his volatile nature was being handed a four-game suspension by the league for throwing a bag of balls onto the field following his ejection from a game when he argued balls and strikes. He was suspended for the last week of the regular season on ’04 when he reacted to a fan who threw a bottle at him following an error by throwing it back at the fan and yelling at him, leading to another ejection. In October of ’04, during the NL playoffs, Bradley got into a clubhouse argument with the Los Angeles Times’ beat reporter. He returned in ’05 and hit.290 in 75 games before tearing knee ligaments. That offseason, the Dodgers swapped general managers, and Ned Colletti’s first deal was to swap out Bradley to Oakland for a prospect named Andre Ethier.
While Bradley was a Dodgers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with the team’s non-profit foundation, he was accused of domestic abuse in 2005 (no charges filed), and more accusations after that, to the point where he was convicted of physically attacking his wife and was sentenced to 32 months in prison. In 2018, he remarried and was again charged with spousal battery, leading to probation and counseling. “When we traded for Milton, I think we knew everything that came along with it,” former Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta once told ESPN. “We knew the past, we don’t necessarily think that everything’s going to be completely different because he came to a different place. That’s fine. I would take nine Milton Bradleys if I could get them.” Or, maybe, one Either, who would play for the Dodgers all 12 of his MLB seasons with two All Star appearances, a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.
The Japanese star import became available at the ’17 trade deadline as his Texas Rangers’s contract was coming up. The Dodgers rented him for three prospects. Darvish finished 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA in nine starts down the stretch, including an ERA of 0.47 ERA over 19 1/3 innings in his last three starts. In the NLDS and NLCS, he posted a win against Arizona and Chicago, allowing just two runs over 11 1/3 innings while striking out 14 and allowing one walk. But in Game 3 of the World Series at Houston, Darvish fell into the Twilight Zone — he lasted just one and two-third innings as the Astros posted four runs in the bottom of the second. It was the first time he failed to get a strikeout in an outing and he managed only one swinging strike in 49 pitches. Hear any trash cans banging? (Adding insult to it all, Houston’s Yuli Gurriel made a gesture in the dugout after hitting a home run, stretching the sides of his eyes and using the slur “chinito,” and received a five-game suspension by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred — but still allowed to play in the World Series, so the punishment came to start the 2018 season). Darvish came back to start the decisive Game 7 at Dodger Stadium, quickly trailed 2-0, and a George Springer homer in the second inning meant Darvish again was gone after 1 2/3 innings. “If you ask me if I got hit in Game 7 because they stole signs, I don’t think so,” Darvish later said. Darvish’s Game 7 start was his last with the Dodgers. He signed a six-year, $126 million contract with the Cubs that offseason. Since reports of the Astros stealing signs emerged, Darvish said he has gotten apologies from Dodgers fans who blamed him for the losses. He responded: “I’m not looking for that. I don’t want them to change their minds.”
Dominique Wilkins, Los Angeles Clippers forward (1994): The eventual Basketball Hall of Famer who spent his first 12 seasons as The Human Highlight Film in Atlanta became the star attraction of another horror genre when Clippers GM Elgin Baylor decided to make a post ’94 NBA All Star Game trade for him. The Hawks gave up him and a 1994 first-round draft pick for All-Star Danny Manning, who was six years younger. Wilkins pulled on the No. 21 tank top and played out the final 25 games for the 27-55 Clippers, averaging 29.1 points a game, and left that summer to Boston. The Clippers used that pick from Atlanta (after taking Cal’s Lamond Murray at No. 7 overall) to select Louisville guard Greg Minor at No. 25, then traded him with Mark Jackson to Indiana for rookie Eric Piatkowski, Pooh Richardson and Malik Sealy.
USC pitcher Mark Prior was the #2 player drafted in the 2001 MLB baseball draft. (Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.)
Mark Pryor, USC baseball pitcher (2000 to 2001): After transferring from Vanderbilt, Prior led the Trojans to the College World Series in two straight years. As a junior, his 15-1 record and 1.69 ERA, plus 202 strikeouts in 138 innings with just 18 walks, won him the Golden Spikes Award. He struck out 10 or more hitters in a game 13 times, including a 13-strikeout effort against Georgia in the College World Series. His 202 strikeouts set a single-season record for the Trojans. He was the No. 2 overall pick by the Chicago Cubs in the 2001 MLB Draft, after Minnesota took home-town favorite Joe Mauer. Prior became the Dodgers bullpen coach in 2018 and took over as pitching coach in 2020 and had been wearing the No. 99 under his blue sweatshirt.
Liz Masakayan, UCLA women’s volleyball (1980 to 1984): She played Little League baseball in Santa Monica at age 10 — the first year girls were allowed to play because of Title IX. At Santa Monica High, she was on the first girls soccer team, ran track and also tried out for volleyball. At UCLA, she won the Broderick Award as the nation’s top volleyball player after the Bruins won the 1984 NCAA championship. Segueing into beach volleyball, Masakayan paired with Karolyn Kirby as one of the most dominant women’s teams, winning 29 tournaments. She and Elaine Youngs almost qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Masakayan ended up with 47 beach tournament wins and returned to coach at UCLA. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
We also have
Ronny Turiaf, Los Angeles Lakers forward (2005-06 to 2007-08), Los Angeles Clippers forward (2012-13) Kareem Rush, Los Angeles Lakers guard (2002-03 to 2004-05), Los Angeles Clippers guard (2009-10) Eric Ball, UCLA football running back (1984 to 1988) Shon Tarver, UCLA basketball forward (1990-91 to 1993-94) Cedric Bozeman, UCLA basketball guard (2001-02 to 2005-06) Kobe Brown,Los Angeles Clippers forward (2023-24 to 2025-26)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: Los Angeles Dodgers Roman Gabriel: Los Angeles Rams Bill Russell: Los Angeles Dodgers Dave Taylor: Los Angeles Kings Cade McNown: UCLA football J.J. Stokes: UCLA football
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 18:
Jack Robinson: UCLA basketball Rudy Bukich: USC football
The most interesting story for No. 18: Roman Gabriel:Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1962 to 1972) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles Coliseum; Pomona
Roman Ildonzo Gabriel Jr., became the first NFL quarterback of Filipino-American descent when he came to Los Angeles in the 1960s. And this also remains true:
Any kid who grew up in Southern California with a poster of him on their wall, or had another copy of Sports Illustrated come in the mail with him on the cover, might have thought it was more important than ever to eat Roman Meal bread to make us bigger and stronger.
From the 1969 Sears Christmas Wish Book catalogue, one could get a sweatshirt and a poster of Roman Gabriel (top left), representing the Rams. (From BeautyOfAGame.substack.com)
It didn’t matter if Roman Gabriel wasn’t part of that branding. It was just seared into our vision of the world at that point in time.
A 1970 Topps poster insert with its NFL trading cards. Which looks really nothing like Roman Gabriel. Or a Rams’ uniform. Still, if this was in a kid’s pack of cards, you taped it onto your school notebook.
His name was as much Hollywood blockbuster as it was an angelic figure from the Book of Genesis, trumpet in hand. An talent agent couldn’t have given him a better calling card.
In his 11 seasons spent in Los Angeles, Gabriel made three Pro Bowls and was the 1969 NFL Most Valuable Players Award, having finished runner-up for the honors to Johnny Unitas in ’67.
And he came to Los Angeles somewhat reluctantly. But he had been here before to scout it out. Twice.
In 1962, the North Carolina State quarterback ninth in the Heisman voting was the No. 1 overall choice by the new-ish American Football League’s Oakland Raiders, in the league’s second year of existence. He was also the NFL’s No. 2 overall pick by the Rams, who secured in a deal with the New York Giants by way of Minnesota. Ernie Davis, the Heisman winning running back from Syracuse, went No. 1.
It was a draft where the Rams not only secured Gabriel, but, with the No. 3 overall pick as well, scooped up Utah State defensive tackle Merlin Olsen — one spot behind Gabriel as well, at No. 10, in the recent Heisman vote.
Gabriel had played at the L.A. Coliseum in his sophomore year of college as his Wolfpack lost to UCLA, 21-12, in November of 1959.
At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, he put on the garb and played a leading man played the role on the floor of the Los Angeles Coliseum, a gladiator using his catapults against encroaching Vikings and Giants.
In a return visit in October of 1960, Gabriel matched up against UCLA’s Billy Kilmer, and the Bruins snuck away with a 7-0 win.
His first four years employed by the Rams at the same quarry was just as frustrating.
Gabriel angled for playing time with Zeke Bratkowski, Terry Baker and Bill Munson. Yet, when given a chance to start, which he did 23 times over that stretch, Gabriel led the team to an 11-11-1 result. The other three combined: 4-27-2 . Couldn’t blame him if he loved being in L.A. but hated it at the same time.
In 1965, with Harland Svare as the new Rams head coach, Gabriel made his mark when he engineered impressive wins over the eventual NFL-champion Green Bay Packers, 21-10 in Week 11. He then directed a 42-7 win in Week 13 against the 11-3 Cleveland Browns. Those two wins were half of an otherwise forgetful 4-10 season.
The pivotal point in Gabriel’s L.A. run would come when George Allen took over as the Rams’ head coach.
SI cover: 1966
Gabriel was ready to bold and cash in on the rival league with the Raiders — a $300,000 deal for three years, plus a $100,000 signing bonus. He already signed and took a $32,000 payment, more than the $22,500 he was making with the Rams.
Allen not only told Gabriel to send back the check but promised him a $32,000 salary for the 1967 season, plus a $100,000 bonus when he retires. Gabriel believed in Allen, content by officially having the starting job.
SI cover, 1967.
After a 8-6 finish in ’66, Gabriel and the Rams posted division titles in 1967 (11-1-2) and ’69 (11-3) under Allen. Gabriel was not only the offensive engineer, but was a vastly reliable short-yardage runner, piling up 28 rushing touchdowns – most in franchise history by a quarterback. His 22 rushing TDs from 1966 to 1972 were more than any of the team’s other running backs.
Bernie Casey, whose NFL career in L.A. during the ’67 and ’68 seasons led to his post-playing career as an actor, painter and poet, had the leading role as Gabriel’s primary receiver those seasons. The most memorable Gabriel-to-Casey connection was a 1967 game-winner with less than 30 seconds left in the Rams’ 27-24 comeback victory in the next-to-last regular season game against Green Bay. That kept their divisional hopes alive. The next week, Gabriel was 18 of 22 passing for three TDs in a 34-10 win over the Baltimore Colts at the Coliseum.
The Sporting News: December 1969
Gabriel’s first Pro Bowl season, along with Casey’s, had him record 2,779 yards passing and 25 touchdowns in ’67. But in the playoffs, the Packers eliminated the Rams, 28-7.
Gabriel’s MVP season: 2,549 passing yards, 24 touchdowns against seven interceptions, and a league-best 156 yards rushing and five more TDs as a quarterback. Again, a heart-breaking playoff loss to Minnesota ended that season.
In Week 13 of the 1970 season, the Rams made their first Monday Night Football appearance in the Coliseum. It was ABC’s first season for this prime-time TV package — but the game was blacked out in L.A. with a 9 p.m. local kickoff. Gabriel showed the rest of the country his value as he threw for 334 yards and rallied the Rams from a 21-6 deficit, scoring 17 in the fourth quarter, of an eventual 28-23 loss to Detroit, leaving them just behind the Lions in the NFC wildcard spot with one game left.
That seems to be a script Gabriel was frequently handed — get to the cusp of something special, and come up short. Even if the Rams were 41-14-4 with Gabriel running the offense from ’67 to ’70, there was nothing to show for it.
Sport Magazine: December 1970
Allen left in 1971, and knee injuries limited Gabriel. The Rams lost to Allen’s Washington Redskins 31-24 in a key Monday night game where an interception thrown by Gabriel and returned for a touchdown killed the Rams’ chances. (That was also the game when a kid from L.A. named Andy Reid won a punt, pass and kick competition at halftime that became legendary).
During a 6-7-1 season in ’72 with coach Tommy Prothro — one that has been referred to as the “Silence of the Rams” — Gabriel’s consecutive games played streak of 89 over eight seasons finally ended. He threw more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (12).
The Rams decided to not only swap out their head coach (in came Chuck Knox) but also their quarterback (also incoming were John Hadl and James Harris). Gabriel actually considered a $100,000 offer from the Las Vegas Casinos of the fledgling Southwestern Football League. Eventually, he saw a window of opportunity when he was traded to Philadelphia to obtain Harold Jackson, who’d become their top receiver for four of the next five seasons.
Gabriel switched from No. 18 to No. 5 with the Eagles, overcame knee and arm issues, and won the league’s Comeback Player of the Year as he threw for a league-best 3,219 yards (270 completions in 460 attempts) and 23 touchdowns. All were career highs. Yet the Eagles went 5-8-1. Nothing newsworthy again.
In 1976, he went back to No. 18, and started the season 1-3 before he was benched. His final year of ’77 was 13 games off the bench, completing one pass.
In the history of the Rams’ franchise, starting in 1937 based in Cleveland, Pro Football Hall of Famers like Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield and Kurt Warner were part of the legacy. But Gabriel played more games at quarterback – 130 – and posted more regular-season wins — 74 — than any of them. Jim Everett (1986-1993) comes next closest in wins at 46. During Gabriel’s NFL days, only Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton had more victories.
Gabriel remains the franchise career leader for touchdown passes (154), passes attempted (3,313), fourth-quarter comebacks (13), and 1,146 rushing yards as a quarterback. The later puts him No. 38 on the franchise list of all rushing leaders.
In Football-Reference.com’s statistic called Approximate Value (AV), an attempt to attack a numerical value to every player-season season since 1960, Gabriel (99) is first among any franchise quarterback. Everett is second at 79.
Gabriel was one of the few QBs of his era with a positive TD-to-INT ration (201 to 149).
By the numbers, the Rams have retired eight numbers — Bob Waterfield’s No. 7, Marshall Faulk’s No. 28, Eric Dickerson’s No. 29, Merlin Olsen’s No. 74, Deacon Jones’ No. 75, Jackie Slater’s No. 78, Isaac Bruce’s No. 80 and Jack Youngblood’s No. 85. Those eight are great.
There has been discussion to also honor Warner’s No. 13, Torry Holt’s No. 81, Orlando Pace’s No. 76 and, eventually, Aaron Donald’s No. 99.
Gabriel?
Since he left the franchise, No. 18 has been seen on the backs of receivers Cooper Kupp and Jimmy Raye, Jr., of kickers John Carney and Glen Walker and, in 2025, on tight end Terrance Ferguson.
If throwing for more than 29,000 yards in his career overall, and leading his teams to 86 wins doesn’t seem enough for a Pro Football Hall of Fame recognition, would the Rams, at the very least, consider pulling No. 18 out of circulation for him?
The legacy
Like any athlete in and around L.A., Gabriel could use his exotic looks and muscular physique to tempt producers of TV and film – even while he was still an active player.
Heck, when he was doing razor blade commercials, it looked as if he was vying for the role of Herman Munster.
Roman Gabriel plays a Native American named “Blue Boy” in “The Undefeated,” in 1969, starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson.
Don’t read too much about the time Gabriel played a headhunter on an 1966 episode of “Gillian’s Island” without any lines.
He was a prison guard in the 1968 flick “Skidoo,” with Jackie Gleason, made by Otto Preminger.
He was more notable playing a Native American named “Blue Boy” in “The Undefeated,” a 1969 flick with John Wayne and Rock Hudson. Typecasting presented opportunity.
More nobly, Gabriel had the distinction of becoming the head football coach at Cal Poly Pomona for the program’s last two years of existence, 1980 to ’82, despite pulling together a 8-24 record.
The lede to an 1983 New York Times story about Gabriel, as he was trying to catch on as a coach in the upstart USFL, began: “Roman Gabriel could throw a football 70 yards into a receiver’s lap while three defensive linemen clutched at his body, a body that Vince Lombardi once described as ‘’a big telephone pole.’”
Gabriel was also involved in pro baseball, as president of minor league teams in Charlotte, N.C., and Gastonia, N.C., near his hometown.
“Here’s one for you,” Gabriel once said. “In Baseball Weekly, there was an article where this dad had named his sons after me. Roman Slaybaugh and Gabriel Slaybaugh. Roman was No. 18, the quarterback, and Gabriel was No. 81, the receiver. They both graduated from the University of Indiana and played football there several years ago.”
Their Wikipedia page says the Slaybaugh twins are now male models in Paris.
“I wouldn’t call myself a gunslinger,” he says. “I”d call myself a snub-nosed .38 because I was kept under wraps most of the time. …”
Considering how famous his life became, Gabriel concluded: “Outside of my college education, there aren’t a lot of things I couldn’t have been able to have than from being a Ram. … For me not having been a quarterback, I could have been on Skid Row being the best garbage man my dad said I could be.
“I don’t know any other Filipino-Irish quarterback that’s played in the NFL. It’s great to know you had a chance to do it for 16 years. Do it the best you could. And the fact that people do remember what you did means you must have left your mark and done something right. I was just lucky.”
Roman Gabriel (18) leading a drive against the New York Giants at the L.A. Coliseum.
Who else wore No. 18 in SoCal sports history? Make a case for:
UCLA basketball coach Wilbur Johns once said of Westwood’s multi-sport star with a deadly outside shot and quick hands: “His timing was perfect, his rhythm was unmatched, he had the valuable faculty of being able to relax at the proper time.” Robinson’s arrival as a junior in 1939 came when the team hadn’t won a Pacific Coast Conference game in more than two years. Robinson’s game-winning shot against Cal broke a 30-game conference losing streak and helped them go 5-19 in the PCC that season.
As a senior, Robinson won his second of back-to-back PCC Southern Division scoring titles. He averaged 12.4 and 11.1 points game in his two All-PCC Southern Division seasons. Robinson accounted for nearly 40 percent of his team’s points during that time. Just a couple years later, George Mikan would be doing the same for his DePaul teams. Could Robinson have launched his abilities into an NBA career? He was probably too far ahead of his time, in a league not yet mature enough to allow him to make a living. In the 1946-47 National Basketball League’s season, Robinson joined the Los Angeles Red Devils for their Nov. 8 season opener. Three other future pro basketball players were on the roster — guard Irv Noren, forward George Crowe and guard Ziggy Marcell. Robinson played his last game for the Red Devils in mid-January after Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey asked him to just focus on baseball and his pending MLB career.
Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings forward (1977-78 to 1993-94):
His 17 seasons with the franchise and having played in 1111 games (which had been the franchise leader until Anze Kopitor, Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty passed him up in recent years) will be included in our upcoming posting about the team’s Triple Crown line (with Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer). It is fitting that Taylor is the franchise all-time leader in plus/minus (+186, and nearly 80 better than runner-up Dionne) because of his stoic contribution to the team’s success. He ranks currently third all-time in goals (431), fourth in assists (638) and fourth in points (1,069). He’s also fourth in game-winning goals (47) and third in power-play goals (123) to go with eight hat tricks. The Kings made No. 18 the third never they ever retired, in 1994, and it’s hanging from the rafters. He was also the Kings’ general manager starting in 1997 (just three years after his retirement) and kept it through 2006 — responsible for drafting Kopitar, Brown and Jonathan Quick. His 290-261-74-31 record as a GM makes him the winningest in team history.
The Most Valuable Player of the 2025 World Series was celebrated in a New York Times story that read: “Gangster. Gutsy. Greatness. Yoshinobu Yamamoto authors a World Series for the ages.” In the Dodgers’ seven-game win over Toronto, securing a title repeat, Yamamoto threw a complete game win during Game 2, kept the team from elimination by going six strong innings in Game 6, and then pitched the final eight outs of an 11-inning Game 7 to earn his third victory against the Blue Jays in a week’s time. He threw 34 pitches in Game 7, 96 the night before in Game 6, 105 in Game 2, and then few in the bullpen near the end of the Game 3, 18-inning marathon. “I don’t think you’ll ever see somebody do what Yama did tonight,” said Clayton Kershaw. “That was probably the most gutsy, ballsy thing any guy’s ever done, you know?” To go with a 3-0, Yamamoto also had a 1.02 ERA (in 17 ⅔ innings) with 2 earned runs, 2 walks and 15 strikeouts. He actually faced two “Golden Pitch” scenarios, the extremely rare circumstance in which any pitch could win or lose the World Series for either team.
On top of that was a complete-game, Game 2 victory in the NL Championship Series against Milwaukee, the first complete game in the playoffs since 2017. In that game, Yamamoto did not allow an opponent to bat with a runner in scoring position.
The Dodgers didn’t have anyone throw a complete game in the regular season in 2025 otherwise.
The Dodgers made Yamamoto the highest-paid pitcher in baseball when they signed him for 12 years and $325 million in December 2023. He was 75-30 with a 1.72 ERA in Japan, all through age 25. He also decided to sport a number that had been worn by previous Dodgers’ Japanese pitchers Hiroki Kuroda (2008 to 2011) and Kenta Maeda (2016 to 2019).
Yamamoto said during his first media gathering that he once visited Dodger Stadium at age 19 and saw Maeda pitch for the Dodgers in a 2017 NL playoff game — and that left an impression front and center as he moved forward in his career. The New York Yankees tried to sign him by already having a No. 18 pinstripe jersey waiting for him during their meeting. The Yomiuri Giants’ championship dynasty of the 1960s and ’70s was noted by the fact that uniform No. 18 was given to the ace of their pitching staff, and ever since, on teams all over Japan, wearing that number conveys an implicit stature and respect on a pitcher for what it signifies.
Bill Russell, Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop (1969 to 1986), coach (1987 to 1991 and 1994 to 1996) and manager (1996 to 1998):
No one in the Dodgers franchise history wore any number for as long as Russell did – 18 years as a player, seven years as a coach and nearly three seasons as a manager. Only Zack Wheat played more games as a Dodger – and that Hall of Famer played at a time when players did not wear numbers. Russell also played more games with the team since their move to L.A. The three-time NL All Star played all 2,181 games with the Dodgers (15 more than Pee Wee Reese), was on four pennants and one World Series win. And about as nondescript as possible in the legendary infield of Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey. Two notable playoff moments: In Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS against Philadelphia, Russell’s ninth-inning single to center field capped a three-run comeback, all with two outs, to create a 6-5 win. And in the 10th inning of Game 4 in the 1978 NLCS, also against the Phillies, Russell’s single dropped in front of center fielder Garry Maddox (whose rare error allowed Dusty Baker to prolong the inning) and resulted in a walk-off win and a repeat trip to the World Series.
Cade McNown, UCLA football quarterback (1995 to 1998):
Best known: Voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020, the bio for his 2009 UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame induction points out he started 44 of his 47 games as the Bruins’ QB between 1995 and 1998, including the final 43 straight. During his senior season, McNown was a consensus 1st Team All-American, third in the Heisman Trophy balloting (eighth the previous year), won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and was a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award. In his award-winning senior season McNown set single season UCLA records for passing yards (3,470), TD passes (25), and total offense (3,652). McNown also set single game records in those same three categories (513, 5, 515) in a 49-45 loss at Miami. About that loss at Miami … when UCLA was ranked No. 2 and needed the win to play in the national title game … it came the week after UCLA crushed USC for the eighth-straight time … but that game ended strange with a McNown naked bootleg and 23-yard run … and USC thought he was rubbing it in … and then UCLA lost to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl as their consolation prize … and UCLA never has seemed to be back on track since then … Want more evidence? Holy Toledo, read more here. And then there’s his Playboy lifestyle during his time with the Chicago Bears that perhaps was some karmic payback to those still not sending him Christmas cards … He’s lately put his BA in history degree to some use in the financial world.
Rudy Bukich, USC football quarterback (1950 to 1952), Los Angeles Rams quarterback (1953 to 1956):
Best known: Bukich found himself named the 1953 Rose Bowl MVP during a game when he came off the USC bench for the injured Jim Sears (a broken leg in the first quarter) and drove the Trojans down the field, completing a 22-yard touchdown pass to Al Carmichael for their only score in a 7-0 win over Wisconsin. “The coaches were down on Rudy,” Carmichael said once. “He was very outspoken, kind of a rebel, and he had left the team back in October. He had come back a week later, but that sort of got him off on the wrong foot. Four days before the game, one of the coaches said to him, ‘Rudy, you’re not on offense anymore. You’re on defense.’ They didn’t like his personality and his makeup. I don’t think he would have gotten in the game at all if Sears hadn’t been hurt.” Inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2014, “Rudy the Rifle,” who came to USC as a transfer from Iowa, was a second-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams in ’53. He took two years off with the U.S. Army before returning to the Rams in ’56, later to play in the NFL with Washington, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Sam Dickerson, USC football receiver (1967 to 1970): In the 1969 USC-UCLA game, the Trojans trailed, 12-7, late in the fourth quarter at the Coliseum when a Bruins defender guarding Dickerson was called for a pass-interference on fourth down. On the next play, USC quarterback Jimmy Jones lofted a pass toward the left corner of the end zone and Dickerson made a sliding catch on his knees for a 32-yard touchdown with 1:32 left to give the Trojans a 14-12 victory. Dickerson caught 24 passes, six for touchdowns, and averaged 19.6 yards per reception in 1969. The Trojans went on that season to beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl, 10-3. As a senior, he led the nation with a reception rate of 22 yards per catch (24 receptions, 527 yards, four TDs), and the San Francisco 49ers took him in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft, but then released him. He was in training camp with the Green Bay Packers in ’72 and the Oakland Raiders in ’73. The World Football League’s Southern California Sun added him in February of ’74, but he was traded to the Portland Storm (16 catches, 289 yards, two TDs). In 1976 he also tried out for Winnipeg of the Canadian Football League. He did of cancer at age 66 in 2015.
J.J. Stokes, UCLA football receiver (1991 to 1994):
Seventh in the Heisman voting as a junior — and the only underclassmen in the Top 10 — it acknowledged his leading the nation with 17 touchdown receptions and more than 1,000 yards, his senior year was derailed a bit by a season-opening injury but he was the 10th overall pick in the 1995 NFL draft by San Francisco. Stokes still holds UCLA school records for receiving TDs in a season and in a career (28), receiving yards in a game (263 vs. USC in 1992) and receptions in a game (14 in the 1994 Rose Bowl vs. Wisconsin). He was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.
Bret Saberhagen, Cleveland High baseball pitcher (1979 to 1982):
At Dodger Stadium, Saberhagen threw the only no-hitter in Los Angeles City Section history when he brought his team to the 1982 title in a 13-0 victory over Palisades High, setting down 21 of the 22 batters he faced. A 19th-round pick by the Kansas City Royals, Saberhagen made his MLB debut at age 19 in 1984 and won the AL Cy Young Award in 1985 with a 20-6 record and 2.87 ERA, pitching the final out of the team’s World Series title and being named the series MVP with two complete-game wins, including Game 7. In a 16-year MLB career, Saberhagen also won the 1989 AL Cy Young and made three All Star teams. He switched from No. 31 to his high school No. 18 for the Royals from 1987 to 1991 and kept it when he moved onto the New York Mets in 1992.
Sasha Vujacic, Los Angeles Lakers guard (2004-05 to 2010-11), Los Angeles Clippers guard (2013-14): Nicknamed “The Machine,” the 3-point specialist from Slovenia made his mark coming off the bench and set a team record with a 43.7 percent from long range in 2007-08. The Lakers’ 2004 pick near the end of the first round from a team in the Italian league ended up on two of the Lakers’ title teams and was in three Finals. He hit two Game 7 free throws to seal their 2010 win over Boston. Vujacic’s 10-day contract appearance with the Clippers (two games in ’13-14) came between the four seasons when he was playing in Turkey and Spain. His other claim to fame: Once engaged to tennis star Maria Sharapova.
We also have:
Jun Endo, NWSL Angel City FC forward (2022 to present) R. Jay Soward, USC football receiver (1998 to 2001) J.T. Daniel, USC football quarterback (2018 to 2019) Bill Rigney, Los Angeles Angels manager (1961 to 1969) Bob Berry, Los Angeles Kings left wing (1970-71 to 1976-77), who became the team’s head coach from 1978-79 to 1980-81 during the Triple Crown line era. Kurt Rambis, Los Angeles Lakers forward (1993-94 to 1994-95): He wore No. 31 in seven seasons as a Lakers from 1981-82 through 1987-88, and came back at age 35 and 36, By then, Sam Bowie had glomed on No. 31 during Rambis’ seven-year absence in Charlotte, Phoenix and Sacramento.
A tidy exercise from 2019 trying to identify the greatest NBA players best known by jersey numbers lent itself to a free-flow name association of fame and obscure. Some were just one number away from being really famous. Others forged an identity by being different.
Jason Kapono, No. 72? Not on our bingo card. He wore it one year in Philadelphia. Maybe LeBron James might like to be the next.
Kobe Bryant has claim to both No. 8 and No. 24. Dennis Rodman has both No. 73 (with the Lakers) and No. 91 (with Chicago) because, let’s face it, who else wanted them.
The NBA won’t allow No. 69 to be given to anyone – or else Rodman would have that one too.
LeBron James is linked neither to No. 6, because belongs to Bill Russell, nor to No. 23, as it goes to Michael Jordan. For that matter, Jordan could have Nos. 23 and 45 if he wanted. Sorry Rudy T.
James’ decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons and take his declining talents to Philadelphia for what may be come his 24th and 25th NBA seasons, at ages 42 and 43, leaves an open numerical pallet.
Why not usurp Sean Bradley and take No. 76?
On his Basketball-Reference bio, James’ nicknames number 10: King James, LBJ, Chosen One, Bron-Bron, The Little Emperor, The Akron Hammer, L-Train, Benjamin Buckets, Captain LeMerica and, the latest, LeGOAT.
There are likely 10 other reasons to detest how all this drama continues to play out.
“There’s a price to pay for this,” Giola continued. “A society that trains its youngsters with these degraded values on the sports field will soon find the same vices everywhere else. Long ago, Duke Wellington allegedly boasted that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. Nowadays we could make a less enviable claim, namely that the corruption of our institutions starts in the youth sports leagues.
“I’ve criticized LeBron for lacking loyalty. Sports insiders mock this view — but with tremendous hypocrisy. That’s because the whole profession of sports depends on the loyalty of fans. Without loyalty, every pro sports league in the world would soon collapse. So not only is loyalty an important value in team competitions, it’s actually a foundational principle that holds teams together and pays everybody’s salary along the way.
“Yes, I’m an outlier. But I also think I’m speaking in the interests of the sports insiders too when I advocate for more loyalty, not less. If I could, I’d make it harder—much harder—for teams to abandon their cities. I would make it easier for teams to sign home town talent (brining back a variant of the territory draft that once increased the likelihood that an NBA squad would actually include players from its home city. I’d take other steps to maximize the emotional ties between fans and teams, and vice versa.
“There’s an old proverb that says “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.” That’s exactly what’s happening in the NBA right now. They wanted a profit-maximizing world in which loyalty meant nothing—with ultimate freedom and mobility. Now they have it. But wait until they see the price to pay when fans ditch their loyalty in response.
“Yes, each fan also gets to make a “decision”—although it isn’t covered in the news or hyped in press conferences. And make no mistake, their cumulative decisions will determine the actual fate of the league, not anything LeBron does in Philly.
“If the honchos running the NBA were really smart, they would be worrying about those decisions, and not the last gasp destination of a soon-to-retire baller.”
A 22-time All Star. Four-time NBA champ, on three different teams. Four regular season MVPs and NBA Finals MVP. Six All-Defensive team picks. A member of the 75th NBA Anniversary team. And the true icing on the cake — the ’23-’24 In-Season Tournament MVP.
The number most head-spinning to us: He has been a professional basketball player for a longer period of time than the first 18 years when he wasn’t.
James has been officially listed as a 6-foot-9 and 250-pound small forward, point forward, power forward, point guard, shooting guard and center. Maybe he’s really just a power guard — the one and only. The most rebounds he’s collected in a game was 20, at age 39, for the Lakers in an epic double-OT win at Golden State. Most assists in a game: 19 in 2020 at age 35 for the Lakers.
He is the only NBA player with more than 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists in the regular season.
But really, what do numbers mean when sizing him up?
He’s not even sure.
The first on-sight vision Los Angeles had of James in person is when he came to Pauley Pavilion as a high school phenom. He scored 21 points during No. 1 St. Vincent-St. Mary’s 64-58 victory over Mater Dei in a tournament staged in January of 2023 before a sold out crowd at Pauley Pavilion. James missed all nine of his three-point attempts and committed seven turnovers.
Consider when James officially arrived as a pro in Los Angeles, a free agent to start the 2018-19 season, after his second run with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, he decided to be No. 23 as a Laker.
Then, for the 2019-20 season, James convinced his friend, Anthony Davis, to leave New Orleans and join him with the Lakers – with a promise he would shed No. 23 and give it to Davis, who had those digits since his rookie season in 2013. Davis started wearing No. 23 at Kentucky, as a tribute to his favorite player — James.
(The story goes: Davis, who grew up in Chicago, won a Black History Month trivia contest at Perspective Charter High School and with it came a $10 gift card. He used it to buy a book about LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavs player who wore No. 23, and inspired him to do the same. So Davis wasn’t wearing No. 23 for Michael Jordan).
James decided that giving up No. 23 to Davis meant he could slip back into No. 6, which he wore with the Miami Heat from 2011 to 2014 and helped them win a title. But the NBA wasn’t happy with that. Nike had a large supply of No. 23 James jerseys that it felt would become obsolete to collectors if that switch occurred. It said James and Davis did not give enough notice before the season. The league forced James to stick with No. 23. Davis, in response, chose No. 3.
For the 2022-23 season, James did back shift to No. 6, but Davis stayed with No. 3. To confuse it even more, when Bill Russell died and the NBA honored him be havingt everyone wear a black circle “6” patch on their jersey, James wore No. 6 in two spots on the same jersey. If that wasn’t waffling enough, James announced for the 2023-24 season, he would go back to No. 23, leaving No. 6 in deference to Russell, and the league retired No. 6 for every team.
When he passed Michael Jordan on the NBA list of most games with 30 or more points, James said he wore No. 23 because of Jordan. That started with James’ high school days at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Cleveland from 1999-2000 to 2002-03 (although he wore No. 32 as a freshman before changing). The 32 carried over the first seven seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. During that stretch (2003-04 to 2009-10), his choices for the U.S. team in the Summer Olympics were No. 9 in 2004 (the 19 year old yielded to Dwayne Wade for No. 6) and then No. 6 in 2008 (James switched numbers with Wade). Joining Wade in Miami, James picked No. 6 again from 2011 to 2014, and also kept No. 6 on Team USA in 2012. Going back to Cleveland in from 2015 to 2018 got him back with No. 23. Then came the flip flopping of 23 and 6 in Los Angeles.
In 2023 he said the No. 6 reflects the birthday of his son Bronny (the 6th of October) as well as the birth month of his son Bryce (born in June). James has also pointed out to those mathematically challenged that two-times-three equals six.
There’s also the case, James said, where another one of his favorite players, Julius Erving, has worn Nos. 32 and 6 in his career in the ABA and then to the NBA.
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 