The Best of All Time?

ESPN is currently running an elongated “mini segment” on Sportscenter entitled “Who’s Now.” The goal is to decide who is the best current athlete using an NCAA basketball style bracket. It’s a hard task to decipher who is the best athlete with the deluge of stars in their respective sports. Who’s better, Tiger Woods or Jeff Gordon? It is impossible to decide because they are each the best in their respective sports. But I am curious as to who is the very best of all time, regardless of sport or era.

The ESPN series named each of their four “brackets” based off of the supposed best athletes of all time; Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and Billy Jean King. These individuals are undoubtedly some of the best athletes ever. Arguably, ESPN could have picked countless other athletes for the honor, due to the fact that there is typically a super star athlete in every sport for every generation. But these are the ones I will analyze in my attempt to decipher who is really the best.

Michael Jordan dominated the game of basketball for almost 15 years in both college and the NBA. In three years at North Carolina, he averaged a human 17.7 points per game, but was definitely “Mr. Clutch.” His NBA career on the other hand was inhuman; 6 NBA championships, 5 MVP awards, 10 all-star selections (3 MVP’s), and 6 NBA finals most valuable players amongst countless other recognitions. He finished his NBA career averaging 30.1 points per game (the best ever), 32,292 total points, 2,514 steals, and a mirage of other “big numbers.”

George Herman Ruth is arguably the best baseball player to have ever played the game. Even though he started out as a pitcher, Ruth would go on to compile some of the best numbers ever seen in the game. Ruth was not a prototypical athlete, but actions speak louder than appearances. In 22 seasons Ruth hit 714 home-runs (3rd all time), collected 2,217 RBI’s, 3 MVP awards, a .968 career fielding percentage, and a .690 career slugging percentage. What is most impressive about Ruth is the fact that he was intoxicated half of the time; most people cannot even hit a ball 2 feet sober; he did it 2,873 times.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., Ali would change his name to Muhammad in 1964 after he “accepted” Islam. Always outspoken, brash, and rebellious Ali would back up his strong words with even stronger left jabs and right hooks. Like many modern athletes, Ali was known more for his mouth than for his craft. But he was successful in the craft of boxing. He would finish his career with 56 wins to 5 losses, 37 knock outs, and 3 reigns as world heavyweight champion. We may never know what his full potential was due to his protest of the Vietnam War in 1967, which he was stripped of his title and his license.

Billy Jean King is the lesser known of the previously mentioned athletes. But she is by far the best woman to have ever played the game of tennis. She will be remembered the most for motivating masses of female athletes to succeed in sports that were typically dominated by men. She is the holder of 12 grand slam titles, 16 grand slam doubles titles, 11 grand slam mixed doubles titles, 67 total singles titles, and 3 time she was ranked #1 in the world.

There are the numbers; you decide.