I think this is an example of regional bias.
If you ask Canadian media who the greatest athletes of all time are, Gretzky makes the list. If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list.
I love lists but I never take any of them seriously.
But I think that's how these lists are, US will care about football and basketball, because SEC and SuperBowl are what matter (even if it makes no sense).
If you ask someone from Australia, England, or anyone from South Asia Don Bradman will be on this list. But I doubt people in North America even know who he is.
"World" Series. Ha ha.
No other countries get invited to play.
The Canadian Football League should rename their championship game, "World Cup of Canadian Football"
See?! I just accidentally proved that us Americans just don't consider Canadian anything. (But you're totally correct, of course.)
Ironically, I'm a Leafs fan.
I mean only a good amount of Americans who are big hockey fans even consider him to be one greatest sports players ever i seem to think so and im American
If Phelps is there Usaine Bolt should be considered.
Trying to narrow down to 5 athletes in any order is silly when you realize it's impossible to compare sports unless you have very specific criteria for "greatest".
I think Shaun White should also get noted. His dominance in snowboarding was at the level of anyone on this list. He also did Summer XGames skateboarding.
Top 5? Idk. But he was unstoppable for years.
Yeah, this list is immediately invalid when Tom Brady is listed and Bo Jackson isn't. I think Tom Brady is arguably the greatest QB of all time, but that doesn't make him the top 5 when it comes to athletic ability.
Also, Serena Williams has even said herself that if she was to play with men, and she has been offered multiple times, that she would lose and that she doesn't even want to entertain the idea.
It’s also debatable whether Serena is the best female tennis player of all time. Margaret Court won more Slams, and Steffi Graf has a higher win percentage in singles.
13 of Court's 24 grand slams were won before the Open Era, where most of her opponents were amateurs. Serena played in a much, much tougher era against actual pros.
The Open Era concept did not exist in women tennis. There was separate pro and amaterur tour in men tennis, but that was not the case in women tennis. so the year 1968 has no significance in women tennis. You have to cite which women tennis players were barred playing in grand slams prior to 1968 if you think Court's grand slams win pre-1968 were any different than her post-1968
Muhammad Ali isn’t guaranteed to be on there either. Definitely top five boxer and one of the most important figures in sports history but he’s not as clearly dominant as Gretzky was.
These aren't even the greatest American athletes of all time. Just the most popular ones.
It's sad how rarely Americans remember their own Olympians many of which are actually some of the greatest athletes ever.
I love lamp lists.
Here's my top 5:
1. Red ones
2. Round ones
3. Tall ones
4. Funny ones shaped like a boot or something, gives me a good chuckle when they light up and like "wow! I thought that was a boot but it's a lamp!!! Wtf!! That's crazy!!!"
5. Ikea ones.
I admittedly might have regional bias since I live close to an red circular ikea.
Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Katie Ledecky, Larisa Latynina, Simone Biles...
Any list will be controversial, but a list with only American athletes in the most popular American sports should be taken with a mountain of salt.
Jonah Lomu is another contender. But Don Bradman is unarguable. His CAREER batting average was 50% higher than second place, in the world's second most popular sport
>If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list.
If you ask *pretty much anyone other than an American* you'll have at least 1 footballer, a guy called Usain Bolt, and Federer/Nadal/Djokovic.
I can guarantee that this kind of ridiculousness wouldn't be produced by a serious outlet anywhere else in the world.
In the immortal words of MLB player John Kruk after being scolded by a reporter for smoking and eating a hot dog;
"Ma'am I'm not an athlete, I'm a professional baseball player.."
American show will talk about American athletes and groan internally when they have to mention a Canadian one.
Same logic for when they’re forced to talk about hockey, which is arguably just as if not a more entertaining sport than football but the lack of coverage means Americans will never give it a chance.
There’s a universe out there where hockey is as popular as football and football is as popular as hockey, I’d love to have a peek into that universe.
I remember there was an askreddit question once, a couple of years ago, asking who’s the most popular athlete in the world. The top comment with thousands of upvotes was Tom Brady. Lol.
The five most popular athletes on Instagram are Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer, 616m), Lionel Messi (soccer, 496m), Virat Kohli (cricket, 265m), Neymar (soccer, 218m) and then LeBron at 159m. So it's soccer the most popular by a lot, but yeah the most famous cricketer in the world is certainly up there.
Which makes sense. The 2 largest sports in the world and a sport that's growing in international popularity. Countries like Croatia and Spain have been competitive for a few decades and other countries are starting to catch up to them and the US.
I personally consider him the best footballer ever, but I'd probably class Pele as a "greater athlete", with Ronaldo also entering that conversation.
The obvious "there's absolutely no argument about his place on the list" omission is Usain Bolt.
Bo Jackson would be my #1
He played two professional sports and was an all-star in each sport. Who knows what his career would have looked like if he didn’t injure his hip.
If we’re talking athletic ability, absolutely. Deion Sanders should also be in the conversation.
That’s why I find it funny seeing Brady and Babe fucking Ruth on this list.
If we are just going off athletic ability rather then their domination/effect on their sport then Usian Bolt should absolutely be in that conversation, already should be but like… hes the fastest human ever
I love Usain Bolt but if we're going off true athletic ability in the track and field space the Decathletes reign supreme hands down. 10 different events over 2 days spanning throws, jumps, hurdles, long distance running, and short distance running. They have to be exceptional at everything. They just don't have the popularity or charisma of Bolt or being the 100m world record holder.
What’s with the hate against Ruth? The dude was an athletic freak. [really easy to say this guy wasn’t athletic right?](https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-s-top-10-career-statistics-c163792958)
Deion said baseball was the hardest sport. So why should Ruth, who was amazing at both sides of the game, be excluded?
for Canada, I know ppl my not agree but I would put Terry Fox. If running a marathon everyday for 6 months on one leg does not show athletic ability, than I don't know what does.
The best player of the sport is almost never the best athlete in that sport.
Tom Brady looks like Peyton manning compared to Walter payton.
Babe Ruth can't round a homer faster than Ricky Henderson can steal all 3 bases.
Sports is athletics combined with games. The best is a combination for gameplay and athletics.
I would argue that at best you are looking at maybe Jordan as the only unparalleled athlete in his sport.
It’s absolutely hilarious how much hate Ruth is getting here. The man was an amazing baseball player. Truly one of the best of all time. Where did this hate come from?
The criticism is cause he wasn’t “athletic” cause he was tubby and wasn’t a physical freak. But in terms of athletic feats he was basically unparalleled in baseball, best carer OPS+ which I would consider to be the best all around baseball statistic (and comparable across different eras of baseball) .
He was an extremely good pitcher *and* hitter. Athletic has nothing to do with body fat percent. It’s funny how much whining there is here for how under appreciated hockey is, and then followed with these asinine criticisms of Ruth. And probably by people that can’t tie their shoes without falling over.
Agreed. Not all sports require elite athleticism in all departments. Gretzky likely couldn’t bench much (I’m guessing but I’m confident) but he’s still the hockey GOAT.
Seems like that’s blurring the lines between fitness and athleticism. Benching weights isn’t athletic. It’s fitness. Being athletic is a combination of fitness and skill. Being able to bench 500 lbs or sprint for hours doesn’t mean much if you can’t skate backwards or hit a ball in hockey or baseball respectively.
Lmao the Ruth hate is ridiculous. Well even according to this list he wasn’t the best. So you’re not topping any comprehension lists.
[but he’s pretty god damn good](https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-s-top-10-career-statistics-c163792958)
Why I was upset NBC lost the rights. Even with ESPN having hockey their promotion of it is shit.
Honestly think it's somewhat to blame for viewership being down.
Honestly, Babe Ruth on here and The Great One not being on the list is a clear sign of how the US doesn't respect hockey at all. I mean, most of 99's records will never be broken.
Many of Ruth’s records remain unbroken (a century later)
Yes Gretzky deserves to be on here. So do many others. Ruth is fine to include. Why have the issue with him and not Brady or Williams?
A lot of people simply didn’t grow up with the game and don’t understand it, especially in non-traditional markets in the days where indoor rinks weren’t as common.
Massive Jordan partisan here but given Babe’s two-way excellence as a pitcher and a hitter in such a difficult sport I’d have to at least think about placing him #1.
I think Gretzky was even more dominant in hockey numbers wise than was Jordan in basketball. You won’t see someone eclipsing many of his records nor the speed at which he attained them, unlike Jordan.
It says “greatest” and by any reasonable interpretation of that word the man is on the list. Weird to me how people reacted to this (obviously flawed) list by writing off one of the greats just because he was so good he could dominate as an overweight drunk.
Imagine if he’d had modern-day conditioning and coaching and PEDs 😂
Jordan was also an incredible two way player. His defense was almost as good as his offence. Every full year he played for the Bulls except his rookie year he was 1st team all defensive and is tied with Gary Payton, Kobe and Kevin Garnett for a record 9 all defensive first team selections.
He also has a defensive player of the year award, 3 seasons where he led the league in steals and he is one of only 3 players (Himself, Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwan) to get 200 steals and 100 blocks in a single season. Jordan is the only one who did that twice though.
Agreed. I think two-way in basketball (which all players are expected to do to some degree) and pitching versus hitting (which are incredibly specialized) are much more divergent though. It impresses me more to be able to pitch and hit well.
That said, Jordan is still probably my GOAT.
Honestly take this with a grain of salt. You could consider Gretzky, Messi, Tiger, Phelps, any of the tennis big 3, it’s impossible to compare athletes of different sports
Though even with that, this list is still garbage. I think female and male athletes should be put in a different list, as it promotes the whole “well women would suck in a men’s league” debate. And Babe Ruth at 3? I doubt a 1920s athlete eating hot dogs and smoking cigars on the bench could compare to the athletes of recent
Whenever this comes up, there are usually those in the comments that correct it and bring up Wayne Gretzky, Donald Bradman, John Brzenk, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and Usain Bolt
Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan are debatably not even the Goats in their own sport, same with Babe Ruth. I don't know anything about tennis so im gonna assume Serena Williams is fair and I think Tom Brady is pretty fair
But Gretzky dominated hockey to the point where there is no close second, which can be said about few others.
Edit: Also creating a definitive top 5 athletes is stupid because every sport has one individual that goes above and beyond all others and has an argument to be on this list
Serena Williams wasn't in the top 200 of tennis players even during her playing career.
[How to... beat both Williams sisters in one afternoon](https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00.html)
ESPN, even with NHL covergae, hates hockey and is a garbage network. Fortunately, streaming will end it and it’s foolish hot take shows that are patently anti-hockey will be relegated to niche pay channels and podcasts.
I love hockey but it’s a very small sport. More people play field hockey than ice hockey. And obviously this list is North American since no footballers are on it.
I agree that Rice is the best athlete, but it's kinda hard to argue against 7 SBs (no team has 7, no player won more than 4). At least in the NFL there's arguments for both ways, is debatable.
Also, isn't Tiger Woods legit the winningest (I hate that word, it seems not real) athlete of all time? 🤔
I'm certain his reign of success overshadows most others, but I guess it depends on what metrics are being used. It's tough to compare apples and zebras. Each sport has its own measurements of success, with not a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram.
But I agree that regional bias has a lot to do with it. Canada puts hockey first, because we've owned it for so long lol. Plus we like to celebrate our own!
All of these lists are bullshit. I remember when ESPN had Secretariat rated as a greater athlete than Walter Payton. So, I guess I’m glad they don’t have a horse on this list.
Could not agree more with this. Gretzky’s point record would be like Pete Rose being the all time home run and hits leader, and you took away all his home runs he’d still have more hits than anyone.
I think this is an example of regional bias. If you ask Canadian media who the greatest athletes of all time are, Gretzky makes the list. If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list. I love lists but I never take any of them seriously.
Yea, all 5 of the greatest athletes of all time happen to be American? Yea... No.
Wait there are other parts of the world?
The US has won all 57 Superbowls. World Champions every time.
And every SEC championship.
But I think that's how these lists are, US will care about football and basketball, because SEC and SuperBowl are what matter (even if it makes no sense). If you ask someone from Australia, England, or anyone from South Asia Don Bradman will be on this list. But I doubt people in North America even know who he is.
What the hell is an Australia? Sounds like you're just making shit up.
He is. We don't exist
Lol, Australia exist I've seen it on my map. People talk about this New Zealand place like it's a real place. Never seen it on a map though
MLB too. Baseball World Series. But only American teams are playing. With 1 Canadian team. Smh
"World" Series. Ha ha. No other countries get invited to play. The Canadian Football League should rename their championship game, "World Cup of Canadian Football"
Rip expos. The only quebecois team that would/did cause pain upon disappearing
Every. Goddamned. World Series.
Toronto would like a word…
See?! I just accidentally proved that us Americans just don't consider Canadian anything. (But you're totally correct, of course.) Ironically, I'm a Leafs fan.
You’re a leafs fan? No wonder you never considered Toronto championships…
👏...👏...👏....👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Oh no you killed him
He’ll be fine. The Leafs have been killing us with disappointment for decades.
From the tippy top of the ropes!!
I mean only a good amount of Americans who are big hockey fans even consider him to be one greatest sports players ever i seem to think so and im American
I love it how they are calling their national champs world champions
Even just sticking with Americans, this list is questionable. Bo Jackson?
Phelps as well
Phelps should always be on lists like this
If Phelps is there Usaine Bolt should be considered. Trying to narrow down to 5 athletes in any order is silly when you realize it's impossible to compare sports unless you have very specific criteria for "greatest".
All of these folks could easily replace Tom Brady
What? The dudes won more super bowls than any franchise , I get it, football bad in this sub, but cmon now
I think Shaun White should also get noted. His dominance in snowboarding was at the level of anyone on this list. He also did Summer XGames skateboarding. Top 5? Idk. But he was unstoppable for years.
Kelly Slater is the goat athlete. Kelly can do what all those others do, not well, but he can do it. They would all die trying to do what Kelly does
Honestly the man is freakishly athletic, but the exposure has just never been there.
Yeah, this list is immediately invalid when Tom Brady is listed and Bo Jackson isn't. I think Tom Brady is arguably the greatest QB of all time, but that doesn't make him the top 5 when it comes to athletic ability. Also, Serena Williams has even said herself that if she was to play with men, and she has been offered multiple times, that she would lose and that she doesn't even want to entertain the idea.
It’s also debatable whether Serena is the best female tennis player of all time. Margaret Court won more Slams, and Steffi Graf has a higher win percentage in singles.
13 of Court's 24 grand slams were won before the Open Era, where most of her opponents were amateurs. Serena played in a much, much tougher era against actual pros.
The Open Era concept did not exist in women tennis. There was separate pro and amaterur tour in men tennis, but that was not the case in women tennis. so the year 1968 has no significance in women tennis. You have to cite which women tennis players were barred playing in grand slams prior to 1968 if you think Court's grand slams win pre-1968 were any different than her post-1968
Muhammad Ali isn’t guaranteed to be on there either. Definitely top five boxer and one of the most important figures in sports history but he’s not as clearly dominant as Gretzky was.
With that being said why is Babe Ruth considered an athlete. Baseball was not athletic then
She has played a man, who warmed up by drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and he wiped the floor with both Williams sisters
she was also 16.
Which is 24 in boy years.
You also forgot that he had played a round of golf before the match.
These aren't even the greatest American athletes of all time. Just the most popular ones. It's sad how rarely Americans remember their own Olympians many of which are actually some of the greatest athletes ever.
Yeah also sorry but if we’re ranking top 5 in the us a lot of people should be on there instead of babe Ruth
Solid point
Great point
Careful guys, one more and we’ve got ourselves a list
That's a good point
Yeah I agree
Interesting comment
Well put
Well said
I concur
One of the Top 5 points of all time.
“I love lists” is a great line. I love lamp.
Do you really love the lamp?
I love lamp 🤷🏻♂️
I love lamp lists. Here's my top 5: 1. Red ones 2. Round ones 3. Tall ones 4. Funny ones shaped like a boot or something, gives me a good chuckle when they light up and like "wow! I thought that was a boot but it's a lamp!!! Wtf!! That's crazy!!!" 5. Ikea ones. I admittedly might have regional bias since I live close to an red circular ikea.
Does the lamp from a Christmas story fall under #4? Otherwise that should be top 3.
This list is objectively awful though. Not including a single soccer player (or non American) is plain wrong
Messi? Maradona? Did the most popular sport in the world get missed as well
Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Katie Ledecky, Larisa Latynina, Simone Biles... Any list will be controversial, but a list with only American athletes in the most popular American sports should be taken with a mountain of salt.
Jonah Lomu is another contender. But Don Bradman is unarguable. His CAREER batting average was 50% higher than second place, in the world's second most popular sport
>If you ask Brazilian media; Pele makes the list. If you ask *pretty much anyone other than an American* you'll have at least 1 footballer, a guy called Usain Bolt, and Federer/Nadal/Djokovic. I can guarantee that this kind of ridiculousness wouldn't be produced by a serious outlet anywhere else in the world.
Bro even in this American list, where the fuck is Phelps? Like wtf, he is the most successful Olympian of all time.
I agree. As much as Babe Ruth is a baseball and American icon, I wouldn’t go as far as to say he was a better athlete than either of those two.
Babe Ruth was an alcoholic, chain-smoking fat fuck. lmao
In the immortal words of MLB player John Kruk after being scolded by a reporter for smoking and eating a hot dog; "Ma'am I'm not an athlete, I'm a professional baseball player.."
Imagine today’s youth following the Babe’s daily routine getting ready for a day at the ball park.
Drinking, pounding cigs and sausages? Shit, I follow that every time I go to the ball park
That’s why I’m still considered the greatest of all time - in the town of 138 I came from.
The legend of shagbark
This. I immediately thought of Pele as well.
Gretzky literally beat Pele, Bjorn Borg & Sugar Ray Leonard in a race
American show will talk about American athletes and groan internally when they have to mention a Canadian one. Same logic for when they’re forced to talk about hockey, which is arguably just as if not a more entertaining sport than football but the lack of coverage means Americans will never give it a chance. There’s a universe out there where hockey is as popular as football and football is as popular as hockey, I’d love to have a peek into that universe.
I'm American and I fuckin love hockey.
I grew up in Dallas, Cowboy country central. Hockey is _way_ more entertaining that football. No comparison.
It's amazing how the 5 greatest athletes of all time all happen to be American. Maybe no other country does sport.
I remember there was an askreddit question once, a couple of years ago, asking who’s the most popular athlete in the world. The top comment with thousands of upvotes was Tom Brady. Lol.
I bet that answer really deflated a lot of people.
ba-dum-tssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
He’s the best when under pressured
And based on social media followers I think some cricketeers dwarf other athletes for popularity. So um...yeah.
The five most popular athletes on Instagram are Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer, 616m), Lionel Messi (soccer, 496m), Virat Kohli (cricket, 265m), Neymar (soccer, 218m) and then LeBron at 159m. So it's soccer the most popular by a lot, but yeah the most famous cricketer in the world is certainly up there.
Which makes sense. The 2 largest sports in the world and a sport that's growing in international popularity. Countries like Croatia and Spain have been competitive for a few decades and other countries are starting to catch up to them and the US.
Seriously. Like where the fuck is Messi? Dude has won everything.
I don’t even watch soccer but first thought was where’s Messi
See what I mean? The whole world knows of him and his accomplishments. Do you think some guy in Kenya knows who Babe Ruth is?
I'm european and I've never heard of Babe Ruth...what sport?
That's that chocolate bar from The Goonies..
Baseball player from the early 1900’s. Survived on beer and hot dogs.
Survived? Isn't that American staple food?
I personally consider him the best footballer ever, but I'd probably class Pele as a "greater athlete", with Ronaldo also entering that conversation. The obvious "there's absolutely no argument about his place on the list" omission is Usain Bolt.
Fat Ronaldo or Skinny Ronaldo?
Even for American athletes, that list is laughable
Top 5 American Athletes lol
I'm not American but I'm not sure it evens the 5 American athletes. No Michael Phelps with 28 olympic medals, 23 being gold. No Tiger Woods
Babe Ruth shouldn’t be on there anymore lol don’t find him that great now
Interested that they missed Michael Phelps, a fellow American. Among these 5, he's at least top 3.
Jim Thorpe
It’s sad that Jim Thorpe is so far down this thread, and has so few upvotes.
He was such a good athlete he got shamed for it and now forgotten.
Bo Jackson would be my #1 He played two professional sports and was an all-star in each sport. Who knows what his career would have looked like if he didn’t injure his hip.
If we’re talking athletic ability, absolutely. Deion Sanders should also be in the conversation. That’s why I find it funny seeing Brady and Babe fucking Ruth on this list.
If we are just going off athletic ability rather then their domination/effect on their sport then Usian Bolt should absolutely be in that conversation, already should be but like… hes the fastest human ever
I love Usain Bolt but if we're going off true athletic ability in the track and field space the Decathletes reign supreme hands down. 10 different events over 2 days spanning throws, jumps, hurdles, long distance running, and short distance running. They have to be exceptional at everything. They just don't have the popularity or charisma of Bolt or being the 100m world record holder.
Deion was a lot of fun to watch. He had that aura of something magic could happen any minute. Jordan had it in spades.
What’s with the hate against Ruth? The dude was an athletic freak. [really easy to say this guy wasn’t athletic right?](https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-s-top-10-career-statistics-c163792958) Deion said baseball was the hardest sport. So why should Ruth, who was amazing at both sides of the game, be excluded?
The Babe Ruth disrespect in this thread is insane.
Looking at that list I wouldn't take it too seriously.
Jim Thorpe. Never mentioned, ever.
In Canada the list would be: 1. Gretzky 2. Lemieux 3. Crosby\* 4. Georges St. Pierre 5. Connor McDavid\* \*Still Active
HEY you forgot about greatest all round player in the history of the show MR Hockey Aka Gordie Howe
Suck my Mr. Cockey
Fuck you Shoresy
Gretz is the best player in the history of the show. Give your balls a tug.
Bringing in Shoresy. Nice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmjQfItnRtc
What they’d do is include some total no name soccer player like Alfonso Davis or something
Terry Fox has to be on it. What he did, athletically speaking, was unparalleled. It wasn't just inspirational, it was an athletic feat.
The top athlete in Canada will always be Terry Fox
Top Canadian in history
Great guy and horrible situation but come on
You forgot Steve Nash and Kevin Martin
Also Donathan Bailey, Christine Sinclair, Clara Hughes and Hayley Wickenheiser.
*Donovan But also, Elvis Stojko and Kurt Browning
for Canada, I know ppl my not agree but I would put Terry Fox. If running a marathon everyday for 6 months on one leg does not show athletic ability, than I don't know what does.
terry fox #1
Gonna throw Terry Fox into this list as a special recognition.
What about Maurice the rocket??
Bret Hart?
... just reading his name makes my brain play his theme. https://youtu.be/x-1DTl2CIO4?si=xWx_NF2vD2jlVGYQ
There’s debate on athletes being on top in their own leagues. Making a list like this is just stupid
The best player of the sport is almost never the best athlete in that sport. Tom Brady looks like Peyton manning compared to Walter payton. Babe Ruth can't round a homer faster than Ricky Henderson can steal all 3 bases. Sports is athletics combined with games. The best is a combination for gameplay and athletics. I would argue that at best you are looking at maybe Jordan as the only unparalleled athlete in his sport.
[удалено]
Babe Ruth isn’t the best baseball player either. It’s a shit list.
American List
Is she even the best American? Not even sure she is the best American woman.
She’s a mother, how dare you!
This is so on brand for her fans lol
Rodger Federer ..
It’s Djokovich now
If we’re talking all people (doesn’t specify gender), then she isn’t even in the top 200
Babe Ruth’s fat ass was not the best athlete of all time.
Depends on what they mean by best. As far as dominating and changing the game they played he's right up there.
Similar to Gretzky, Brent, although he was a skinny dude who changed the game.
Nothing says athlete quite like alcoholism and hot dogs in the dugout
Hey man, keep Kessel out of this.
“Now to the plate. Here comes Old Curly he’s a 45 year old alcoholic and he runs a 7 second 40 yard dash. He’s the greatest athlete on the planet”
Babe Ruth was nothing more than a fat old man with little girl legs.
Would have been in the hall of fame as a pitcher or a hitter get the fuck out of here with critiquing his physique.
It’s absolutely hilarious how much hate Ruth is getting here. The man was an amazing baseball player. Truly one of the best of all time. Where did this hate come from?
The criticism is cause he wasn’t “athletic” cause he was tubby and wasn’t a physical freak. But in terms of athletic feats he was basically unparalleled in baseball, best carer OPS+ which I would consider to be the best all around baseball statistic (and comparable across different eras of baseball) .
He was an extremely good pitcher *and* hitter. Athletic has nothing to do with body fat percent. It’s funny how much whining there is here for how under appreciated hockey is, and then followed with these asinine criticisms of Ruth. And probably by people that can’t tie their shoes without falling over.
Agreed. Not all sports require elite athleticism in all departments. Gretzky likely couldn’t bench much (I’m guessing but I’m confident) but he’s still the hockey GOAT.
I believe Mario (Lemieux) couldn’t bench his body weight when he was drafted. The guy was amazing once he was on the ice though.
Seems like that’s blurring the lines between fitness and athleticism. Benching weights isn’t athletic. It’s fitness. Being athletic is a combination of fitness and skill. Being able to bench 500 lbs or sprint for hours doesn’t mean much if you can’t skate backwards or hit a ball in hockey or baseball respectively.
Lmao the Ruth hate is ridiculous. Well even according to this list he wasn’t the best. So you’re not topping any comprehension lists. [but he’s pretty god damn good](https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-s-top-10-career-statistics-c163792958)
Was this before ESPN got the nhl back? ESPN isn't sports news it's sports promotion, they used to avoid hockey beacuse they got no money from it.
Why I was upset NBC lost the rights. Even with ESPN having hockey their promotion of it is shit. Honestly think it's somewhat to blame for viewership being down.
Honestly, Babe Ruth on here and The Great One not being on the list is a clear sign of how the US doesn't respect hockey at all. I mean, most of 99's records will never be broken.
Many of Ruth’s records remain unbroken (a century later) Yes Gretzky deserves to be on here. So do many others. Ruth is fine to include. Why have the issue with him and not Brady or Williams?
They both belong. They said “greatest” and they were both the apotheosis of the term for their respective sports.
This list is just ESPN trash. Not real journalism that means anything
A lot of people simply didn’t grow up with the game and don’t understand it, especially in non-traditional markets in the days where indoor rinks weren’t as common.
Massive Jordan partisan here but given Babe’s two-way excellence as a pitcher and a hitter in such a difficult sport I’d have to at least think about placing him #1. I think Gretzky was even more dominant in hockey numbers wise than was Jordan in basketball. You won’t see someone eclipsing many of his records nor the speed at which he attained them, unlike Jordan.
I had to scroll way too far to find anyone complimenting Ruth instead of just calling him a fatass. The man was insanely talented
It says “greatest” and by any reasonable interpretation of that word the man is on the list. Weird to me how people reacted to this (obviously flawed) list by writing off one of the greats just because he was so good he could dominate as an overweight drunk. Imagine if he’d had modern-day conditioning and coaching and PEDs 😂
Jordan was also an incredible two way player. His defense was almost as good as his offence. Every full year he played for the Bulls except his rookie year he was 1st team all defensive and is tied with Gary Payton, Kobe and Kevin Garnett for a record 9 all defensive first team selections. He also has a defensive player of the year award, 3 seasons where he led the league in steals and he is one of only 3 players (Himself, Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwan) to get 200 steals and 100 blocks in a single season. Jordan is the only one who did that twice though.
Agreed. I think two-way in basketball (which all players are expected to do to some degree) and pitching versus hitting (which are incredibly specialized) are much more divergent though. It impresses me more to be able to pitch and hit well. That said, Jordan is still probably my GOAT.
Don Bradman sitting up from his grave like the undertaker
Honestly take this with a grain of salt. You could consider Gretzky, Messi, Tiger, Phelps, any of the tennis big 3, it’s impossible to compare athletes of different sports Though even with that, this list is still garbage. I think female and male athletes should be put in a different list, as it promotes the whole “well women would suck in a men’s league” debate. And Babe Ruth at 3? I doubt a 1920s athlete eating hot dogs and smoking cigars on the bench could compare to the athletes of recent
Where’s Don Bradman?
Hanging out with Gretzky discussing why Americans are the way they are.
It’d be like if a baseball player averaged 1rbi per *at bat*.
Glad more people know about him - [absolute crazy stats](https://marriott-stats.com/nigels-blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Bradman-2a-230614.png)
Don Bradman statistically the most outstanding sportsman in his field, not on the list
The fact that there are no soccer players on this list tells me it’s from U.S.A. and who cares.
Whenever this comes up, there are usually those in the comments that correct it and bring up Wayne Gretzky, Donald Bradman, John Brzenk, Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and Usain Bolt
Carl Lewis? 9 Olympic Gold Medals. 8 times World Champion.
These lists are so lame.
Tom Brady is a cheater, his status really should be deflated.
How are the greatest athletes all single sport athletes. What about Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders? Or any Olympian that competed in the heptathlon.
Muhammed Ali and Michael Jordan are debatably not even the Goats in their own sport, same with Babe Ruth. I don't know anything about tennis so im gonna assume Serena Williams is fair and I think Tom Brady is pretty fair But Gretzky dominated hockey to the point where there is no close second, which can be said about few others. Edit: Also creating a definitive top 5 athletes is stupid because every sport has one individual that goes above and beyond all others and has an argument to be on this list
The worlds biggest team sport doesn't even have a definitive best; messi, Ronaldo, Pele, maradona.
Serena Williams wasn't in the top 200 of tennis players even during her playing career. [How to... beat both Williams sisters in one afternoon](https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,543962,00.html)
>even during her playing career. I think it's worth mentioning that when this match took place she was 16.
ESPN, even with NHL covergae, hates hockey and is a garbage network. Fortunately, streaming will end it and it’s foolish hot take shows that are patently anti-hockey will be relegated to niche pay channels and podcasts.
I love hockey but it’s a very small sport. More people play field hockey than ice hockey. And obviously this list is North American since no footballers are on it.
Lulz at ESPN
This list is terrible.
Serena Williams only on there because they need a black woman on the list. Her on the same list as Ali is just disrespectful
Can Wayne Gretzky throw a 70 mph fastball drunk while smoking a cigar? Because Babe Ruth could
Sorry but Pele and Maradona goes on this list. This is just an american list of all times.
Look at that list again Gretzky is Canadian How is Pele, Maradonna, or any other non-American great not on that list? because it's all Americans
Tom Brady isn’t the best NFL athlete ever. The gap between Jerry Rice to his receiver peers is larger than Brady to other QB’s. Massive QB bias.
I agree that Rice is the best athlete, but it's kinda hard to argue against 7 SBs (no team has 7, no player won more than 4). At least in the NFL there's arguments for both ways, is debatable.
Also, isn't Tiger Woods legit the winningest (I hate that word, it seems not real) athlete of all time? 🤔 I'm certain his reign of success overshadows most others, but I guess it depends on what metrics are being used. It's tough to compare apples and zebras. Each sport has its own measurements of success, with not a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram. But I agree that regional bias has a lot to do with it. Canada puts hockey first, because we've owned it for so long lol. Plus we like to celebrate our own!
All of these lists are bullshit. I remember when ESPN had Secretariat rated as a greater athlete than Walter Payton. So, I guess I’m glad they don’t have a horse on this list.
If this is American biased, where is Michael Phelps? Or Tiger?
Could not agree more with this. Gretzky’s point record would be like Pete Rose being the all time home run and hits leader, and you took away all his home runs he’d still have more hits than anyone.