Greatest Athlete to never win a championship? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Greatest Athlete to never win a championship?

Waquoit said:
Best hitter ever. Hit .316 his last year at 41.
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Many years ago (mid 1970's) I often said that if Williams played on the (then) current astroturf that a lot of ballparks had, he would have batted close to .500 a couple of seasons.
 
UconnU said:
At any level, college or pros.

I was reading about how Elgin Baylor had somehow escaped ever winning a championship. He went to the final 4 in college and lost, then lost 8 NBA Finals with the Lakers, they won again the year after he retired.

Dan Marino and Barry Sanders come to mind, any others?
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Not sure on this and it’s going back a ways but, gold medals aside, I don’t think Jim Thorpe ever won a championship in football or baseball.
IMG_1981.jpeg
 
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UconnU said:
At any level, college or pros.

I was reading about how Elgin Baylor had somehow escaped ever winning a championship. He went to the final 4 in college and lost, then lost 8 NBA Finals with the Lakers, they won again the year after he retired.

Dan Marino and Barry Sanders come to mind, any others?
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Barry Sanders the greatest running back to play the game is the top one for me.
 
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HooperScooper said:
How about the best athlete to never win a single post season game? Mike Trout. Can't believe he's wasted his career with the Angels. At least he's very rich though.
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Here's my Trout rant.

15 years in the major leagues. Name one memorable moment. He does not have one. And, for such a good start to his career, he has 100+ RBI one time in the last 8 seasons (104) missing a ton of time with injuries. His stats over the last decade aren't impressive. Is he really that special or generational?
 
Deepster said:
Here's my Trout rant.

15 years in the major leagues. Name one memorable moment. He does not have one. And, for such a good start to his career, he has 100+ RBI one time in the last 8 seasons (104) missing a ton of time with injuries. His stats over the last decade aren't impressive. Is he really that special or generational?
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I agree with you. But the stat geeks say he has great metrics.
 
HooperScooper said:
I agree with you. But the stat geeks say he has great metrics.
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I also "follow the money" and he has no real sponsorships that I know of or that are nationally recognized. I am not sure I even know what his voice sounds like. Not a "stat" obviously, but if he was that good, he'd have a buzz and people would want him promoting their product/service.
 
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Deepster said:
Here's my Trout rant.

15 years in the major leagues. Name one memorable moment. He does not have one. And, for such a good start to his career, he has 100+ RBI one time in the last 8 seasons (104) missing a ton of time with injuries. His stats over the last decade aren't impressive. Is he really that special or generational?
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Trout had an OPS >.990 every year from 2015-2022, injured or not. That's pretty amazing for 21st century baseball.

He's had a ton of highlight catches. But nobody gives a rat's ass about the Angels.

I have heard Trout speak. He is boring A.F.
 
Huskyforlife said:
Chris Paul is probably a top 5 point guard of all time, so I’ll throw him out there.
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The longevity of his career is being overshadowed because of Lebron just being an absolutely freak. But being 40 years oldin the league and still putting up an effecient 9/8/3 would have been legendary not too long ago.
 
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Vowelguy said:
What was great? His ability or his meds? We will never know, so he’s off the list for me.
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His numbers were seriously inflated every season after he started taking steroids in '99 but so were the rest of the players in that generation. He was the best player in baseball the decade+ before the juice and an all-time great. With the juice he was the best player anyone has ever seen.
 
Inyatkin said:
He could have retired before his late-career home run binge and gone down as one of the best players in history
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Exactly. Pre-steroids Bonds was a 30/30 guy every year practically. Without steroids he was in the HOF. Unfortunately, the juice has kept him from getting in.

Him and Griffey Jr. are the two best baseball players I have seen play in person.

Mike Trout was amazing before injuries started catching up to him. Too bad he has played on the west coast and for the Angels. Not enough people got to watch him at his peak. If he played in a different market he would be spoken about, as a whole, much differently.
 
Deepster said:
I also "follow the money" and he has no real sponsorships that I know of or that are nationally recognized. I am not sure I even know what his voice sounds like. Not a "stat" obviously, but if he was that good, he'd have a buzz and people would want him promoting their product/service.
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He was great and the best player in baseball over an 8 season stretch. His teams never did anything and he was in no way marketable but the things he did on the field during that time are undeniable. He's done now.
 
Vowelguy said:
What was great? His ability or his meds? We will never know, so he’s off the list for me.
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Barry was a lock HOF before his PED’’s driven HR binge .
Top five baseball players in my lifetime
and I saw my first MLB game in 1948
Williams ( who won an AL Pennant) greatest pure hitter I ever saw .
Ty Cobb ( who won 3 AL Pennants)
Never won a World Series but we’re forgetting how difficult it was to win a pennant in those days before divisions.
Ernie Banks never even played in a series 13 time All Star and HOFer .
Ken Griffey Jr another great player
Those would be my baseball choices
A side note
I must be one of the only people still around who saw Cobb play
That 1948 game was an Old Timers game at Yankees Stadium .
My older brother and uncle were excited that Cobb showed up he was 61 years old and a living legend so I remembered him running out into the field
I believe a dying Babe Ruth was there but since he wasn’t in uniform , I unfortunately have no relocation of his farewell speech I wish I could claim that but I’d be lying .
I was only 5 so the players in uniform made a more lasting impression
 
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HooperScooper said:
That’s the sad part. He probably would have been an all time great without the steroids. But he got greedy and now we’ll never know.
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Inyatkin said:
He could have retired before his late-career home run binge and gone down as one of the best players in history
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I don't know exactly when Bonds really started juicing. His excuse has been McGwire, Sosa, et.al. were getting all the attention and money after the strike, and he wanted some of that. So as far as I'm concerned, he was clean through age 30, or first 10 years of his career.

First 10 years:
Bonds bWAR ages 21-30 = 74
Trout bWAR ages 19-28 = 74
 
Vowelguy said:
What was great? His ability or his meds? We will never know, so he’s off the list for me.
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Vowelguy said:
The great thing about cheating is that it supersedes the rest. I don’t need to evaluate his supposed non PED career.
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You said "we'll never know." A bunch of people pointed out we do know, he was great without steroids. Then you said it doesn't matter.
Hate Bonds if you want, but don't say "we don't know" if we was great or not
 
storrsroars said:
Trout had an OPS >.990 every year from 2015-2022, injured or not. That's pretty amazing for 21st century baseball.

He's had a ton of highlight catches. But nobody gives a rat's ass about the Angels.

I have heard Trout speak. He is boring A.F.
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Brandon Nimmo has a ton of highlight catches. Give me Trout's "moment".

I'll save you some time. There is none.
 
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