by Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page

We are counting from 99 to 0 to determine who’s the best Buffalo athlete to wear each number.  It’s Buffalo Sports By The Numbers here on Buffalo Sports Page.

We’ll have a new number and athlete every day this summer.  Each story also includes reaction from the Buffalo Sports Page staff, and a way to catch up on numbers you’ve missed.

After every 10 numbers, a Sylvester & Peck On Sports podcast will feature Budd Bailey and the guys reacting to the selections.  The latest edition, recapping 39-30, is available now.

#30

Ryan Miller, Sabres. He was the team’s No. 1 goalie for almost nine years, and he might have been the best in the world for part of that time. The trade of Miller broke some hearts, and the team has yet to recover from it. Others: Tom Barrasso, Sabres; Ray Hall, Canisius; Jeff Manto, Bisons.

Bob Gaughan’s Numerology:  I’d go with Sugar Ray Hall.  He was legend at McKinley High School that could have gone anywhere but decided to stay home and go to Canisius. Hall holds more records than anyone in the Canisius record book. He scored over 2,000 points before being drafted by the Utah Jazz in 1985.

Missed any of the previous numbers from 99 to 31?  Visit the Buffalo Sports By The Numbers section on the home page.

Budd Bailey

Budd Bailey has been involved in almost every aspect of the local sports scene for the last 40 years. He worked for WEBR Radio, the Buffalo Sabres' public relations department and The Buffalo News during that time. In that time he covered virtually every aspect of the area's sports world, from high schools to the Bills and Sabres and everything in between. Along the way, Budd served as a play-by-play announcer for the Bisons, an analyst for the Stallions, and a talk-show host. He won the National Lacrosse League's Tom Borrelli Award as the media personality of the year in 2011, and was a finalist for that same award in 2017. Budd's seventh and eighth books, one on the Transcontinental Railroad and the other about Ichiro Suzuki, are scheduled to be released in the fall.

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