re: Most Overrated Athlete in Sports History

Troy Aikman

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He had a vote of 99.7% for the Hall of Fame. (2nd highest % All Time behind Mo)


This is why Jeter’s overrated imo. Still a hall of famer but not on that level.

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The modern NY media machine is real.

I mean Mariano Rivera was the FIRST unanimous selection to the HOF....a reliever who usually just pitched 1 inning. What are they doing?

Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gherig, Ken Griffey jr., Ty Cobb, Sandy Koufax,....and lets be honest, Pete Rose....should've all been unanimous....but you can't vote for Pete like Joe Jackson. Jeter and Rivera were blessed from where they played.

I concur. What Willie Mays accomplished playing in Candlestick Park was incredible, and many former players including Pete Rose will tell you that Sandy Koufax was the best pitcher ever.

Most frequently ejected:

1. Bobby Cox, 162
2. John McGraw, 121
3. Leo Durocher, 100
4. Earl Weaver, 96
5. Tony La Russa, 93

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Pretty sure Babe Ruth was crushing HRs when outfield dimensions were much higher than today

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That and he was hitting more home runs by himself than entire teams

Oh shite, I thought the Babe Ruth thing was an obvious troll but I think there are people on here who are serious. I guess I’m right when I tell my coworkers to never underestimate just how fricking stupid people can be, it’s truly mind boggling.

Mario Mendoza…

The young George Ruth who revolutionized baseball was 6-2, 215 pounds of solid muscle who was a world class athlete. It’s a tribute to how good he was that he continued to excel for a long time after he got out of shape. In smaller parks with clean, lively baseballs and modern training and orthopedic methods he might not put up the exact numbers he put up back then but he’d be among the most elite of the elite.

I’m going to go for a record for most downvotes by saying Nolan Ryan is the most overrated. I say that while also making clear that he was one of the best starting pitchers ever, a no-brainer first-ballot Hall of Famer and the most unique and entertaining pitcher who ever lived.

But so many people will fight you that he’s in the running for GOAT, when IMO he’s not in the zip code if not solar system of that.

His acolytes will tell you that he played for crap teams and that’s why his W/L record wasn’t that great. That’s not true, the teams he played for were over .500 for his career and they were significantly over .500 after the Angels got good in 1978.

They will tell you he got poor run support; that’s true, but it begs the question as to why teammates like Frank Tanana, Joe Niekro and Mike Scott got significantly better run support than he did, sometimes more than a run per game.

I submit that the very things that make fans adore this guy … his toughness and stubbornness and determination never to give in to a batter even if it was to his and his team’s strategic advantage to do so; and his reduction of the game to a mano y mano battle between him and the batter where he started out every game intending to strike out 27 batters, and if he didn’t strike out the first one he shifted to striking out 26, and so forth, which resulted in him caring nothing about going 3-2 on every batter and caring nothing about holding runners on base or defending his position or getting his defense involved in the game, which resulted in his teammates standing around twiddling their thumbs and getting cold … contributed to him underachieving there.

It’s telling that he was rarely considered the ace of his team’s staff; before he hurt his arm Frank Tanana was the best “pitcher” as opposed to no-hitter thrower and fan entertainer, he actually had more strikeouts than Ryan one year, was in sight of him the other years and had 99% of the speed with 1,000% of the control.

Fans adore the guy because they get off on demon speed and Sports Center highlights, and I think to a lot of old farts he represents the tough, large and in charge starting pitcher who went nine and could throw 200 pitches if need be, compared to today’s pitching usage. Again, he earned his place in Cooperstown but he’s horribly overrated by people who push him for GOAT.

Flame away.

Troy Aikman.

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might put Patrick Ewing there for basketball.

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Dude Patrick Ewing was a beast. I dont see anybody calling him the GOAT but he was really really good. He was terrifying at Georgetown. He was huge and fast and mean AF.

How is he overrated?