Sometime around 1982 or 1983 a minor-league player in the Atlanta Braves chain marched into the spring training office of the athletic trainer and demanded that he wear jersey No. 44 for the Durham Bulls that summer.
The athletic trainer first laughed. Then he informed the youngster that approval to wear that number would have to come from Atlanta’s director of the minor leagues. That was one Hank Aaron, the reigning home run king whose No. 44 jersey number had been retired by the Braves, not to be worn by any player in the Atlanta system ever again.