Best Athlete of all Time?

[R. Rich]

Those of you who didn't name Jim Thorpe in your lists need to pick up a book on the man.

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Shouldn't you explain what a book is? Tell 'em they can find out all about them on Google.

[Alaska Darin]

Yeah, you're both old.

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I ain't old - just informed.

 

Jim Thorpe

[gantrules]

I ain't old - just informed.

 

Jim Thorpe

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I'll add this to my "need to read" list. Working on "Three nights in August" by Buzz Bissinger right now. About Tony LaRussa and a three game set against the Cubs in 2003. Good, no great read. If you haven't checked it out, it's worth it!

[Alaska Darin]

I'll add this to my "need to read" list. Working on "Three nights in August" by Buzz Bissinger right now. About Tony LaRussa and a three game set against the Cubs in 2003. Good, no great read. If you haven't checked it out, it's worth it!

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Cool - I'll put it on my list.

[VABills]

Add "Money Ball". Pretty good read on how Oakland builds their team, drafts, signs players, etc... Seems from a business standpoint to work well for them. I could see where it could be used by other sports as well.

[boomerjamhead]

I think there is still some confusion in this debate as to whether it's about best players or biggest sports figures vs. who is really the best athlete.  And I think if any of us had had the pleasure of seeing Jim Thorpe with the kind of media exposure we have now there would probably be no contest -- he was the original model for the Bo Jackson type or the decathlete.

 

And I agree with the prior poster who mentioned the obvious bias towards American athletes here (which is natural, of course, given the forum).  What about some of these amazing marathon runners from Africa?  What would we think of their accomplishments if they were instead American?  Don't get me wrong, Tiger Woods is a great athlete and his golfing accomplishments will probably be unparalleled by the time he's done, but at the end of the day he still walks around a nicely landscaped lawn, hits balls and takes breaks.  That's nowhere near the same league as a marathoner, or an all-arounder like a decathlete.

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Bill Rogers should top that list of runners.

[bdelma]

ali, three years exiled and to come back.

[kgun]

Carl Lewis

[qrtrnose]

Alexander Karelin dominated the world of wrestling for over a decade without losing a single match until the sydney olypmics. 3 gold medals and 1 silver,13 national championships in the best wrestling nation of the world, 12 european championships, 12 world championships,forced wrestlers to forfeit their matches to him out of fear, including the most decorated wrestler in american history, was not beaten in 17 years of wrestling until sydney olympics 2000, when rulon gardner won because karelins hands couldnt fit around rulon's body.

[Reuben Gant]

Those of you who didn't name Jim Thorpe in your lists need to pick up a book on the man.

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Yep. Jim Thorpe. Olympic Career. Decathalete. Pro Baseball. Pro Football.

[Greybeard]

My best would have to include Jackie Robinson. I doubt any other player could have played as well as he did under the unbelievable presuure he faced 24/7. Just unbelievable.

 

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You are right about Jackie. He was a great athlete. Some where on the web it is mentioned he was considered the greatest athlete in the country before he decided to concentrate on baseball.

 

And while everyone remembers Babe for that unusual body he had at the end of his career, I doubt anyone dominated his sport like the Babe did. Only Wilt could come close.

[jester43]

Those of you who didn't name Jim Thorpe in your lists need to pick up a book on the man.

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i know a little about jim thorpe...he went to the old carlisle indian school, about one mile from where i am sitting right now ( cool huh?). he is sort of a local icon.

 

he belongs on the list for sure, but i can't give him the ultimate prize because the depth of competition in sports wasn't the same then.

 

on the other hand, it would be awfully hard to begrudge him the top spot because of the million-and-one sports he excelled at...

 

(hows that for some fence sittin'? )

[34-78-83]

I'd like to have seen what Gayle Sayers could have accomplished if his career (much like Bo Jackson) hadn't been cut short. On those old films he literally looks like a man running against a bunch of slouches in quicksand.

[SACTOBILLSFAN]

The greatest athlete in baseball was Ty Cobb, Ruth couldn't run like Cobb, where Cobb could run, hit for average and power when needed, throw, and catch that's one of the original five tool players right there. However, when it comes to major sports i think hockey players are probably the best athletes on earth. They have to have endurance like in basketball or soccer and they have to take a pounding like a football player (on a more regular basis however) and they have to have great hand/eye coordination. So my vote goes to Gretzky in this particular instance. But the hardest thing in sports has to be hitting a round ball that comes at 90 mph or dives and dips unexpectedly with a round bat...and hit it well.

[VABills]

The greatest athlete in baseball was Ty Cobb, Ruth couldn't run like Cobb, where Cobb could run, hit for average and power when needed, throw, and catch that's one of the original five tool players right there.  However, when it comes to major sports i think hockey players are probably the best athletes on earth.  They have to have endurance like in basketball or soccer and they have to take a pounding like a football player (on a more regular basis however) and they have to have great hand/eye coordination. So my vote goes to Gretzky in this particular instance. But the hardest thing in sports has to be hitting a round ball that comes at 90 mph or dives and dips unexpectedly with a round bat...and hit it well.

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Mays was a better player then either of those guys. Power, speed, defense, arm.

[SACTOBILLSFAN]

Mays was a better player then either of those guys.  Power, speed, defense, arm.

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I will admit that i overlooked mays but i would still make an argument for the Georgia Peach. And I would have said Bonds but it feels tainted with the steroid thing. If he is indeed not juiced up (highly unlikely in light of Conte's plea) then Bonds is by far the greatest athlete in baseball history.

[Kelly the Dog]

The greatest athlete in baseball was Ty Cobb, Ruth couldn't run like Cobb, where Cobb could run, hit for average and power when needed, throw, and catch that's one of the original five tool players right there.  However, when it comes to major sports i think hockey players are probably the best athletes on earth.  They have to have endurance like in basketball or soccer and they have to take a pounding like a football player (on a more regular basis however) and they have to have great hand/eye coordination. So my vote goes to Gretzky in this particular instance. But the hardest thing in sports has to be hitting a round ball that comes at 90 mph or dives and dips unexpectedly with a round bat...and hit it well.

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Who would you rather have on your team, Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb?

[Surfmeister]

Linda Lovelace ~ She changed life as we know it for the better.

[R. Rich]

The greatest athlete in baseball was Ty Cobb, Ruth couldn't run like Cobb, where Cobb could run, hit for average and power when needed, throw, and catch that's one of the original five tool players right there.  However, when it comes to major sports i think hockey players are probably the best athletes on earth.  They have to have endurance like in basketball or soccer and they have to take a pounding like a football player (on a more regular basis however) and they have to have great hand/eye coordination. So my vote goes to Gretzky in this particular instance. But the hardest thing in sports has to be hitting a round ball that comes at 90 mph or dives and dips unexpectedly with a round bat...and hit it well.

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Ty Cobb was great (as a player, certainly not as a human being), but Josh Gibson was just as great an athlete, and probably was better.

[qrtrnose]

Alexander Karelin dominated the world of wrestling for over a decade without losing a single match until the sydney olypmics. 3 gold medals and 1 silver,13 national championships in the best wrestling nation of the world, 12 european championships, 12 world championships,forced wrestlers to forfeit their matches to him out of fear, including the most decorated wrestler in american history, was not beaten in 17 years of wrestling until sydney olympics 2000, when rulon gardner won because  karelins hands couldnt fit around rulon's body.

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None of these other athletes accolades has come close thus far. Why are all the athletes mentiones american?