I remember hating this list at the time ESPN came out with it for many reasons. One was that it seemed to make little sense on who they considered to be North American and who they considered not to be (Navratilova became an American citizen after the start of her career and won a lot of her titles before the change), another was that it has horses on the list. Lastly was that, at the time, I was angered by the fact that Wayne Gretzky was lower than he should have been, and that Babe Ruth should have been #1, being farther ahead of the 2nd best baseball player during his day than Jordan ever was ahead of the #2 basketball player. I just figured Jordan got it because he was alive and because his playing days had just ended, making the memory of him fresh. I DO consider Jordan the greatest NBA player ever, just that the distance between him and the #2 all-time b-ball player is, in my estimation, smaller than between Ruth and the #2 in baseball and Gretzky and #2 at hockey.
I think no players were more dominant in their sport in the 20th century than Nicklaus and Gretzky. Nobody came close to those two in that time frame. I don't think Ruth was that much better than Gehrig (consider his numbers if he hadn't gotten ALS), Williams (several years missed for the war), Mantle, Cy Young, Walter Johnson and Willie Mays. I'd put Jordan ahead of Ruth in terms of dominance also.
The fact that they included horses and only 6 hockey players total (no goalies and only one defenseman?) was ridiculous. Also, yeah, the statistical difference between Gretzky and everyone else in hockey history is unreal. ESPN has always given hockey short shrift.
I'd go Secretariat, Gretzky, Nicklaus, Brown and Jordan. Ali was a good boxer but mainly was known for fighting the draft and having a huge mouth. I'll give him credit for standing up for civil rights but the way he treated his opponents was shameful and if I did the same thing I'd be hounded off the face of the Earth. Calling Joe Frazier an Uncle Tom. Calling Foreman a gorilla. He took trash talking public and to an all time new low.
Secretariat won the Triple Crown and still holds the time records in all three races 45 years later. There has never been a horse that could have beaten him in those races. The fact that Sham so gallantly tried is a testament to him.
Nolan Ryan is the Joe Namath of baseball...big recognition but really not that good overall. Sure Ryan could strike out batters like no one else and he has all those no-hitters but he was never even the best pitcher on any team he played for. Mets--Seaver, Koosman, Gentry and McGraw were better. Angels--Tanana was better when they played together. Astros--maybe Ryan in 1981 but Niekro, Sutton, Ruhle and Scott overall performed better. Rangers--Brown and Guzman, even Witt sometimes. Ryan's an all time great but nowhere near the top ten in baseball.
38/100 - not bad for an Englishman who would walk past Wayne Gretzky and Joe Montana in the street and not recognise them. I did see Dr J in the street once though - shook his hand. Massive, massive hand that it was!
Opinions change with time, even once all the records from that era are set in stone. Still, I haven't seen anyone bring up specific rankings that would have changed based on this, so I'm not sure what their point is either.
Not really caring about sports I got 16 and am surprised it was better than almost 40% of people. I could've maybe gotten 10 more had I remembered everyone I know. Got at least 5 people by guessing common surnames :)
That seems very likely. On the other hand, I got Magic while I was guessing Jack Johnson (I saw an open spot for a boxer and had already guessed most of the other big names). I'd have gotten Magic eventually, but definitely not Rafer or Michael.
Surprised Joe Namath made the list. Somehow missing the cut: Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken Jr., Randy Johnson, Bob Feller, Mike Schmidt, Jim Courier, Al Unser and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Nile Kinnick has a stadium named after him, but he's not on the list. Ashe won 3 Grand Slams (which is 4 more than I ever would've won), but in the all-time category, that's not all that dominant. Ashe was great, and as a kid, I always rooted for him over obnoxious players like Connors and Nastase, but much of the recognition he got came for work he did after his playing days were over with is Foundation to battle AIDS. Tragically dying young doesn't raise someone's athletic prowess. (see Kinnick)
I grudgingly agree with you if they only used the playing stats. For me, other things can enter into whether or not a person should be considered great. Ashe broke the color barrier for tennis, just as Robinson did for baseball. It is believed he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion - so sad.
What a ridiculous claim. Baseball is more of a sport than half the sports on this list at least. If there's anything on this list that isn't a sport, it's auto racing.
As a non-American, I have not heard of most of these people, and a few more that I have heard of weren't on here, so it's perhaps not a very good list from an internationally famous perspective. I also can't believe that I didn't realise "Horse" meant an actual horse. I assumed it just meant equestrian as a sport because all the other clues are specific sports and types of sports.
Nice to see Jim Thorpe still rates high. In a national sportswriters poll in 1950, Thorpe was ranked as the #1 athlete in the first half of the 20th century.
Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and Peyton and Eli Manning all have most or all of their athletic accomplishments in the 21st century. Archie Manning, while apparently well respected, does not have the numbers to rate a place on this list. I don't know who James is.
Wow, could this list BE any more bereft of estrogen? Where are Mia Hamm, Flo-Jo, Mary Lou Retton, Wilma Rudolph, and Nancy Lopez – huh, ESPN? (I'm sure they're reading after Okoye called them out, just above.)
Not biased at all! It's not like cricket is the 2nd most popular sport on the planet but somehow has 0 athletes on here, Donald Bradman anyone? Statistically speaking one of the best athletes to ever play any sport.
With all due respect to the boxers on this list (great warriors each and all), it is ABSURD not to include Sugar Ray Robinson, the Middleweight Champion for whom the term "pound for pound" was coined.
Also, for those who have rightly observed that the term "North American" doesn't seem to include a large swath of North American athletes, I would also advocate for the inclusion of Roberto Duran, the great champ from Panama who was to the lightweight division what Ali was to the heavyweight division.
Very wishy-washy in terms of which controversial figures were included and which were excluded. I can only imagine Barry Bonds was left out due to the 'roids allegations and Mike Tyson because of his violent tendencies, but other people with high-level controversies like Pete Rose and O.J. Simpson (!!) were let in?
Where are Jim Ryun, Nolan Ryan, Paavo Nurmi, Emil Zatopek, Mike Tyson, Barry Bonds, Sugar Ray Robinson, Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers, Pele, Mia Hamm, and so many other extraordinary athletes. And why are some of the ones on here replacing them
My top 5 would look like this:
1.) Rut
1.) Ruth
2.) Gretzky
3.) Jordan
4.) Jim Brown
5.) Ali
Totally forgot, that Football is something you play with your hands in the US :)
Lesson learned. Read the description!!!
Marciano 49-0 = 51st
Also, for those who have rightly observed that the term "North American" doesn't seem to include a large swath of North American athletes, I would also advocate for the inclusion of Roberto Duran, the great champ from Panama who was to the lightweight division what Ali was to the heavyweight division.