Fascinating Mark Feinsand article about how Reggie Jackson was initially going to wear 42 when he joined the Yankees, but then decided to take #20 in honor of Frank Robinson and then, when Hank Aaron retired the following year, Jackson changed his number to #44 to honor Aaron instead (honestly, isn’t that kind of weird? “Yes, I wanted to honor Frank Robins…oh, what’s that? Someone better retired? Okay, never mind, change my dedication to that guy!”).
And amusingly, when Mo got the number, he didn’t know the significance of it…
Rivera said he was initially given No.