[Solution] Just Another Sports Puzzle – 28 August 2023

Each of the clues describes a particular athlete. Finding the names of the players yield no useful extraction. Astute solvers will note that all of the included athletes participate in team sports. As such, they all wear uniforms with numbers on them. Most of them wore the same number for their entire career, but for those who did not, the relevant number is the one they wore for the majority of their career, as well as the time when they completed the feat described in the fact:

  • Michael Jordan (NBA) – 23
  • Alex Ovechkin (NHL) – 8
  • Albert Pujols (MLB) – 5
  • Moisés Alou (MLB) – 18 (Brothers Felipe, Matty, and Jesús are the best known, but Felipe’s son Moisés is the youngest MLB player to bear the name Alou.)
  • Donovan McNabb (NFL) – 5
  • Barry Bonds (MLB) – 25
  • Nikola Jokić (NBA) – 15
  • Deion Sanders (NFL & MLB) – 21
  • John Stockton (NBA) – 12
  • Tom Brady (NFL) – 12
  • Bill Russell (NBA) – 6
  • Lisa Leslie (WNBA) – 9
  • Pete Rose (MLB) – 14
  • Bret Favre (NFL) – 4
  • Barry Sanders (NFL) – 20
  • Lou Gehrig (MLB) – 4
  • Cristiano Ronaldo (UEFA) – 7
  • Tracy McGrady (NBA) – 1
  • Peyton Manning (NFL) – 18
  • Bobby Orr (NHL) – 4
  • Joe DiMaggio (MLB) – 5
  • Oscar Robertson (MBA) – 14

Converting the jersey numbers to letters, with A=1, B=2, etc., gives the clue phrase WHERE YOU’LL FIND TD GARDEN. TD Garden is the home of the NBA’s Boston Celtics and the NHL’s Boston Bruins. The answer is BOSTON.