Who is the greatest athlete of all time?

JefferyNotJefferies

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If we're going off of sheer physical talents, hard work, and mental capacities my list would be

1. Bo Jackson (Multi-sport athlete, never maximized his gifts but he certainly had an insane blend of power, speed, and hand-eye)

2. Herschel Walker (Competed in pro MMA at 50)

3. Michael Phelps (Obvious reasons. Swimming is a notoriously hard blend of strength and cardiovascular fitness)

4. Tiger Woods (flexibility and strength combo that golf had never seen. Huge gym rat and innovated golf fitness)

5. Dennis Rodman (6'6" and one of the best rebounders of all time. Constant Motor. Phil called him the greatest athlete he's ever coached)

6. Walter Payton (For obvious reasons. Power, speed, and could play every position)

7. Serena Williams (With the obvious physical disadvantages in terms of muscle mass and muscle fibers that come with being a woman, she has maximized her physical abilities and become one of the most dominant athletes to walk the planet)

8. Wilt (No questions here I hope)

9. Michael Jordan (None here too I hope)

10. LeBron (Blend of size, speed and skill that changed how we look at bigs in the NBA. Shawn Kemp with handles, I like to call him)
 

The Hawk

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If we're going off of sheer physical talents, hard work, and mental capacities my list would be

1. Bo Jackson (Multi-sport athlete, never maximized his gifts but he certainly had an insane blend of power, speed, and hand-eye)

2. Herschel Walker (Competed in pro MMA at 50)

3. Michael Phelps (Obvious reasons. Swimming is a notoriously hard blend of strength and cardiovascular fitness)

4. Tiger Woods (flexibility and strength combo that golf had never seen. Huge gym rat and innovated golf fitness)

5. Dennis Rodman (6'6" and one of the best rebounders of all time. Constant Motor. Phil called him the greatest athlete he's ever coached)

6. Walter Payton (For obvious reasons. Power, speed, and could play every position)

7. Serena Williams (With the obvious physical disadvantages in terms of muscle mass and muscle fibers that come with being a woman, she has maximized her physical abilities and become one of the most dominant athletes to walk the planet)

8. Wilt (No questions here I hope)

9. Michael Jordan (None here too I hope)

10. LeBron (Blend of size, speed and skill that changed how we look at bigs in the NBA. Shawn Kemp with handles, I like to call him)


Excellent List:)

A couple of others that I thought about:

Hakeem -- Was a first class soccer player before learning basketball. Tremendous feet and mobility

Bullet Bob Hayes -- Fastest man alive and football player

Neon Deon -- Two sport star, baseball and football

Babe Ruth -- We have images of the fat out of shape Bambino but he was also one of the best pitchers of his generation but became the best hitter of all time. When he came out he could run like a deer and was strong as an ox.

Babe Zaharias -- The benchmark of how to measure women athletes. The Babe could do anything a man could do and most things better than most.
 

SilenceS

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Excellent List:)

A couple of others that I thought about:

Hakeem -- Was a first class soccer player before learning basketball. Tremendous feet and mobility

Bullet Bob Hayes -- Fastest man alive and football player

Neon Deon -- Two sport star, baseball and football

Babe Ruth -- We have images of the fat out of shape Bambino but he was also one of the best pitchers of his generation but became the best hitter of all time. When he came out he could run like a deer and was strong as an ox.

Babe Zaharias -- The benchmark of how to measure women athletes. The Babe could do anything a man could do and most things better than most.

Mickey Mantle over Babe and Trout over both physically.
 

SilenceS

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Shaq. I don't know we will ever see a man all of 7 foot 2 and 350 pounds move like he did.
 

JimJohnson

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I would have to go with Jim Brown. Not only the greatest RB in NFL history but also largely recognized as the greatest Lacrosse player who ever lived.
 

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Babe Ruth -- We have images of the fat out of shape Bambino but he was also one of the best pitchers of his generation but became the best hitter of all time. When he came out he could run like a deer and was strong as an ox.
Ruth isn't considered the best hitter of all time. That distinction belongs to Ted Williams.
 

JimJohnson

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Ruth isn't considered the best hitter of all time. That distinction belongs to Ted Williams.

Agreed. He ended up with 521 home runs but 5 seasons he didn't even get to play because he was serving in the military. Add another 175 HR's based on an average of 35 per season. That gives him 696. He also hit .316 with 29 HR's in his final season before he retired. He was 42 years old at the time. That's fucking amazing.

Age 38: .345 and 24 HR
Age 39: .388 and 38 HR
Age 40: .328 and 26 HR
Age 41: .254 and 10 HR

He didn't have to retire. He probably could have played another 3-4 years and really padded his stats.
 

Parade_Rain

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Agreed. He ended up with 521 home runs but 5 seasons he didn't even get to play because he was serving in the military. Add another 175 HR's based on an average of 35 per season. That gives him 696. He also hit .316 with 29 HR's in his final season before he retired. He was 42 years old at the time. That's fucking amazing.

Age 38: .345 and 24 HR
Age 39: .388 and 38 HR
Age 40: .328 and 26 HR
Age 41: .254 and 10 HR

He didn't have to retire. He probably could have played another 3-4 years and really padded his stats.
#1 career all time OBP. OPS second only to Ruth.
 

vincentvega

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If we're going off of sheer physical talents, hard work, and mental capacities my list would be

1. Bo Jackson (Multi-sport athlete, never maximized his gifts but he certainly had an insane blend of power, speed, and hand-eye)

2. Herschel Walker (Competed in pro MMA at 50)

3. Michael Phelps (Obvious reasons. Swimming is a notoriously hard blend of strength and cardiovascular fitness)

4. Tiger Woods (flexibility and strength combo that golf had never seen. Huge gym rat and innovated golf fitness)

5. Dennis Rodman (6'6" and one of the best rebounders of all time. Constant Motor. Phil called him the greatest athlete he's ever coached)

6. Walter Payton (For obvious reasons. Power, speed, and could play every position)

7. Serena Williams (With the obvious physical disadvantages in terms of muscle mass and muscle fibers that come with being a woman, she has maximized her physical abilities and become one of the most dominant athletes to walk the planet)

8. Wilt (No questions here I hope)

9. Michael Jordan (None here too I hope)

10. LeBron (Blend of size, speed and skill that changed how we look at bigs in the NBA. Shawn Kemp with handles, I like to call him)

Great list! Appreciate the explanations as well.

What do you think about Mohammed Ali? And in all seriousness what about Bruce Jenner (mentioned above)

I also thought lance Armstrong was one of the greatest athletes of all time until the peds thing surfaced (although I am one of those who believes that the vast majority of professional athletes either takes currently or has taken some form of ped at some point in their life)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

The Hawk

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Ruth isn't considered the best hitter of all time. That distinction belongs to Ted Williams.

Nope. Ruth dominated a sport more than any other professional athlete ever did.
 

The Hawk

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Quote Originally Posted by JimJohnson View Post
Agreed. He ended up with 521 home runs but 5 seasons he didn't even get to play because he was serving in the military. Add another 175 HR's based on an average of 35 per season. That gives him 696. He also hit .316 with 29 HR's in his final season before he retired. He was 42 years old at the time. That's fucking amazing.

Age 38: .345 and 24 HR
Age 39: .388 and 38 HR
Age 40: .328 and 26 HR
Age 41: .254 and 10 HR


#1 career all time OBP. OPS second only to Ruth.

No doubt. His missing years hurt his baseball stats/ He also was a great WWII and Korean war pilot. Certainly the best hitter that I ever saw. I was at the game in Comiskey and in his last AB ever he hit a shot in the Right Field upper deck. But Williams had a peer group while Ruth dominated like no player has ever dominated and was a great pitcher also.
 

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Quote Originally Posted by JimJohnson View Post
Agreed. He ended up with 521 home runs but 5 seasons he didn't even get to play because he was serving in the military. Add another 175 HR's based on an average of 35 per season. That gives him 696. He also hit .316 with 29 HR's in his final season before he retired. He was 42 years old at the time. That's fucking amazing.

Age 38: .345 and 24 HR
Age 39: .388 and 38 HR
Age 40: .328 and 26 HR
Age 41: .254 and 10 HR




No doubt. His missing years hurt his baseball stats/ He also was a great WWII and Korean war pilot. Certainly the best hitter that I ever saw. I was at the game in Comiskey and in his last AB ever he hit a shot in the Right Field upper deck. But Williams had a peer group while Ruth dominated like no player has ever dominated and was a great pitcher also.
Babe Ruth stood out because he was one of the first players who figured out how to launch home runs. You obviously don't know shit about baseball, if you think Williams didn't stand out against his peers. He was the last player to hit over .400.
 

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No need to be rude man.
He doesn't want the Sox to sign Fowler and claims that Fowler isn't a CF. That's all you need to know.

And rude? One has to be oblivious to think that Williams didn't stick out like a sore thumb. Put it to you this way. DiMaggio had his 56 game streak the same year Williams hit .406. Oops.
 

ob1force

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I am going to throw in a candidate out of left field. How about BROCK LESNAR? Yes, I am being serious. The guy was a 2-time NCAA All-American in wrestling, runner-up his Jr. year, then NCAA Champion in his Sr. year. Not saying he would have medaled, but many believe he had potential to compete at World Championships/Olympics.

Then he went on to do his thing in the WWE. You can call it fake, not a sport, or whatever, but you cannot deny the athleticism it takes to do what WWE superstars do. It is definitely not as easy as it looks. Some of the things Brock Lesnar does in the ring is unparalleled to anyone the business as ever seen. Watch him do the Shooting Star Press on YouTube.

He tried out in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings after his first WWE run, and made the practice squad despite not playing a down of football since high school. I think if he really wanted to, he could have made the 53 man roster over time, but just didn't have the mentality to stick around. He had way more offers to play college football than wrestling but chose not to take them. IMO, if he pursued football from day 1, he would have been a starter in the NFL. The Vikings also made him go through NFL Combine tests. At 6'3 283 lbs, he ran 4.7 40 yard dash, repped 225 lbs 30 times, had a broad jump of 10 feet and a vertical of 35 inches.

Lastly, we probably all know what he did in the UFC. Became UFC Heavyweight champion despite battling diverticulitis, robbing him of what could have been. He still is the UFC's biggest draw to this day. I think Brock Lesnar is still the only person to be featured in a Madden NFL, WWE, and UFC video game in history. All in all, Brock Lesnar is a freaking beast and I think he deserves a little more recognition as greatest athlete.
 

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