Pete Rose, Montreal Expos
Pete Rose holds the all-time record for most hits in Major League Baseball history with 4,256, and is tied for the all-time lead in lifetime suspensions from the MLB with one. He won two World Series championships with the Cincinnati Reds during his nearly 19 years of service with the team, and added a third Series win with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980, for whom he played five seasons. In 1984, Rose had a brief stopover north of the border. He played in 95 games with the Montreal Expos and collected 72 hits — among them his milestone 4,000th hit — before a late-season trade sent him back to Cincinnati, where he finished his career.
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Jose Canseco, Montreal Expos
Before he became a Twitter celebrity, Jose Canseco was best known for being one-half of the “Bash Brothers,” the slugging steroid-junkie duo he formed with Mark McGwire in Oakland. However, during his journeyman career, Canseco also played for the Rangers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Yankees, and White Sox. Notice I didn’t mention the Expos. That’s because Canseco only played with the team during spring training of 2002 — he was cut before the regular season began, and officially retired that May.
Patrick Ewing, Orlando Magic
Patrick Ewing is a New York sports legend. He is to the Knicks what Lawrence Taylor is to the Giants, what Joe Namath is to the Jets, what Tom Seaver is to the Mets, what Mark Messier is to the Rangers, what Denis Potvin is to the Islanders, and what Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, and Hensley Meulens are to the Yankees. Yet after 15 years with the Knicks, Ewing finished his career by playing one season with the Sonics and one with the Magic.
Johnny Unitas, San Diego Chargers
One of the greatest players in the history of the NFL, Johnny Unitas was a member of the Baltimore Colts from 1956 to 1972, winning one Super Bowl championship and three MVP awards, among many other accolades. He was so beloved in Baltimore that when the Ravens came to town in 1996 (to fill the void left by the Colts, who relocated to Indianapolis in 1984), many fans petitioned the team to name the Ravens’ stadium after Unitas. Unfortunately, Unitas did not finish his career in Baltimore — he was traded by the Colts to the lowly Chargers in 1973, who finished the season with a record of 2–11–1. He retired at the season’s end.
Wayne Gretzky, St. Louis Blues
When “The Great One” wasn’t busy fighting crime with Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, he spent his time becoming the greatest hockey player the world has ever seen. Gretzky was an Edmonton Oiler from 1979 through 1988, and a member of the Los Angeles Kings from 1988 through much of the 1996 season. However, after he grew unhappy in LA, he was traded to the St. Louis Blues for 31 games, during which time he tallied 37 points and led the team to the playoffs. But the marriage was rocky and short-lived, and Gretzky accepted fewer years and less money than offered by the Blues to join the New York Rangers.
Jerry Rice, Seattle Seahawks
Seeing Jerry Rice suit up for a team outside the Bay Area just seems wrong. For two decades, Rice played for the San Francisco 49ers (1985 through 2000) and Oakland Raiders (2001 to 2004), making 13 Pro Bowl appearances and winning a trio of Super Bowl championships with the 49ers, plus an AFC championship with the Raiders. Six games into the 2004 season, Rice was traded to the Seattle Seahawks, for whom he played his final 11 NFL games.
Reggie Jackson, Baltimore Orioles
He rose to stardom as a member of the Oakland Athletics, became “Mr. October” with the New York Yankees, and tried to kill the queen while with the California Angels. However, one of Jackson’s 21 total seasons in the Majors was spent with the Baltimore Orioles. Due to his impending free agency — and A’s owner Charlie Finley’s unwillingness to pay the salary Jackson was sure to command — he was traded to the Orioles for the 1976 season. Following his stint in Baltimore, the Yankees signed Jackson to a five-year contract worth $2.96 million.
Brett Hull, Phoenix Coyotes
Though signed in 2004 to a two-year, $4.5 million contract, Brett Hull’s tenure with the Phoenix Coyotes would be almost nonexistent. The first year of his contract was wiped out when the 2004-’05 season was cancelled due a labor stoppage, and he only appeared in five games in 2005-’06 before retiring abruptly due to his poor performance.
Joe Namath, Los Angeles Rams
Bobby Brady’s best buddy Joe Namath is easily the greatest player in the history of the New York Jets, who he led to a Super Bowl victory in 1969 over the Baltimore Colts. But it would be with the Los Angeles Rams that Namath would close out his Hall of Fame career, struggling through an injury-laden 1977 season before retiring.
