One Player You Wish You Could've Seen in His Prime

[rtrn2glory]

ACamp made me think of this in a different thread.

Who is the one player you wish you could've seen in person in the 3 major sports (football, basketball, baseball)?

Let's make it interesting...can't list Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and Jim Brown

NBA - Pete Maravich
MLB - Mickey Mantle
NFL - Gale Sayers

 

[irishog77]

MLB- Ruth
NBA- Chamberlain

 

[IrishSteelhead]

NBA-Larry Bird
NFL-Dick Butkus
MLB-Warren Spahn
NHL-Bobby Hull

 

[NDPhilly]

I wish I remembered Quinn and Shark better. I was like 10 when they were seniors at ND. I remember Clausen well enough so I'd like to compare them. My dad thinks Clausen as a Junior was better than Quinn's Jr or Senior years.

 

[rtrn2glory]

I wish I remembered Quinn and Shark better. I was like 10 when they were seniors at ND. I remember Clausen well enough so I'd like to compare them. My dad thinks Clausen as a Junior was better than Quinn's Jr or Senior years.

As much as I love Brady Quinn....i can't disagree with that.

 

[Jackalope1977]

MLB- Sandy Koufax
NFL- Bobby Layne
NBA-Oscar Robertson
NHL-Gordie Howe

 

[gkIrish]

NBA: Bernard King or Magic Johnson
NFL: Joe Montana
MLB: Mickey Mantle
NHL: Gordie Howe

 

[tko]

dshans, whenever that prime was

 

[NCND]

Tim Brown, Rocket and Tony Rice

 

[ACamp1900]

MLB- (Difficult choice here, I can think of MANY) Ruth and Mathewson stand out right now...

NHL- Wayne in the early 80's when he put up just stupid numbers (I was like 2 at the time)

NFL- Jim Brown

CFB- The Four Horsemen, Elmer Layden if i had to choose one

Soccer- Jimmy Johnstone


If I had to pick just one period, It'd probaly be Ruth.

 

[Irish#1]

MLB: Gehrig & DiMaggio
NBA: The Big O
NFL: Gale Sayers
NHL: Gretzky

 

[Irish#1]

MLB- (Difficult choice here, I can think of MANY) Ruth and Mathewson stand out right now...

NHL- Wayne in the early 80's when he put up just stupid numbers (I was like 2 at the time)

NFL- Jim Brown

CFB- The Four Horsemen, Elmer Layden if i had to choose one

Soccer- Jimmy Johnstone


If I had to pick just one period, It'd probaly be Ruth.

You can't use Ruth or Brown. You're banned..........

 

[ACamp1900]

You can't use Ruth or Brown. You're banned..........

Ha, I just saw that and was editing...


**Just saw you weren’t supposed to use Brown or Ruth and I used both… ops…

MLB- Christy Mathewson I guess... though Walter Johnson, Lou Gehrig, Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson are all up there too..(baseball is hard to narrow down)
NFL- Otto Graham

 

[ACamp1900]

sidenote: We have regs here young enough to have never seen MJ when he ruled the NBA?!?!

 

[TheTurningPoint]

Being 26 years old....Michael Jordan.

I remember watching the Flu game, finals vs the Jazz, etc. But too young to put it in perspective. LeBron is the closest thing I have seen to total domination, and everyone says Jordan was better. But, Id love to see it for myself!

Steroids or not....Id love to re-live the summer of 98.

 

[TheTurningPoint]

sidenote: We have regs here young enough to have never seen MJ when he ruled the NBA?!?!

Im in that category haha.

 

[KPENN]

What's crazy about Jordan is he threw away years when he left the game. Kinda crazy to think what he may have done had he not left twice.

 

[ACamp1900]

Now if I could go back and re-live watching a player... it would be Super Mario pre-cancer. Easily the greatest I ever saw, which is why picked Gretzky in the early 80's for the 'never saw' category... I'd love to compare the two at their peaks.

 

[NCND]

Being 26 years old....Michael Jordan.

I remember watching the Flu game, finals vs the Jazz, etc. But too young to put it in perspective. LeBron is the closest thing I have seen to total domination, and everyone says Jordan was better. But, Id love to see it for myself!

Steroids or not....Id love to re-live the summer of 98.

Aww man, too bad u missed it cuz Jordan is and will be the best player of all time.

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

MLB- Williams and Dimaggio. That 1941 season will never be matched by two players again. Williams going over 400 Dimaggio's streak and lowest strike out record of 13.

NFL- So tough but I'm gonna say Johnny U. I'm just old enough that I can remember Montana and having to watch his comeback with the Chiefs after his injury. I wish I had appreciated Bo more when he was playing.

NHL- Bobby Orr. I grew up hearing stories about him and I wish I could have seen it in person.

NBA- Russel and Chamberlain. All the stories I have read stated these two had an epic rivalry, would have been awesome to see.

Soccer- Pele. People still talk about him as the greatest all time.

Golf- Bobby Jones. In my opinion the greatest golfer in history. Still the only one to win the true grand slam and walked away before he was 32 years old with 11 major titles.

 

[Jackalope1977]

Now if I could go back and re-live watching a player... it would be Super Mario pre-cancer. Easily the greatest I ever saw, which is why picked Gretzky in the early 80's for the 'never saw' category... I'd love to compare the two at their peaks.

I may be biased but Barry Sanders is it for me.

 

[rtrn2glory]

i will always regret not seeing Jordan in person...i can relive numerous of his games in my head to this day

 

[GoIrish41]

Deacon Jones
Wilt the Stilt
Ty Cobb

 

[Wild Bill]

i will always regret not seeing Jordan in person...i can relive numerous of his games in my head to this day

Same here.

 

[TDHeysus]

NFL - Ken Stabler (Raider years)
NBA - Wilt Chamberlain (they change the rules of the game, and the config of the lane because him)
NHL(Hockey) - Vyachaslav Fetisov's international career(the most decorated international hockey player ever; cornerstone of the Red Army teams 70's-80's) I watched him in the NHL(NJ, DET), he defected when I was too young to watch Int. hockey games.
MLB - Thurman Munson(bcuz he was THE Man), Ted Williams(arguably the greatest hitter ever), Ty Cobb(stats, controversy, history, etc)

 

[gkIrish]

MLB- Williams and Dimaggio. That 1941 season will never be matched by two players again. Williams going over 400 Dimaggio's streak and lowest strike out record of 13.

NFL- So tough but I'm gonna say Johnny U. I'm just old enough that I can remember Montana and having to watch his comeback with the Chiefs after his injury. I wish I had appreciated Bo more when he was playing.

NHL- Bobby Orr. I grew up hearing stories about him and I wish I could have seen it in person.

NBA- Russel and Chamberlain. All the stories I have read stated these two had an epic rivalry, would have been awesome to see.

Soccer- Pele. People still talk about him as the greatest all time.

Golf- Bobby Jones. In my opinion the greatest golfer in history. Still the only one to win the true grand slam and walked away before he was 32 years old with 11 major titles.

Pele is a good one. My father saw him with the Cosmos.

 

[Wild Bill]

Walter payton

Wayne gretzky in his prime.

 

[Redbar]

Being 26 years old....Michael Jordan.

I remember watching the Flu game, finals vs the Jazz, etc. But too young to put it in perspective. LeBron is the closest thing I have seen to total domination, and everyone says Jordan was better. But, Id love to see it for myself!

Steroids or not....Id love to re-live the summer of 98.

It's honestly not even close. It maybe could have been if Lebron had won three or four in Cleveland. Jordan created the Chicago Bulls Brand, and put them in the conversation with teams like Boston, the Lakers, and Philly a few years earlier. He really took over the league from a team that was not stacked with close to comparable talent. I am not dogging Lebron for going to Miami, but at the same time therein lies the difference between the two guys. One found an advantageous route to success with former opponents and one simply forged his way despite those opponents.

 

[Redbar]

Tim Brown, Rocket and Tony Rice

Glorious Days, man.

 

[kmoose]

Johnny Unitas!