Bob Nystrom

LIFE.com: Greatest Athletes to Wear 23

Born in Sweden, his New York Islander teammates nicknamed him "Thor"; fans came to call him "Mr. Islander" as the right wing developed a knack for scoring overtime winners and played a key role in the Islanders winning four straight Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983. The Islanders have retired his number and created the Bob Nystrom Award in gratitude. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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While most closely associated in sports circles with Michael Jordan, there's more to the number 23 than just His Airness. Number 23 has been worn by stars playing football, baseball, hockey, soccer -- and a few basketball players who don't have the initials "MJ".

Above: Bob Gainey lines up with several current and former players from the Montreal Canadiens during a ceremony to retire his jersey number 23 before a game on February 23, 2008 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec (Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Mark Texeira

Tex gave up the number when he came to the Yankees -- they'd already had a first baseman with those digits you'll encounter later -- but in his Texas Rangers days he was an All-Star with two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers who once drove in 144 runs before coming to New York and winning his first World Series title. (Mike Ehrmann /WireImage/LIFE.com)

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Marcus Camby

After a sensational yet scandalous college career (he was the Player of the Year and led UMass to the Final Four, only to have the NCAA void their appearance after it was learned he'd taken money from an agent), he became one of the NBA's top shotblockers and was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2007. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Brian Bellows

It was probably unfair that Sports Illustrated tagged him in 1981 as the "hottest prospect since Wayne Gretzky", but Bellows became a big time scorer (he racked up 55 goals in the 1989-90 season alone). He retired in 1999 with 485 goals and 1,022 points while playing 18 seasons with five teams, making three All-Star teams and winning the Stanley Cup with Montreal. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Bob Nystrom

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Don Mattingly

Donnie Baseball never played in a World Series (he retired in 1995, the year before New York started the Rivera Run of dominance), but he did everything else, collecting a batting title, an MVP, six All-Star appearances, and nine Gold Gloves while hitting .307 for his career, inspiring the Yankees to give him the Gehrig treatment by retiring his number. (Peter Aiken/WireImage/LIFE.com)

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David Beckham

He's the most famous player in the world, just not the best, for which some fans will never forgive him. But his whole career the former England captain has been a tremendous winner, first with Man U and the legendary "Treble" season, then taking La Liga with Real Madrid -- and even his L.A. Galaxy have twice reached the Finals.

Above: Becks with Madrid, wearing the 23 he requested out of admiration for Michael Jordan. (Firofoto/WireImage/LIFE.com)

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LeBron James

The lack of a ring holds King James back a little, but he still has two MVPs, an Olympic gold medal, and a scoring title. Plus, he's only 25, giving the player who's always a triple-double threat a chance to rise even higher on this list depending on how teaming with Wade and Bosh works out for him in Miami. Incidentally, James now wears number 6 -- which many people have pointed out, is what you get when you multiply 2 and 3. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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Michael Jordan

Enjoyable as it would be to announce an upset winner, it's just not gonna happen. Ten scoring titles, six NBA titles, a college championship, two Olympic gold medals, a massive collection of MVPs from the NBA Finals, regular season, and All-Star games -- no one wearing any number has ever soared so high. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images/LIFE.com)

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