Cowboys '88 Club': Greatest Jersey Number in Sports History?

FRISCO - Some teams retire uniform numbers.

The Dallas Cowboys instead parlay theirs into unprecedented legacies.

Was struck by a thought while watching CeeDee Lamb catch two touchdowns to help Dallas deliciously rout the Eagles in Philly Monday night: the Cowboys’ No. 88 is the best jersey in the history of sports.

Hear me out.

Obviously there are more iconic individual numbers, such as Michael Jordan’s No. 23, Jackie Robinson’s 42 or Wayne Gretzky’s 99.

And, when you cross-pollinate teams and sports leagues, there are certainly more hallowed numbers: 7 (Mickey Mantle, John Elway, David Beckham), 12 (Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady) and 32 (Jim Brown, Magic Johnson, Sandy Koufax).

But when it comes to players from the same team wearing the same number and achieving greatness, there’s none better than the Cowboys’ No. 88.

Proof: How about two Pro Football Hall-of-Famers (Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin), a three-time Pro Bowler and Top 40 in NFL all-time receiving touchdowns (Dez Bryant), and Lamb, who has already been All-Pro and led the league in catches at age 27?

(For us old-timers, No. 88 Ron Sellers also played a significant role in Cowboys’ history when he caught the game-winning touchdown pass to complete an improbable rally in San Francisco in a 1972 playoff game.)

Other sports have franchises have quality, but not the quantity of the Cowboys’ cream-of-the-crop quartet.

The Detroit Lions’ No. 20 is pretty impressive with Lem Barney (HOF), Billy Sims (3 Pro Bowls) and Barry Sanders (HOF).

Same with the Raiders’ No. 24s in Willie Brown (HOF) and Charles Woodson (HOF) and the Colts’ No. 88s in John Mackey (HOF) and Marvin Harrison (HOF).

In Major League Baseball, the Chicago Cubs’ No. 31 was both worn by Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux, and the New York Yankees boast a No. 8 that belonged to legendary catchers Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra.

But unlike the Cowboys and the continuing tradition of 88 carried on by Lamb, no player currently wears 20 for Lions, 24 for the Raiders, 88 for the Raiders, 31 for the Cubs or 8 for the Yankees.

The Cowboys have a curious tradition with jersey numbers. They don’t retire them, but sometimes they shelve them. Others, they simply co-op.

No player has worn No. 12 since Staubach retired in 1979. Same with Bob Lilly’s 74 since 1974 and Troy Aikman’s No. 8 since 2000. But Hall of Famers Charles Haley and DeMarcus Ware both wore 94, Super Bowl MVPs Chuck Howley and Randy White shared 54, and Bob Hayes and Emmitt Smith donned 22 on their way to Canton.

Even today, Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett’s No. 33 is worn by a running back - Javonte Williams - who leads the league with eight rushing touchdowns through seven games.

Throw in Antonio Bryant’s three-year career and I dare say the Cowboys’ No. 88 is the most productive jersey in the history of sports with a combined 2,534 catches for 37,185 yards and 240 touchdowns.

The Cowboys’ No. 88 isn’t merely a jersey number. It’s an elite institution.