I was recently blogging around and I came across some cyclist's list of the 25 greatest athletes of all time. In fact I think it was my son that sent me a link to this guys site...somebody that Zack finds interesting, I read a few things that seemed clever and amusing but then I happened upon his list of 25 in his archives. Apparently it was in response to something ESPN did in 2006 or so.
Anyway...his list just really blew me away and started me to thinking. I really expected to find Wilt Chamberlain in the top five but couldn't find his name at all. Ditto with Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Maurice Richard, Cy Young, Secretariat, or Eddy Merckx. Which were just a few I thought of right off the top of my head.
Now I know he listed his criteria for determining his 25 and really I'm not trying to give him a hard time here....I'm just a bit perplexed and like I said........it got me thinking.
Given the time to do a proper job.......who would you choose? And why?
My list starts with Wilt.....and so I shall begin this....a work in progress....with the Big Dipper.
In no particular order......
Wilt Chamberlain - The most dominate basketball player of all time. The Babe Ruth of Basketball. A man who was bigger than life in many ways. He excelled in Track and Field, Volleyball and most any sport or activity that he participated in. Even Bowling were he has been credited with recording a perfect 300 game on several occasions.
Babe Ruth - Do I really need to put anything here? All George Herman Ruth did was usher in the modern baseball era....first as a pitcher that still holds World Series records and of course as the greatest Home Run hitter of all time..That's right...It isn't Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron or Mark McGwire...it's Ruth. Can you imagine what he would have done if he took care of himself?
Pud Galvin - The first major league pitcher to win 300+ games. This 5'8" dynamo started 689 games in a 15 year major league career and completed an astonishing 646 of them. He even had back to back seasons of 46 wins. Did I mention that he pitched 6003 innings in his career? Yep that's right an average of 400 innings a season!
Richard Petty - 200 NASCAR Wins. Some might say that these drivers aren't athletes...that's as wrong as it could be....hey..these things aren't going to turn left by themselves. And yes..it's much more work than steering your mini van around the Wal-Mart parking lot. You truly have no idea.
Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias - Voted Woman athlete of the year 6 times....Babe won three metals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, 17 consecutive golf tournaments (and 82 lifetime) and started out her career as an all-American Basketball player. Legend has it that she also excelled at swimming, billiards and archery as well. She was born in Port Arthur Texas...later on the birth place of Janis Joplin as well. What does that have to do with it? I dunno....just a fun fact.
Reinhold Messner - The first man to climb all 14 of the worlds 8000+ meter peaks, and without supplemental oxygen....which was considered insane at the time. He has also climbed all the seven continents highest mountains. This Tyrolean is a major huge stud that in many ways puts all these stick and ball wanna-be's to major shame. And yes....mountaineers and rock climbers belong on this list...although I could see where some might want them left off...their feats are sometimes beyond impressive.
Edwin Moses - Won 122 consecutive 400m hurdles races including a total domination of the 1976 1984 Olympics. In 1988 he won the Bronze. During that time he set the world record 4 times. In 1983 and 1987 he won gold at the World Championships. I even seen the dude run in person once in 1984 in the LA coliseum. He torched the field handily.
Pele - I know, I know...It's soccer, but hey this Brazilian dude ruled his time, is internationally know (you heard of him right?) and he scored over 1000 goals in his long career. He's also the only person to own 3 World Cup Metals.
Goran Kropp - In 1995 all this guy did was cycle his bike from Sweden to Katmandu and then go and climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. He stopped 300m short in his first solo attempt but tried again 3 weeks later and summited. In 1997 he returned with his girlfriend to do some mountain clean-up (they removed 25 empty oxygen canister's) and then they summitted together.
Eddy Merckx - Do I ever spell that right? The Cannibal is a no brainer for this list. Any cycling fan can name off any number of Eddy's impressive achievements including 5 Giro AND 5 Tour de France Wins, the hour record in 1972, the 3 World Championships or 525 career wins. He also sports a dizzying array of Classics Victories. But possibly the most telling tale of his career came in 1973 when the Tour de France organizers reportedly asked him not to compete for fear the fans were losing interest in the race as he had won 4 in a row. He apparently agreed, won the Giro again and then came back to win the TdF in 1974. So no...Lance isn't the greatest cyclist of all time...in fact it isn't really close.
Maurice Richard - "The Rocket" was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games. He was also the first man to score 500 lifetime goals. He played for the Montreal Canadians who won 8 Stanley Cups during his 18 year career. His record of 6 overtime playoff goals still stands. He led the league in goals five times. There was a riot in Montreal in 1955 when he was suspended for the rest of the season for knocking out an official, his second such infraction that season. Damage around that neighborhood was estimated at half a million dollars. In the regular seasons final game a teammate scored a point that put him one point ahead of Richard for the season......The fans booed him.
Red Rock - The Tiger striped Brahma-Hereford mix bull from Sisters Oregon finished his pro-Rodeo career unridden in 309 tries. The 1987 PRCA World Champion was inducted in the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1990. Red Rock was finally ridden by Lane Frost in the 1988 Challenge of the Champions after his pro career had ended the year prior. Red Rock had previously prevented Frost from winning the 1986 by bucking him off in the finals. Red Rock was unusual in that he seemed to do a 'victory lap' after every win and rarely if ever went after the rider that he had just beaten.
Jim Thorpe - Another individual that simply cannot be left off the list...1912 Olympic Decathlon and Pentathlon gold medalist. Same year he led the Carlisle Indian School to the College Football Championship. He also won three Pro football titles with the Canton Bulldogs between 1916-1919. After which he played 6 seasons of Major League baseball with Giants, Reds and Braves.
Scott Parker - "Scotty's" 94 career US National Class C Flat Track wins are more than double the total of runner-up Jay Springsteen who has 41. His 9 US National Championships, including five in a row from 1994 to 1998 and four in a row from 1988 to 1991 are the most ever. Parker, who won the rookie of the year honors in 1979 won nearly 25% of the races he finished in his career. In the 1989 and 1995 racing seasons he won an amazing 10 races. From 1985 to 1998 he never finished worse than 3rd place in the Championship points.
Jim Brown - Perhaps the greatest running back the NFL has ever seen. He won the rushing title all but one season in his 9 year career. His 5.2 rushing average is still the best ever. He is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame AND the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As a High School basketball forward he averaged 38 points a game. He played in 118 NFL games, never missing one and rushed for over 100 yards in 58 of them. He also kicked his teams extra points in College Football at Syracuse. As a senior he was an All American in Football and Lacrosse, where he won the national scoring title by scoring 43 goals in 10 games. And on and on and on.
Anyway...his list just really blew me away and started me to thinking. I really expected to find Wilt Chamberlain in the top five but couldn't find his name at all. Ditto with Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Maurice Richard, Cy Young, Secretariat, or Eddy Merckx. Which were just a few I thought of right off the top of my head.
Now I know he listed his criteria for determining his 25 and really I'm not trying to give him a hard time here....I'm just a bit perplexed and like I said........it got me thinking.
Given the time to do a proper job.......who would you choose? And why?
My list starts with Wilt.....and so I shall begin this....a work in progress....with the Big Dipper.
In no particular order......
Wilt Chamberlain - The most dominate basketball player of all time. The Babe Ruth of Basketball. A man who was bigger than life in many ways. He excelled in Track and Field, Volleyball and most any sport or activity that he participated in. Even Bowling were he has been credited with recording a perfect 300 game on several occasions.
Babe Ruth - Do I really need to put anything here? All George Herman Ruth did was usher in the modern baseball era....first as a pitcher that still holds World Series records and of course as the greatest Home Run hitter of all time..That's right...It isn't Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron or Mark McGwire...it's Ruth. Can you imagine what he would have done if he took care of himself?
Pud Galvin - The first major league pitcher to win 300+ games. This 5'8" dynamo started 689 games in a 15 year major league career and completed an astonishing 646 of them. He even had back to back seasons of 46 wins. Did I mention that he pitched 6003 innings in his career? Yep that's right an average of 400 innings a season!
Richard Petty - 200 NASCAR Wins. Some might say that these drivers aren't athletes...that's as wrong as it could be....hey..these things aren't going to turn left by themselves. And yes..it's much more work than steering your mini van around the Wal-Mart parking lot. You truly have no idea.
Mildred 'Babe' Didrikson Zaharias - Voted Woman athlete of the year 6 times....Babe won three metals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, 17 consecutive golf tournaments (and 82 lifetime) and started out her career as an all-American Basketball player. Legend has it that she also excelled at swimming, billiards and archery as well. She was born in Port Arthur Texas...later on the birth place of Janis Joplin as well. What does that have to do with it? I dunno....just a fun fact.
Reinhold Messner - The first man to climb all 14 of the worlds 8000+ meter peaks, and without supplemental oxygen....which was considered insane at the time. He has also climbed all the seven continents highest mountains. This Tyrolean is a major huge stud that in many ways puts all these stick and ball wanna-be's to major shame. And yes....mountaineers and rock climbers belong on this list...although I could see where some might want them left off...their feats are sometimes beyond impressive.
Edwin Moses - Won 122 consecutive 400m hurdles races including a total domination of the 1976 1984 Olympics. In 1988 he won the Bronze. During that time he set the world record 4 times. In 1983 and 1987 he won gold at the World Championships. I even seen the dude run in person once in 1984 in the LA coliseum. He torched the field handily.
Pele - I know, I know...It's soccer, but hey this Brazilian dude ruled his time, is internationally know (you heard of him right?) and he scored over 1000 goals in his long career. He's also the only person to own 3 World Cup Metals.
Goran Kropp - In 1995 all this guy did was cycle his bike from Sweden to Katmandu and then go and climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. He stopped 300m short in his first solo attempt but tried again 3 weeks later and summited. In 1997 he returned with his girlfriend to do some mountain clean-up (they removed 25 empty oxygen canister's) and then they summitted together.
Eddy Merckx - Do I ever spell that right? The Cannibal is a no brainer for this list. Any cycling fan can name off any number of Eddy's impressive achievements including 5 Giro AND 5 Tour de France Wins, the hour record in 1972, the 3 World Championships or 525 career wins. He also sports a dizzying array of Classics Victories. But possibly the most telling tale of his career came in 1973 when the Tour de France organizers reportedly asked him not to compete for fear the fans were losing interest in the race as he had won 4 in a row. He apparently agreed, won the Giro again and then came back to win the TdF in 1974. So no...Lance isn't the greatest cyclist of all time...in fact it isn't really close.
Maurice Richard - "The Rocket" was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games. He was also the first man to score 500 lifetime goals. He played for the Montreal Canadians who won 8 Stanley Cups during his 18 year career. His record of 6 overtime playoff goals still stands. He led the league in goals five times. There was a riot in Montreal in 1955 when he was suspended for the rest of the season for knocking out an official, his second such infraction that season. Damage around that neighborhood was estimated at half a million dollars. In the regular seasons final game a teammate scored a point that put him one point ahead of Richard for the season......The fans booed him.
Red Rock - The Tiger striped Brahma-Hereford mix bull from Sisters Oregon finished his pro-Rodeo career unridden in 309 tries. The 1987 PRCA World Champion was inducted in the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1990. Red Rock was finally ridden by Lane Frost in the 1988 Challenge of the Champions after his pro career had ended the year prior. Red Rock had previously prevented Frost from winning the 1986 by bucking him off in the finals. Red Rock was unusual in that he seemed to do a 'victory lap' after every win and rarely if ever went after the rider that he had just beaten.
Jim Thorpe - Another individual that simply cannot be left off the list...1912 Olympic Decathlon and Pentathlon gold medalist. Same year he led the Carlisle Indian School to the College Football Championship. He also won three Pro football titles with the Canton Bulldogs between 1916-1919. After which he played 6 seasons of Major League baseball with Giants, Reds and Braves.
Scott Parker - "Scotty's" 94 career US National Class C Flat Track wins are more than double the total of runner-up Jay Springsteen who has 41. His 9 US National Championships, including five in a row from 1994 to 1998 and four in a row from 1988 to 1991 are the most ever. Parker, who won the rookie of the year honors in 1979 won nearly 25% of the races he finished in his career. In the 1989 and 1995 racing seasons he won an amazing 10 races. From 1985 to 1998 he never finished worse than 3rd place in the Championship points.
Jim Brown - Perhaps the greatest running back the NFL has ever seen. He won the rushing title all but one season in his 9 year career. His 5.2 rushing average is still the best ever. He is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame AND the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As a High School basketball forward he averaged 38 points a game. He played in 118 NFL games, never missing one and rushed for over 100 yards in 58 of them. He also kicked his teams extra points in College Football at Syracuse. As a senior he was an All American in Football and Lacrosse, where he won the national scoring title by scoring 43 goals in 10 games. And on and on and on.
Wayne Gretzky - Aptly named "The Great One" Gretzky held 61 NHL records the day he retired after the 1998-1999 season. His career total of 1963 assists is more than the TOTAL career points of the next highest scorers, Gordie Howe and Mark Messier. Gretzky is the only player to ever reach 200 points in a season and he did it four times. Gordie Howe set the original career scoring record of 1850 points in 26 seasons....Wayne broke it in his 10th season. If you didn't count Gretzky's goals at all he would have still won the scoring title 4 times. The 100 assist barrier has only been passed 13 times in NFL history.....Gretzky did it 11 times.
Secretariat - Won the triple Crown in 1973. Set track records in two of the three events. This horse won 16 of it's 21 career races and finished in the money in 20 of them. In the Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the triple crown, the sucker won by 31 lengths and set a track record that still stands. Secretariat also set the track record in the Kentucky derby, which also still stands. In fact, in the Derby run every successive 1/4 mile interval was faster than the previous one and the finishing time of under 2 minutes was not equaled again for 18 years. Secretariat is the only horse to be named Horse of the Year as both a two year old and a three year old.
Kelly Stater - Although perhaps a bit overshadowed by the legendery feats of the big wave surfers like Greg Noll, Mark Foo and Laird Hamilton, Slater has none the less nearly completed a pro surfing career second to none. His 36 WCT victories are the most ever, as is his 8 World Surfing Titles. Slater was also the youngest to win the crown, taking the 1992 top spot at age 20.
Michael Jordan - Well....I guess I gotta put this brutish and over-rated sports icon on the list to be fair. Of course he was a great basket baller...one of the greats who's will to win was the stuff of legends. Everyone knows all about the Bulls Championships, the scoring titles, MVP awards and the slam dunk contests....but what I can't get out of my head is the absurd and criminal Jordan rules...and of course the offensive foul push off on Bryon Russell before the game winning shot in the 1998 playoffs against Utah. I loath that so called highlight replay.
Martina Navritlova - Tennis great Billy Jean King once said of Martina..."She is the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player that ever lived". She won 18 majors in her career, 31 doubles and 10 mixed doubles titles. She still holds the record for consecutive match wins with 74 and total wins with 167. She also has the career record in doubles with 177. During one stretch she reached 11 straight Grand Slam finals.
7 comments:
You've been reading the CaliRado guy's site. I like the way he writes and he has some interesting views.
I also see that you found a way to fit Pud Galvin on your list. Nice
Is Ivan DeJesus gonna make it?
I obviously had no idea how good your list was going to be and now I look like a jackass.
Great list, I had no idea.
Also, "This Tyrolean is a major huge stud" love that! Hilarious.
Lance...the greatest cyclist? Not a chance. Eddy would have ate him.
Dude, you're such a freaking blowhard! I don't recall seeing these guys with their own shoe commercials, so you must be wrong. :D
Actually, I didn't realize you were expanding this list, you're putting a lot of effort into this. Your breadth of knowledge is certainly impressive - I don't know jack about sports history.
Hey Rick, its your job to know what type of beer each of these athletes like. And which one had the most astute palette...
yes, you spelled merckx right. my favorite cannibal detail is the fact that he set the hour record and two other records (5k and 10k, i believe) in the same ride! that's like a runner setting records in the 400 meters, 1600 meters and 10,000 meters in one go!
also, i think that caliradocyclist's list was for the last 25 years only, which explains the gaps you noticed.
I am kind of conflicted.
On one hand, I am happy that the list I originally wrote in 2004 is still causing people to get annoyed and question my intelligence. I always love that.
On the other hand, I am saddened that my extensive clarification of not only the timeframe for the list but also the judging criteria by which it was based were disregarded. With that said…I am exceedingly confident that I took the “time to do a proper job” on this highly qualified list and am still quite willing and able to defend these choices 4 year later.
But since it’s Good Friday and you did say that I wrote some things that “seemed CLEAVER and amusing” I won’t get too worked up about it. It’s rare that I am called “cleaver” so that has to be worth something.
By the way, I wrote another post about Eddy Merckx a while back that illustrates a fairly thorough understanding of his accomplishments. All of which took place too long ago for him to qualify for the list. The piece is called “This Just In: Eddy Merckx Was Good” for reference.
But seriously…farm animals and car drivers? Really? OK.
Thanks for reading though.
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