Quote:
Originally Posted by SAllen2556
I would suggest golf and boxing as counter-examples to your theory. Those sports were way more popular in 1930 than football, basketball, or hockey.
Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney in boxing - just to name a few, would still be considered among the all-time greats.
Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen in golf.
The popularity of the sport has more to do with it than anything.
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This is pretty much the answer. Baseball was the #1 team sport in America for a long time (America's Sport), even if nobody really cared about it anywhere else.
Way more entrenched and way more advanced (comparatively to the modern era) compared the the other burgeoning "team" sports beginning to entertain the country.
College Football was #2, but those guys basically had 2-4 year careers and were promptly forgotten about. The Coaches were more well known then most of the players at that point.
Even the Red Granges and Bronko Nagurski's were more hailed for their college careers then their pro careers. Nagurski was probably more well known during his time as a pro-wrestler, rather then an NFL player.