OT: Who would you put on your sports Mt. Rushmore. This is harder than it sounds...

[packs]

I don't think Phelps will ever be an American icon. He has too much baggage and makes dopey decisions between the 4 years of the Olympics. People just aren't going to think of him when they think of sports. I don't think Gretzky really makes the cut either. Hockey and soccer aren't going to enter a lot of people's minds in America.

Of course if this is just a "sports" monument, then yes Gretzky all the way.

[glynparson]

Ruth, Brown, Gretzky, Jordan for female I tink Diedrikson Didrickson whichever way it was correctly spelled is the no brainer.

[drmondobueno]

A monument to a time gone by.......

Oh, sorry, this is a baseball site....naw, will stick with these guys

[egbeachley]

Babe Ruth
Wayne Gretzky
Bo Jackson
Jim Thorpe

[VoodooChild]

Roberto Clemente, Mario Lemieux, Bill Russell, and Bo Jackson.

[Wahoowa]

Ruth, Jordan, Gretzky, Brady

Although my personal Mt. Rushmore would be different:
WaJo, Ripken, Woods, Ovechkin

[PolarBear]

One thing I will say about baseball icons, since this is a baseball forum is how could anyone not think Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player of all time?

I mean it's not even close. Ruth absolutely dominated every aspect of baseball. The man had over 700 home runs with a .342 lifetime batting average. The only person who even comes close to that type of power and average is Ted Williams.

But then, you have to consider that Ruth also won almost 100 games as a pitcher, with a 67% winning percentage and 2.28 ERA. In 1916 he went 23-12 and lead the league with a 1.75 ERA and 9 shutouts. He also beat Walter Johnson in 4 of their 5 duels that year.

Babe Ruth could have had a lifetime batting average of .215 and 37 home runs and easily been an HOF pitcher with 300+ wins.

I don't think this can be overstated. Babe Ruth absolutely dominated the entire game of baseball.

That's why I laugh to myself when people try and say Willie Mays or Hank Aaron, etc., etc., are the greatest players in baseball history. Yeah right. When Willie Mays raises his lifetime batting average 50 points and finds 100 wins as a pitcher, then we can discuss him even entering the same room with Ruth.

Ok, feel free to discuss.

[GaryPassamonte]

Babe Ruth, Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim Thorpe

[deeg23]

Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan are easily the greatest sports icons of all time (in USA at least).

Then I like the idea of Serena being up there as well considering she's been the most dominant women's tennis player ever!

I would definitely include Brady, but all this cheating nonsense is just too much to put him up in my mind even though I think he's incredible!

Cultural significance and what they did for society should play a factor too buuuttttt...

I'm gonna have to say:

** , ** , Ali and then I'm going with Pele because why not


*If Lebron wins a title in Cleveland, in ten years he is a contender for mine!

[Jobu]

Surprised to see Ickey Woods mentioned

On second thought, the Ickey Shuffle was pretty iconic.

Originally Posted by Wahoowa

Ruth, Jordan, Gretzky, Brady

Although my personal Mt. Rushmore would be different:
WaJo, Ripken, Woods, Ovechkin

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by glynparson

Ruth, Brown, Gretzky, Jordan for female I tink Diedrikson Didrickson whichever way it was correctly spelled is the no brainer.

Naming an all-sport Mt. Rushmore is a near-impossible task, but I align the closest with Glyn's post. And spelling "Didrikson" correctly is nearly as impossible!

[darwinbulldog]

My approach was just to write out a list of people who could reasonably be considered the best at their particular sport and then throw out anyone from a sport where it seems debatable. Maybe Jordan is the best basketball player ever, but one could also make a reasonable case for LeBron or Wilt or Kareem -- so that rules out basketball. Maybe that's not a particularly good approach, but it's what I came up with. One could also disregard the athletic dominance of the athletes and just select on the basis of heroism or personal sacrifice or something like that, but my guess is if that were done correctly it would be four people none of us have ever heard of, so I decided not to factor in personal qualities one way or the other. So, with that preface and with the caveat that I don't follow most of the world's sports, here's what I am left with.

Tom Brady
Eddie Merckx
Michael Phelps
Babe Ruth

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

My approach was just to write out a list of people who could reasonably be considered the best at their particular sport and then throw out anyone from a sport where it seems debatable.

Using this method, we have to include Joey Chestnut:

"Let's be frank, nobody was going to deny Joey Chestnut his 14th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest title. No competitor could catch up to Chestnut, who set a new world record by eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the annual July 4 event on Coney Island.

Chestnut's win was no surprise, as he was considered a -2400 favorite by William Hill Sportsbook entering Sunday. The 37-year-old American -- whose previous record was 75 in 2020 -- has won every Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest except one since he took the Mustard Belt from Takeru Kobayashi in 2007. Matt Stonie beat Chestnut in 2015."

This guy has won as many championships as Ruth and Brady combined!

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Using this method, we have to include Joey Chestnut:

"Let's be frank, nobody was going to deny Joey Chestnut his 14th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest title. No competitor could catch up to Chestnut, who set a new world record by eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the annual July 4 event on Coney Island.

Chestnut's win was no surprise, as he was considered a -2400 favorite by William Hill Sportsbook entering Sunday. The 37-year-old American -- whose previous record was 75 in 2020 -- has won every Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest except one since he took the Mustard Belt from Takeru Kobayashi in 2007. Matt Stonie beat Chestnut in 2015."

This guy has won as many championships as Ruth and Brady combined!

I hadn't considered him, but I'm not sure I would have selected him anyway. I'd certainly rank him first, but the fact that Kobayashi dominated by a much larger margin in the years before Chestnut arrived and that they were only separated by, what, 5%(?) in the years when Chestnut first pulled ahead makes it too close for me to say there's not even a conversation about who was the greatest.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Using this method, we have to include Joey Chestnut:

"Let's be frank, nobody was going to deny Joey Chestnut his 14th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest title. No competitor could catch up to Chestnut, who set a new world record by eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the annual July 4 event on Coney Island.

Chestnut's win was no surprise, as he was considered a -2400 favorite by William Hill Sportsbook entering Sunday. The 37-year-old American -- whose previous record was 75 in 2020 -- has won every Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest except one since he took the Mustard Belt from Takeru Kobayashi in 2007. Matt Stonie beat Chestnut in 2015."

This guy has won as many championships as Ruth and Brady combined!

Guess Nathan's needs its own theoretical stat so certain people can determine whether or not Chestnut is any good:
OH DEAR (Overall Hot Dogs Eaten Above Replacement)

[mrreality68]

After reading all the posts and I some great people listed for the 4 slots I can see a lot of choices I would not have picked but could easily see them on this list

Great thread

[MR RAREBACK]

ty Cobb
Tiger woods
Jordan
Pele

[boysblue]

A debate for the ages!

Usain Bolt
Serena Williams
Lionel Messi
Bobby Orr

[rjackson44]

my dad