ATL by the Numbers

The greatest player to wear each number in the greater Atlanta region: Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Thrashers, Flames, Yellow Jackets, Bulldogs, and at least one Cracker. Who did I miss?

Years ago on the back page of Sports Illustrated Rick Reilly compiled a numerical list of greatest numbers, and I've been facsinated by the topic ever since.  

Number 21 is by far the hardest to pick. Dominique was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary team, Deion to the NFL's 100th Anniversary team. The Falcons put him in their ring of honor, though he played elsewhere more than in Atlanta. Tech's Calvin Johnson made the College Football Hall of Fame. Frank Sinkwich won the Heisman at UGA. Tech basketball retired Roger Kaiser's number 21. And 21 was my high school football number. But 'Nique gets the nod for his longer stay in Atlanta. He also wore 21 while at UGA.     

Several Uni Watch readers are listing similar numerical lists for other cities (see Chicago and LA below) with smart graphics. That’s my next challenge, to replicate that – a task I am not yet capable of performing. See my feeble attempt above.

I knew of no Atlanta United nor Dream player good enough to crack this list. Josef Martinez can't edge out Mike Vick. Your suggestions are appreciated. In general I picked pro players over college athletes, unless the collegian was an All-American. The first player listed gets the nod, followed by honorable mentions.

In the past I've made up similar lists for the Braves (11/26/10), UGA (10/5/12), GT (9/25/12), Falcons (9/15/22), NFL (9/8/19), and NBA (11/25/10 & 12/19/11). I'm thinking about compiling a Hawks list in the near future. 

0. Darnell Washington UGA

1. Rafael Furcal Ozzie Albies Jim Craig Otis Nixon Eddie McAshan

2. Matt Ryan Moses Malone

3. Dale Murphy Matt Bryant

4. Jeff Blauser Spud Webb Brett Farve Jerry Royster Tim Mazzetti

5. Freddie Freeman B Horner H Wages J Thomas M Anderson

6. Bobby Cox John James

7. Michael Vick Josef Martinez Dansby Francoeur Younghoe Koo

8. Walt Bellamy J Lopez J Torre K Pitts A Volkov T McDonald

9. Terry Pendleton Ken Whisenhunt GT Allen Leavitt UGA AA

10. Chipper Jones Steve Bartkowski

11. Julio Jones Trae Young

12. Tom Lysiak Dusty Baker Chris Chandler

13. Ronald Acuna Stetson Bennett

14. Andres Galarraga Joe Hamilton David Greene Eric Weems

15. Dany Heatley Tim Hudson  Matt Harpring

16. Brian McCann Kirby Smart

17. Ilya Kolvachuk Denis Menke Andy Messersmith

18. Marian Hossa Mick Luckhurst Claudell Washington

19. Bob Lee Scott Woerner Clint Castleberry

20. Bruce Benedict Allen Rossum

21. Dominique Wilkins Calvin Johnson Deion Sinkwich

22. John Salley GT Rolland Lawrence Jason Heyward

23. Lou Hudson David Justice Randy Rhino

24. Devonta Freeman Jimmy Wynn Evan Gattis

25. Andruw Jones Doc Rivers Mark Price

26. Billy Lothridge Gene Garber

27. Fred McGriff Austin Riley Tom Hayes Ted Turner Pascual Perez

28. Warrick Dunn Mike Lum Gerald Perry

29. John Smoltz Pepper Rodgers

30. Tree Rollins Orlando Cepeda Dan Bouchard

31. Greg Maddux William Andrews

32. Jamal Anderson Dan Roundtree Earl Williams

33. Michael Turner Pat Jarvis Cannonball Butler

34. Herschel Walker Ray Buchanan Cecil Upshaw

35. Phil Niekro

36. Gary Matthews Ken Reaves

37. Rick Camp Elbert Shelley Ron Washington

38. Ron Reed

39. Hoyt Wilhelm Frank Broyles

40. Eddie Lee Ivery GT Tony Cloninger Rich Yunkus GT BB

41. Eddie Mathews Crackers Taz Anderson GT Eugene Robinson

42. Kevin Willis Rick Mahler Gerald Riggs

43. Rico Carty Dave Hampton Mark Wohlers Brian Snitker

44. Hank Aaron Pete Maravich

45. Bruce Dalrymple GT BB Paul Byrd Deion Jones

46. Kerry Lightenberg

47. Tom Glavine

48.  Ralph Garr

49. Carl Morton John Rocker

50. Bill Curry GT Greg Brezina

51. George Morris GT Alex Mack Terry Forster

52. Bobby Dews Brad Clontz

53. Cliff Levingston (late change) Melky Cabrera

54. Max Fried Leo Mazzone

55. Dikembe Mutombo John Abraham

56. Keith Brooking Jim Bouton

57. Jeff Van Note

58. Jessie Tuggle

59. Jordan Jenkins UGA

60. Tommy Nobis

61. David Andrews UGA AA Ray Beck GT

62. Charlie Trippi UGA Todd McClure

63. Randy Johnson UGA AA

64. Peter Anderson UGA AA

65. John Davis GT Jorge Julio B

66. Billy Shaw GT Warren Bryant

67. Joel Parrish UGA AA Larry Stallings GT

68. RC Thielemann

69. Mike Lewis Falcons DT

70. Bob Whitfield Jake Matthews

71. John Zook

72. Kent Hill GT Daniel Inman UGA

73. Bernard Williams UGA

74. Kenley Jansen

75. George Kunz

76. Rock Perdoni GT

77. Tyson Clabo

78. Mike Kenn Dave Lutz GT

79. Bill Fralic

80. Andre Rison Junior Miller

81. Billy White Shoes Johnson T Mathis

82. Gene Washington UGA Ken Burrow

83. Alge Crumpler

84. Roddy White Alfred Jenkins

85. Jimmy Robinson GT Alfred Jackson F

86. Jim Mitchell

87. Claude Humphrey

88. Tony Gonzalez Billy Martin GT

89. Lucious Sanford GT Wallace Francis Ben Watson

90. Freddie Gilbert UGA

91. Derrick Morgan GT

92. Richard Tardits UGA Coleman Rudolph GT

93. Richard Seymour UGA Ted Roof GT

94. Wycliffe Lovelace UGA

95. Bill Goldberg UGA Marco Coleman GT

96. Bill Voiselle B Brandon Coutu UGA

97.Grady Jarrett Patrick Kearney

98. Rodrigo Blankenship UGA

99.Jordan Davis UGA Pat Swilling GT

For the record I started with red for the Bulldogs. That left black for the Falcons. I decided on grey for the Braves, with red numbers and navy names. But Dale Murphy needed to be powder blue, so his teammates got the same treatment. Pistol Pete needed the royal Hawks unis I love, so teammates Sweet Lou and Walt Bellamy did too. Brown for the Thrashers, gold for the Jackets, and red with yellow letters for the lone Flame. That left white for the rest of the Hawks.