Oddball answers
During the 2022 season, three wide receivers wore #2 for the first time in the NFL. One was KaVontae Turpin, who spent time in the USFL and the ELF before making the Pro Bowl as a return specialist in his first year with the Cowboys. The other two were traded before the 2022 season started, with one going from the NFC to the AFC, and one from the AFC to the NFC. Name them both.
The WRs in question: Amari Cooper (pictured above), who was traded from the Cowboys to the Browns, and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, who was traded from the Ravens to the Cardinals.
Of the 17 players who have worn #22 during the 2022-23 NBA season, only three have made All-Star teams. None of them were All-Stars this year. Who are they?
The #22s in question: Jimmy Butler (6x All-Star, pictured above), Khris Middleton (3x), and Andrew Wiggins (1x).
Two Hall of Fame defencemen famous for wearing the same number for the majority of their careers also wore #22 for one year each — one at the beginning of his career with his first team, one at the end of his career for his last team. Both have won the Norris Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy. Who are they?
Al MacInnis (pictured above) is best-known for wearing #2 for the Flames and, later, the Blues, but he also wore #11 (1981-82) and #22 (1982-83) before settling on the deuce. Brian Leetch wore #2 for the majority of his career with the Rangers (and for his 15 games as a Maple Leaf) and #22 for one season as a Bruin.
Three players in MLB history have worn #22 for 15 or more seasons. Two of them have only played for one team. Two of them have won Gold Gloves. One is in the Hall of Fame. One has won a batting title. One has died. Name all three.
All three: Jim Palmer (one team, Gold Glove, Hall of Fame), Clayton Kershaw (one team, Gold Glove; pictured above), and Bill Buckner (batting title, deceased).
Putting the trivia answers in a separate, standalone issue (as we just did) is the first of the experiments we suggested we’d be doing last time around.
What we’re trying to figure out:
if that’s good
if the “answers” issue should be web-only content
If “answers” issues are web-only content, we’ll publish them to oddball.substack.com and then link to them in the “questions” issues you receive by email. This way, readers who want to know the answers to the previous issue’s questions can check, and readers who don’t want to know don’t have to.
The result: shorter, crisper “questions” issues and less email.
That said, maybe we’re assuming that two emails/week would be too much for you. Maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe you want three emails a week. Maybe you want four. Maybe you want to cook for forty humans. We don’t know, and frankly, unlike this guy, we do want to know.
Please vote in the polls below or Serak the Preparer will cry again.
Until next week, be the Ezequiel Carrera you wish to see in the world.
— DJ/JY