'Greatest Ever' Collection - Help Please

hotmush

Hi everyone. I'm trying to put together a little mini set of those who are considered the 'greatest ever' in their respective sports. Just one really nice card for each person listed.
I've come up with a list that I'm fairy confident with but was wondering if anyone wanted to chime in.
I don't know football well, but the Internet consesus is that it's brown.
Also, I don't really want three race car drivers so can anyone suggest which of the three might be the greatest driver period?
Thanks

(also, trying not to include sentimental favorites like Earnhardt and Mantle... I'm trying to get those who simply transcend their sport. The guys whose names comes to mind first ... even to those who don't know sports very well.)

(EDITED)

Hockey: Wayne Gretzky
Basketball: Michael Jordan
Baseball: Babe Ruth
Football: Jim Brown
Golf: Tiger Woods
Boxing: Muhammad Ali
Soccer: Pele
Tennis: Pete Sampras
Cycling: Lance Armstrong
Racing: Michael Shumacher
Bowling: Dick Weber
Skateboarding: Tony Hawk
Horse: Secretariat
Jockey: Bill Shoemaker
Wrestling: Hulk Hogan
Olympian: Jesse Owens

mudflap02

I would say Schumacher, hands down.

ripkenintheminors

Hard to call Earnhardt a sentimental favorite. He and Richard Petty have to be at the top of the list over Jeff. I get what you're saying about people knowing the name of Jeff Gordon, but if you're going to go with Jeff Gordon I'm not sure how you can leave Jim Brown on the list.

Just my $.02

ROCKDJRW

How about Walter Ray?

hotmush

Suggests for someone other than Brown for football?
I know it's tough because Offense and Defense are two different games, but ... like, Joe Namath? Joe Montana? Dunno.
Thoughts?

bhl2359

Joe Namath? Not even close.

ROCKDJRW

I am biased but you can't go wrong with Payton!

hotmush

Walter Ray is a good choice, actually. But I'm wondering if Dick Weber might be better in terms of 'transcendence' considering he help found the PBA and has stuff named after him.

WinPitcher

Is Sampras the best Tennis player ever?

Steve

bhl2359

Payton Manning is good, but greatest ever?

bhl2359

For bowling, what about Earl Anthony or Mark Roth?

hotmush

Having done a little research, Sampras is a clear top choice.
But perhaps I'm wrong. I mean, when people think of tennis champs, don't the tend to think of John McEnroe or Jimmy Conners?

ROCKDJRW

Dick Weber is also a good choice but I stand by Walter Ray as being the best, If you go with Weber his Sportscaster card could usually be had for about $5.

mbothner

<< <i>Payton Manning is good, but greatest ever? >>



I think he meant Walter Payton, not Peyton Manning.

hotmush

Updated List:

Hockey: Wayne Gretzky
Basketball: Michael Jordan
Baseball: Babe Ruth
Football: Jim Brown (Walter Payton?)
Golf: Tiger Woods
Boxing: Muhammad Ali
Soccer: Pele
Tennis: Pete Sampras (John McEnroe, Jimmy Conners?)
Cycling: Lance Armstrong
Racing: Michael Shumacher
Bowling: Dick Weber (Walter Ray Williams Jr.?)

ROCKDJRW

<< <i>

<< <i>Payton Manning is good, but greatest ever? >>



I think he meant Walter Payton, not Peyton Manning. >>


Indeed

ripkenintheminors

For the record, I never said that Jim Brown is not the greatest ever. I simply meant that if you're going with Jeff Gordon because people unfamiliar with the sport know him, there's no way that you can justify Jim Brown.

Personally I'd go with Unitas, but that's just me.

WinPitcher

I was thinking Bill Tlden or Rod Laver. Don't get me Wrong Pete Sampras is right up there, I think those 3 guys are 1, 2 and 3.


Steve

ROCKDJRW

BTW Hotmush cool set idea! With all the sets out there you can always add to this set olympians, skateboarders, wrestlers Etc

hotmush

Yeah, actually, I think Tony Hawk should be added now.

mbothner

In any sport, who was better than Secretariat? He must have a card somewhere.

ROCKDJRW

Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan? More people know Hogan but Flair was a MUCH better wrestler!

mbothner

<< <i>Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan? >>



Andre the Giant could take them both at the same time.

ROCKDJRW

<< <i>In any sport, who was better than Secretariat? He must have a card somewhere. >>

hotmush

Great card!
I think I'm actually going to try to get cards of these folks 'winning' their respective sports.
So Ruth with his crown on (was it 62 Topps?)... Gretzky holding up the cup (91 OPC?). Hogan with his belt on (85 Topps), Woods with a green jacket, etc.
That way I can narrow it down.

mbothner

How about best Olympian? Jesse Owens Does he have a card?

JasP24

Jim Brown for football, hands down...

vintagetoppsguy

Redneck Horseshoes: Bubba & Clyde


Table Tennis: Forrest Gump

mbothner

For football everyone always thinks offense. What about someone on defense? LT?

mbothner

Best Steroid Enhanced Athlete

Brian48

I say Bobby Orr for Hockey over Gretzky. Even Gretzky said this. Orr changed the game.

FavreFan1971

Earl Anthony hands down for Bowling
Tennis, you may have to go with Martina Nirvratilova (no clue on how to spell it)
Racing you gotta go with Earnhart. He changed the sport, or you go with Petty.

bhl2359

<< <i>

<< <i>Payton Manning is good, but greatest ever? >>



I think he meant Walter Payton, not Peyton Manning. >>



I was making a joke. Thanks for your input.

julen23

MMA: Bas Rutten or Kazushi Sakuraba

j

perkdog

Tom Brady for football

royalbrett

Phil Taylor for darts

Darin

Richard Petty for certain in racing. He had 200 Nascar wins, and if memory serves Cale Yarbourogh is second with 83 wins. Seven time series champ, seven Daytona 500 wins. He dominated.

CDsNuts

If I understand this correctly, you basically would want the most popular answer if you serveyed 100 random Americans with a question (Family Feud style). So if you asked 100 random Americans "Name a football player", I would think the top answer would be Joe Montana, and Jim Brown wouldn't even be in the top 5.

In Tennis it would probably be McEnroe (although clearly not the best ever), Sampras or Agassi, but I would be inclined to go with Federer in anticipation of the mark he will leave in history as the most dominant Tennis player ever.

Jockey, I would say Shoemaker or Jerry Bailey. Shoemaker's probably more known.

Olympian would be tough because there are so many sports and so many famous Olympians. Jesse Owens is definitely up there, along with Spitz, Carl Lewis, Wilma Rudolph, Edwin Moses, and some others. I would probably go with Owens though.

AlanAllen

<< <i>Hi everyone. I'm trying to put together a little mini set of those who are considered the 'greatest ever' in their respective sports. Just one really nice card for each person listed.
I've come up with a list that I'm fairy confident with but was wondering if anyone wanted to chime in.
I don't know football well, but the Internet consesus is that it's brown.
Also, I don't really want three race car drivers so can anyone suggest which of the three might be the greatest driver period?
Thanks

(also, trying not to include sentimental favorites like Earnhardt and Mantle... I'm trying to get those who simply transcend their sport. The guys whose names comes to mind first ... even to those who don't know sports very well.)

(EDITED)

Hockey: Wayne Gretzky
Basketball: Michael Jordan
Baseball: Babe Ruth
Football: Jim Brown
Golf: Tiger Woods
Boxing: Muhammad Ali
Soccer: Pele
Tennis: Pete Sampras
Cycling: Lance Armstrong
Racing: Michael Shumacher
Bowling: Dick Weber
Skateboarding: Tony Hawk
Horse: Secretariat
Jockey: Bill Shoemaker
Wrestling: Hulk Hogan
Olympian: Jesse Owens >>



You might get some argument against Jim Brown, but he's a very good choice. He would be my choice.

You'll get some that will argue Nicklaus over Tiger. If Tiger retired today would he be the greatest ever?

Ali definitely transcended his sport, but many boxing fans will argue he's not the best boxer ever. Same with Tony Hawk.

Wrestling is not a sport

Olympian, I'd consider Jim Thorpe too.

Racing, you have to go Shumacher if you're considering worldwide. If you're primarily considering Americans, Petty.

Joe

MooseDog

I like your definition of "transcend the sport" rather than putting up big stats. Here are a few of my notes, for what it's worth. Your list is a little biased towards modern athletes I've included a couple of oldies in my notes below. These are athletes who both excelled and transcended to some degree. I've added a couple of pseudo-sports. There are some Olympic card sets issued both in the US and elsewhere, which should make for some interesting quests. Good luck and a great idea.

HORSE RACING
Secretariat is hands down your horse. And a big thumbs up on Shoe as your jockey.

That Sportscaster card of Secretariat would probably be considered his "rookie" even though it came out long after he retired. There is a card from a Kentucky Derby set put out by Horse Star Cards in 1990 of him as well. It is normal 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 size.

HOCKEY
As a child of the 1970s I have to say that Bobby Orr was the greatest hockey player I have ever seen, he literally changed the way the game was played. However he's a bit like Mantle in that had he been healthy, his career would have been even greater. So Gretzky would have to be the choice, especially since he was always and still is a great ambassador for the sport. Some might still say that GORDIE HOWE should be your choice here and I wouldn't disagree.

BOWLING
Personally I'd go with Earl Anthony. Yeah, he looked like a geek from the 1950s but the man was a strike machine. I've seen some bowling cards somewhere.

DIVING (since you asked)
Klaus Dibiasi won 3 golds and 1 silver in 10m (high dive) the four games from 1964-1976. No one comes close over that time period in one event. Greg Louganis swept both the 3m and 10m golds in 1984 and 1988 but remember the Eastern Bloc boycotted the 1984 games. On the women's side Fu Mingxia won 4 golds, two in the 10m in 1984 and 1988 then won the gold in the 3m in 1992 and 1996.

I don't know if you are going to break down the olympic sports but here are some more picks...

WEIGHT LIFTING
ABC's Wide World of Sports brought a lot of sports other than the "big four" we tend to follow in the US. Weight lifting was very popular and the Russian giant
Vasiliy Alekseyev would certainly be my pick here.

SWIMMING
While there are faster and more decorated swimmers, I think MARK SPITZ fits the definition of transcending the sport. No one has won 7 gold medals at any Olympics.

"REAL" WRESTLING
Alexander Karelin went undefeated in international competition from 1988-2000 including three Olympic gold medals and a silver when he was defeated by American Rulon Gardner in the 2000 Games, when Gardner refused to engage and managed to stall out the match after gaining a point. A very interesting man who has a PhD and is active in Russian politics.

TRACK
While there are lots of ways to measure track and field feats, I think that EDWIN MOSES stands out. Not only did he win 122 consecutive races (107 consecutive finals) 400m hurdle races from 1977-1987(!) he was instrumental in instituting drug testing into the sport, and remains an important contributing member of the sport. Clearly his streak will never be broken and stands as possibly the greatest winning streak in any sport.

OTHERS
Bobby Fischer is considered the greatest chess player ever. I think he as a Sportscaster card.

Sonja Henie won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships in ladies figure skating, then went on to become a big movie star. And while I personally don't consider ice dancing a sport, the performance of Torvill and Dean in the final program at the 1984 Olympics certainly defined trancendence.

Takeru Kobayashi (Nathans hot dog eating champ until last year) has certainly put competitive eating "on the map".

hotmush

All great points. Thanks very much!
I like the idea of Bobby Fisher in that set.

tedh111

In surfing, kelly Slater is by far the greatest competitive surfer ever. He has a few cards in some random sets..

mbothner

Hot Dog Eating - Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi?

Chestnut won the last Championship but Kobayashi changed the sport.

MooseDog

<< <i>Hot Dog Eating - Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi? >>



It remains to be seen if Joey's a "one-hit wonder"

Kobayashi set the standard.

MooseDog

<< <i>In surfing, kelly Slater is by far the greatest competitive surfer ever. He has a few cards in some random sets.. >>



But who's heard of him?...on the other hand, Duke Kanahamoku might be a better choice for this purpose. I know he's in an Olympic set, and might also be in some cool tea/tobacco/food issue from UK.

mbothner

<< <i>I like the idea of Bobby Fisher in that set. >>



Big Blue over Bobby Fisher

stown

If you're looking for someone who transcended the sport, then it could be Joe Namath.

Had the underdog Jets not beaten the overwhelming favorite Colts, while networks were negotiating for TV rights, who knows what would have happened.

I'm sure the NFL would have evenutally evolved into what it is today but back then, it was a huge boost for the NFL.

Salinas

this is a tough won, depending on who altered the sport or who is the best ever or who is the most well known.

My thoughts:

Bowling: earl anthony, then dick weber, then walter ray williams
Olympian: Al Oerter, then Carl Lewis (both won gold in 4 consecutive Olympic Games, but Oerter set the record each time he won)
Surfing: Duke Kahanamoku without a doubt

F1ferrari

I've got to agree with most all the selections on your list, especially Michael Schumacher for racing. I'm a huge Richard Petty fan, but Schumacher set the bar so high in F1 that I doubt many of his records will every be topped. Petty's 200 wins are incredible, but many were at a time when Petty Enterprises was years ahead of the rest of the field, and against much weaker opponents. Schumacher's marks were set when at times throughout his career (1991-1994 with Benetton, 1996 and a few odd seasons with Ferrari) where his team's car was clearly not the best on the track, but by sheer will, he put the car ahead of where it should have been on the track.

tunahead08

As big of a Lance Armstrong fan as I am, Eddie Merckx was probably a better cyclist.

Not sure there is a card of him though

VitoCo1972

<< <i>Having done a little research, Sampras is a clear top choice.
But perhaps I'm wrong. I mean, when people think of tennis champs, don't the tend to think of John McEnroe or Jimmy Conners? >>



Honestly, I know he has the most majors, but Sampras can't be the best ever. Rod Laver or Roy Emerson have to be considered the top 2 ever. They both won all 4 slams (Sampras never won the French) and both were pros who couldn't play in many of the Slams during the non-Open era.