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Most dominant athletes of all time

Shouldn't Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds be excluded since they competed against their peers with a cheating advantage? Or since a lot of competition cheated too, was their so-called "advantage" really a wash?
 
Babe Ruth has to be #1. Many considered him the best pitcher of all time until he became an outfielder. A couple of his World Series pitching records lasted for decades. He hit more homers than entire teams for a a season. Gretzsky never scored more goals than entire teams for a season.

It's unthinkable to win the 100/200 double in three straight Olympics. And Bolt didn't just win them. He won them easily.

For about fifteen to twenty years after he retired, Wilt had more 50 point games than everyone else in NBA history combined. He led the NBA in scoring, rebounding and assists. People complain about playing 36 mpg these days. He averaged 48.5 mpg one season. Hell at age 36, on two really bad knees, he averaged 43.2 mpg, shot 72.7% from the field and led the league in rebounding with 18.6/game.

As to the myth of not playing against any big guys, a perfect example is 1966-67, Wilt averaged 24.1/24.2/7.8 (when assists weren't hockey assists), shot 69.3% from the field and played 45.5 mpg. In 36 of the his 82 regular season games he played against Hall of Fame centers.
 
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Have friends who are hockey fans that swear Bobby Orr was the most in control, take over the game ,dominant hockey player of all time.
 
Jroc25 said:
Shouldn't Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds be excluded since they competed against their peers with a cheating advantage? Or since a lot of competition cheated too, was their so-called "advantage" really a wash?
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Well, at least in Lance's case, so was everyone else.
 
Bonds was dominant before taking steroids. He was a 95+% first ballot Hall of Famer prior to his first shot. He had already been a 3X MVP, 8X AS, 7X GG. He was already the only 400/400 HR/SB in baseball history and a virtual lock to be 600/500.
 
Orr was not the passer Gretsky was. But as a Rangers fan, watching Orr take the puck from behind his own net and winding up ice used to scare me to death.
 
RJKarl said:
Babe Ruth has to be #1. Many considered him the best pitcher of all time until he became an outfielder. A couple of his World Series pitching records lasted for decades. He hit more homers than entire teams for a a season. Gretzsky never scored more goals than entire teams for a season.

It's unthinkable to win the 100/200 double in three straight Olympics. And Bolt didn't just win them. He won them easily.

For about fifteen to twenty years after he retired, Wilt had more 50 point games than everyone else in NBA history combined. He led the NBA in scoring, rebounding and assists. People complain about playing 36 mpg these days. He averaged 48.5 mpg one season. Hell at age 36, on two really bad knees, he averaged 43.2 mpg, shot 72.7% from the field and led the league in rebounding with 18.6/game.

As to the myth of not playing against any big guys, a perfect example is 1966-67, Wilt averaged 24.1/24.2/7.8 (when assists weren't hockey assists), shot 69.3% from the field and played 45.5 mpg. In 36 of the his 82 regular season games he played against Hall of Fame centers.
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Yeah if the list is most dominant athletes, Ruth should be #1, Wilt #2, Gretzsky #3, Phelps #4, Jordan #5
 
Jroc25 said:
Yeah if the list is most dominant athletes, Ruth should be #1, Wilt #2, Gretzsky #3, Phelps #4, Jordan #5
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if list is dominant "athletes" where is Bo Jackson? all-star at highest level of two sports.
 
WakeForest Fan said:
if list is dominant "athletes" where is Bo Jackson? all-star at highest level of two sports.
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Probably because his career was cut so short. Dude was a beast, though.


jhmd2000 said:
This is the top 30 list. Not the top 730.
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I'd put Martina ahead of Serena, and probably Steffi Graf. I'd argue competition was much tougher in both of those eras. Certainly during the late 80's - early 90's. At the very least, I could see Graf and Williams tied behind Martina but I couldn't put Serena ahead of either, not to diminish Serena's accomplishments. She's been phenomenal her whole career.
 
If then title really means athlete instead of the greatest in a particular sport the winner is Jim Thorpe. Others would be Bruce Jenner(when he was Bruce Jenner) and Bo Jackson.
 
Rev. Bob Matthias has to be considered. He won the decathlon in back-to-back Olympics.
 
Franz "Der Kaiser" Klammer's 4 year stretch of '75-'78 is by far the most dominant period by any skiier in history. In those 4 years he won a ridiculous 20 World Cup downhill races, 4 straight World Championships and Olympic Gold ('76 in Innsbruck with probably the single greatest run in skiing history). He won literally everything that mattered, and often by stunningly huge margins. He was the first "modern" downhill skiier in that he used his strength to carve entire turns instead of skidding into them like earlier downhill skiiers had done and he took extremely aggressive lines forcing him into high speed jumps - both things that are now totally normal in World Cup ski racing of this era, but ground breaking at the time.
 
i don't understand how Gretzky can have 700 more assists than the #2? 700?

did they count assists differently for a period of time?
 
Jordan doesn't belong super high on a list of dominant athletes. He was great, and likely the best player of all time, but I don't think he DOMINATED his opponents. To me that indicates there was never a question as to whether a certain athlete was going to win, and during the 6 Bulls titles I think there was doubt. Certainly more doubt than with the Warriors this postseason.
 
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