Who are the best players that you have seen live in a game?

[commishbob]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Baseball—Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams
Football—Lawrence Taylor, Walter Payton
Basketball—Bill Russell, Michael Jordan
Hockey—Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky

Bob-The only soccer game I’ve ever been to was Santos of Brazil against Milan at Yankee Stadium, so for me the soccer answer would also be Pele/Pele

That must have been a cool event. My Pele game was when he was with the Cosmos at the Meadowlands. So he wasn't 'vintage' Pele but it was still great. I've seen Messi in his prime but I still have to list Pele as the best I've ever seen in person.

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by commishbob

That must have been a cool event. My Pele game was when he was with the Cosmos at the Meadowlands. So he wasn't 'vintage' Pele but it was still great. I've seen Messi in his prime but I still have to list Pele as the best I've ever seen in person.

I think in a few decades the consensus will be that Messi was better than Pele. These things take some time.

[VoodooChild]

Sport --- First Game --- Any Game

Baseball : Jason Thompson (My favorite Pirate player as a little kid) , Frank Thomas (Spring Training game against the Pirates and had tickets right behind the plate. Dude is huge and hit a bomb that was so loud off the bat. I never heard anything like that before at a game.)

Football : Dan Marino (1981 Pitt vs. Army, I think he threw for 4 TD's and around 300 yds.), Troy Polamalu

Basketball : Curly Neal (Globetrotters) , Allen Iverson

Hockey : Mario Lemieux, Mario Lemieux (This one is easy. He's the most dominate athlete that I've seen in person in any sport.)

[triwak]

Baseball: Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron
Football: Len Dawson, Joe Montana
Basketball: Curley Neil & Meadowlark Lemon

[MooseDog]

My answers are based on my feeling of the "best" player and how they performed in the game(s) I attended, not necessarily best in popular culture. For example I saw Michael Jordan once, but he didn't have a very good game. I saw Mickey Mantle in his last season, but he was a shadow of what he was supposed to be.

Baseball Frank Robinson - Ken Griffey Jr

Football Ken Stabler - Emmett Smith

Basketball Meadowlark Lemon - Kevin Durant

Hockey Bobby Orr Bobby Orr/Mario Lemieux

That last one is a tough call. I saw them completely dominate a hockey game almost single-handedly, which is very tough to do in hockey. Then again, those games were against very poor Seals/Sharks teams.

[insidethewrapper]

Baseball: Kaline,Mantle, Bonds,Ryan
Basketball: Bird, Lew Alcindor
Hockey : Howe

[Tripredacus]

It is a bit hard for me as I do not really remember what players were in games, and games tend to mix together. Typically I end up remembering weird players like Oleg Saprykin or Razor Shines.

Baseball: Jay Bell, Cliff Lee
Football: Thurman Thomas, Tom Brady
Hockey: ??? , Dominik Hasek

Baseball is hard as I say, being in a minor league town we end up having a bunch of... well... minor league guys. Then also some come in on rehab assignment... or some guy on the other team coming up that you don't know anything about until they make it in the majors later. I didn't even think of Cliff Lee at first, originally I would have had to say Brian Giles. But I have a keychain from a game, and I look up that game and he is the WP so...

Certainly I had seen some other good football players. I remember my first football game was Week 1 1990 Bills vs Colts, the Jeff George debut.

For hockey, I do not know what my first game was, but I doubt anyone I had seen would beat the any game best player. I did see Wayne Gretzky, but as a coach with Phoenix. Don't know if that counts.

[Exhibitman]

Baseball: Willie Mays, Willie Mays
Football: Fran Tarkenton, Terry Bradshaw
Basketball: Walt Frazier, Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Hockey: Eddie Giacomin, Wayne Gretzky
Boxing: Lennox Lewis, Lennox Lewis (I've only been to one fight, Lewis v. Klitschko)

[HercDriver]

Baseball: Bake McBride (he signed my ball before the game and had a couple hits)/Mark Grace (best? maybe not. Favorite)

Football: Walter Payton/Walter Payton

Basketball: Lebron James/Lebron James

Hockey: Jari Kurri (Kings)/Patrick Kane

On second thought, Grace was the best. You couldn't ask for a more perfect baseball player or teammate.

Cheers,
Geno

[commishbob]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

I think in a few decades the consensus will be that Messi was better than Pele. These things take some time.

Could be. Of course 'best ever' is something we'll all see differently in every sport. That's part of the fun of these threads.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

I think in a few decades the consensus will be that Messi was better than Pele. These things take some time.

No World Cups. He won't eclipse Pele in my opinion. Plus Pele had more charisma, joie de vivre, flair, whatever you want to call it. Even if Messi technically is better, it won't matter.

[tonyo]

Hockey: Mario Lemieux, although props to Marian Hossa when he played for the Thrashers (who?)
Football: Jerry Rice saw him score 5 td's vs atl in 1990
Basketball: Michael Jordan, runner up saw Dominique go for 50 once
Baseball: So many, but at my first game in Cincinnati pick'em : Joe Morgan was my fav, Pete Rose, Bench,
Soccer Miguel Almiron