BunkoSquad

Stone Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs. Poor Stone never actually took the field in a real game. The Grambling star and Olympic sprinter was playing a 1963 preseason game in Kansas when he suffered a spinal injury that killed him ten days later. The Chiefs have had to retire more than their fair share of numbers due to tragedy; running back Mack Lee Hill died during knee surgery during the 1965 season, and Joe Delaney died while trying to save a bunch of drowning kids in 1983. If you guessed that Stone Johnson's fatal injury came against the Raiders, you're a true student of the game.

Alvan Adams, Phoenix Suns. The Oklahoma Kid won the 1976 Rookie of the Year award for a season where he helped lift the Suns from irrelevancy to the NBA Finals. He had 20 points in what pretty much everyone considers the greatest game in NBA history. Adams averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds over 13 seasons, all in Phoenix.

Mike Scott, Houston Astros. There aren't too many players who I utterly and totally identify with one team and one season. But if you mention Mike Scott, I immediately think "'86 Astros". That's the year Mike no-hit the Giants, went 18-10 with a 2.22 ERA and 306(!) strikeouts, almost singlehandedly put Houston in the World Series (which would have completely altered the course of my life as a Red Sox fan, for better or...well, it couldn't have gone any worse), and put the split-finger fastball on the map. Oh, and he won the Cy Young Award, no big surprise there. I always thought of Scott as a one-year wonder, but he put up some solid numbers for the rest of the decade, winning 20 games in 1989.

Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins. The first superstar quarterback. "Slingin' Sammy" is the only player who's led the NFL in an offensive, defensive, and special teams category (he played in the 2-way days). As a rookie in 1937, he led the Redskins to the NFL title, throwing for 335 yards in the championship game at Wrigley Field(!). Statistically, his best season was 1945, when he threw for 1669 yards with a 70.3% completion rate. The Skins would have won that championship too, probably, except Sammy got hurt in the title game and Cleveland won instead. The black spots on Sammy's record are (1) he still shares the record for 4 interceptions in one game, and (2) he was the starting QB on the wrong end of the biggest massacre in league history.

David Thompson, Denver Nuggets. This is the guy Michael Jordan looked up to as a kid. An athletic prodigy at NC State, Thompson was the #1 pick in the 1975 draft of both the ABA and the NBA. While making up his mind, Thompson was treated by the Atlanta Hawks with a gourmet meal at McDonalds; he went to Denver in the ABA. He finished second to Dr. J in the first ever slam dunk contest, but Thompson's dunks were legendary (he "invented" the alley-oop at NC State), and helped him average 20 PPG over six years. Then, sadly, David got hooked on drugs (it was the late-70s NBA, after all) and never was quite the same. Let that be a lesson to you future Michael Jordans out there.

Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche. Four Stanley Cups (2 with Montreal, 2 with Colorado). Most career wins of any goalie. Three Conn Smythe trophies and three Vezina trophies. Patrick would have been a lifelong Canadien, but his feud with coach Mario Tremblay (Roy reportedly laughed when Tremblay walked into the clubhouse as coach for the first time; I hope it was one of those hearty "Ho Ho" French Canadian laughs) became too much to bear, and the Habs shipped him out west in what's become known as "Le Trade". I love French Canadians. With the Avs, Roy responded to some trashtalking by Jeremy Roenick (my personal Sega NHL god among men) by saying, "I can't hear what Jeremy says, because I've got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ear." He won two more in Colorado, but history doesn't relate where he stuck them.

Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks. From Cambridge Rindge and Latin to Georgetown to the Knicks (and then to Seattle and Orlando, but the less said about that, the better), one of the most solid big men in NBA history. Ewing won an NCAA title with the Hoyas, then wound up as the obvious #1 pick in the '85 draft, which was astonishingly won by New York. Ewing played 15 years with the Knicks, but never got a ring, as the Bulls seemed to be in their way every year. The one Finals he did play in, in 1994, he played his heart out, but John Starks' screwups (which still bring a smile to my face) cost the Knicks the series. I'll remember Patrick best for the fact that he started sweating profusely the moment he took off his warmups. The video from his retirement ceremony pretty much sums up the love and respect Patrick earned in New York City.

Eddie Murray, Baltimore Orioles. I think Eddie spent a year with every team in the Majors, but it's the early years in Baltimore that Eddie will be remembered for. The AL Rookie of the Year in '77, Eddie quickly got a reputation as one of the most feared hitters in the game. He's one of four members of the 3,000/500 Club. And check out those stats; the name "Steady Eddie" doesn't even come close to describing how consistently good his performance was. Unfortunately, he never quite seemed to get his due; some early things said about him in the press rankled him, and he never really got along with the media. The Baltimore Sun has a number of old articles that really go into depth about how the public gruff Eddie was not the same as the man that teammates and friends recall as warm, funny and caring. Really interesting reading.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bucks and Lakers. The only player on this list to have his number retired by two teams, Kareem's longevity and versatility are astounding. At UCLA, he was so dominant that the powers-that-be instituted the "Lew Alcindor" rule forbidding dunking. His conversion to Islam and name change led to him being traded from Milwaukee to L.A., where he felt he'd fit in better. With L.A., he won five rings (to go with one from the Bucks), re-patented the sky hook, and scored more points than anyone in the league before or since. His farewell tour during the 89-90 season brought him gifts and standing ovations in every city he played in. He had a brief stint as an airline pilot, cut short due to food poisoning. He coaches basketball at an Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. And if you think he was a soft player, one of the knocks on him all along, you try dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

Honus Wagner, Pittsburgh Pirates. True, Wagner played before players wore uniform numbers. But when Honus managed the Pirates, he wore #33, which was good enough for the Bucs to use when honoring the greatest shortstop in baseball history. "The Flying Dutchman" had a career batting average of .327, and regularly led the National League in RBIs, doubles, total bases, and steals. Of course, he's most famous for the T-206 card, which was, according to legend, pulled from the presses when Honus objected to being linked to tobacco products. One of the handful still in existence just sold for $2.35 million.

Larry Bird, Boston Celtics.Some stories.

• Last seconds, Celtics need a shot to win. Time out. K.C. Jones starts drawing up a play. Larry says, "Forget it coach. Give me the damn ball and get out of my way." KC angrily replies, "Larry, I'm the coach, and I'm the one who's going to draw up the play. (pause) OK, here's the play. Give Larry the damn ball and get out of the way."
• Rookie Chuck Person of Indiana is defending Larry. Larry scores a lot. On a trip down the court, Larry yells to the Pacers' bench, "You should put in someone who can guard me."
• Kent Benson was at Indiana University when Larry first arrived there. Benson was rude and condescending, part of the reason Larry transferred to Indiana State. In the pros, Larry realized that Kent Benson couldn't stop Kevin McHale, so Larry gave Kevin the ball over and over again. McHale had 56 in one game against Benson; Larry was pissed that McHale eased up at the end, so Bird went out and scored 60 a week later.
• During that 60-point game, the guys on the Hawks bench were openly cheering for Larry at the end.
• Straight from Jack McCallum's book, Unfinished Business.

  "I was talking to my agent, and he heard a deal on his speaker phone," said [Celtics benchwarmer Michael] Smith. "Milwaukee sent Ricky Pierce to Seattle for Dale Ellis."
  "I can't believe that," said Bird.
  "What? The trade?" said Smith. "I can't believe it either."
  "No," said Bird, "I can't believe your agent has a speaker phone."

• And the best Larry anecdote of all. This has been told a hundred different ways, but this is my favorite version, and the one I think is closest to what Larry actually would have said. Locker room before the first-ever NBA Three-Point contest. Just a few minutes before it starts, and all the contestants except Larry are there waiting. Finally, Larry walks in, looks all around the room, says nothing for a minute. Then explains himself, saying, "I'm just trying to figure out which one of you son-of-a-bitches is gonna finish second."