50 greatest white athletes of all-time?

[Zakk Wyldcat]

John Belushi in the SNL doughnut Olympics
Jerry Seinfeld in 'The Race'
Elvis in 'Speedway'
Rocky Balboa
L.A. Lakers PF Irwin Fletcher

 

[JC for 3]

Mike Alstott

 

[Catzman]

How on earth is Bo Jackson only #25?
Lebron at #29
Bill Russell at #36

What is the criteria for this list?

Easy. Michael Jordan is the greatest human to ever live. Everyone after him is a hodge podge of suck.


Sarcasm aside, I know going into this list MJ was number 1 and that anyone before him was going to be mixed around with no rhyme or reason because regardless of criteria, they all lose to Air Jordan.

 

[morgousky]

Kentucky black vs. White team.

Can we do that?

Black team - coached by Leonard Hamilton

Wall
Delk
Mashburn
AD
Cousins

White team - coached by Joe B

Kevin Grevey
Ralph Beard
Cliff Hagan
Alex Groza
Dan Issel

I'm gonna say it ends in a tie. Straight down the middle. 64-64

 

[Zakk Wyldcat]

^Leonard would do well in regular season then collapse like a cheap suit in NCAA tourney.

 

[UKUGA]

Kentucky black vs. White team.

Can we do that?

Black team - coached by Leonard Hamilton

Wall
Delk
Mashburn
AD
Cousins

White team - coached by Joe B

Kevin Grevey
Ralph Beard
Cliff Hagan
Alex Groza
Dan Issel

I'm gonna say it ends in a tie. Straight down the middle. 64-64

Do we have enough Italians for Pitino and Calipari to each coach a team?

 

[bbn93]

I can grab rim on a good day. That at least puts me in the discussion doesn't it?

 

[Sawnee Cat]

Kentucky black vs. White team.

Can we do that?

Black team - coached by Leonard Hamilton

Wall
Delk
Mashburn
AD
Cousins

White team - coached by Joe B

Kevin Grevey
Ralph Beard
Cliff Hagan
Alex Groza
Dan Issel

I'm gonna say it ends in a tie. Straight down the middle. 64-64

The white team won more NCAA titles and had more All Americans. So I say 65-64 because Ralph Beard refused to lose.

 

[crestcat]

No but babe ruth didn't have the substance abuse issues and depression that Mick had. And imo Mick's generation is goat. And I don't believe that's nostalgia either, as I'm 31 and love 80's and 90's baseball. I think objectively those guys were just insane. Ruth played with great players al well, but it's a much bigger drop off than the 40's/60's guys. When Sandy Koufax isn't the best pitcher in that generation, damn.

Ruth had a great era and is a goat, I just think the Mick is the best natural baseball player of all time.

On white baseball players, I'd have to say my favorite is Ken Griffey Jr. I'm a Stl die hard but Ken is Ken to a 90's kid.

I was 9 Mantle's rookie season so I grew up with him as my favorite player but I just never argue players from different eras. I will throw out a couple of things though, Ruth didn't play night games for most of his career and they didn't have relief specialists, relievers were either kids or old hangers on.

 

[Whoppercat]

The guy hit .300 from both sides of the plate among other eye popping stats.

His career average was .298, but he hit .300 from both sides of the plate? That really IS eye popping.

 

[KYtotheCore]

Billy Hoyle > Larry Bird.

I can grab rim on a good day. That at least puts me in the discussion doesn't it?

 

[J_Dee]

Ruth was transcendent. When he first "set" the home run record, I believe it was somewhere under 200. He just kept going.

When Ruth retired in 1935, he had 336 more home runs than Lou Gehrig, who was second all-time in career home runs at the time. That's astounding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_progressive_career_home_runs_leaders

 

[Zakk Wyldcat]

Babe Ruth is the A number one all-time athletic sport participate in the history of American sports and it's not even close. He changed the paradigm of an entire sport and the way it was played which led to its eventual rise to the top of sports popularity. He was the absolute first of his kind in his sport, nobody came close to what he was beforehand. I strongly disagree with putting him second behind any baseball player or any other athlete from any other sport. His not being at the top of that ESPN Athletes of the 20th Century was absurd. All of this is IMO.

 

[morgousky]

His career average was .298, but he hit .300 from both sides of the plate? That really IS eye popping.

Close enough.

 

[morgousky]

Babe Ruth is the A number one all-time athletic sport participate in the history of American sports and it's not even close. He changed the paradigm of an entire sport and the way it was played which led to its eventual rise to the top of sports popularity. He was the absolute first of his kind in his sport, nobody came close to what he was beforehand. I strongly disagree with putting him second behind any baseball player or any other athlete from any other sport. His not being at the top of that ESPN Athletes of the 20th Century was absurd. All of this is IMO.

Eh, we'll disagree on this one. Ruth didn't have to hit against Gibson and Koufax.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Who can say they are in the top 50 in both M & F categories? Only one!!

I'd hit it.

 

[TopCatCal]

Can we do that?

http://theundefeated.com/features/50-greatest-black-athletes/?addata=espn:frontpage

Seriously, what would have happened if Bill Simmons and Grantland had run such a list?

You better be careful with this thread. Be prepared for some lib to accuse you of being a racist.... Imagine if someone (a sports writer) came up with a list of the 50 greatest white athletes of all-time, this of coarse would exclude blacks. All hell would break loose. The libs would already have the poor guy nailed to the cross.

 

[bookerfan66]

It's hard being a honky.Everyone is against me.

 

[kev69]

Mixed people's lives matter.

Lol.
Now that's funny.

 

[WCSPlayedWRInHS]

Larry Bird, Pistol Pete, Jerry West, Kyle Wiltjer, Derek Willis, Izack Humphries, Jared Polson, and the GOAT...Jon Hood.

pshh. Jon hood is no josh carrier. That guy never missed a single shot his entire career.

 

[FiveStarCat]

Similar, right?

Only, I think Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant would make the list of 50 greatest athletes.

Grant Hill honorable mention.

 

[morgousky]

Christians blow everyone away

Tom Brady
Joe Montanya
Reggie White
Albert Pujols
Basically 100% of every white player pre 1980 in all of sports.

99.7% percent of black players pre 1980 in all of sports. ( - Ali, -Jim Brown, - kareem)

Not a coincidence people.....

 

[gollumcat]

No but babe ruth didn't have the substance abuse issues and depression that Mick had. And imo Mick's generation is goat. And I don't believe that's nostalgia either, as I'm 31 and love 80's and 90's baseball. I think objectively those guys were just insane. Ruth played with great players al well, but it's a much bigger drop off than the 40's/60's guys. When Sandy Koufax isn't the best pitcher in that generation, damn.

Ruth had a great era and is a goat, I just think the Mick is the best natural baseball player of all time.

On white baseball players, I'd have to say my favorite is Ken Griffey Jr. I'm a Stl die hard but Ken is Ken to a 90's kid.

It's a shame Joe DiMaggio couldn't have called Mick off that ball sooner and allowed Mick to avoid wrecking his knee on that sprinkler head. As good as he was that was his rookie year and he was never the same.

 

[Gothic1960]

The white team won more NCAA titles and had more All Americans. So I say 65-64 because Ralph Beard refused to lose.

Plus Big Dan Issel woulda made the entire black team cry

 

[Dreklie]

w ... t ... f ... happened?

Sammy Sosa has to be up there.

 

[Great Grandson of All American]

Mickey Mantle was better than Ruth. Didn't read anything but the Mick is probably goat. The guy hit .300 from both sides of the plate among other eye popping stats. And he did this while getting 4 hours sleep a night, hungover, and drunk half/all of his career.

Ruth is a bit of myth because he was essentially the first in a time when popularity was rising. I'll take a sober Mick over any baseball player then or now.

Babe Ruth was a great pitcher too. Babe > Mantle.

 

[SuporChin]

Christians blow everyone away

Tom Brady
Joe Montanya
Reggie White
Albert Pujols
Basically 100% of every white player pre 1980 in all of sports.

99.7% percent of black players pre 1980 in all of sports. ( - Ali, -Jim Brown, - kareem)

Not a coincidence people.....

That data seems scientific enough to convince me.

 

[Hollcat]

Eh, we'll disagree on this one. Ruth didn't have to hit against Gibson and Koufax.

How many times did Mantle face Gibson or Koufax?

 

[GLR5555]

w ... t ... f ... happened?

Listening to too many Michael Jackson records.

 

[kentuckykowboy8]

Mantle only faced Koufax 7 times in his career (all in the 63 series). He went 1-7 with the one hit being a HR.

Here's an interesting article:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fenwaypark100.org/2014/05/21/when-the-greats-faced-the-greats/amp/