Greatest Athlete to never win a championship? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Greatest Athlete to never win a championship?

CONN78SEJ said:
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.View attachment 108995
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I knew he won Olympic medals andbpre-NFL championships but had to post this just for the ballroom dancing.

Yes, Jim Thorpe won several championships throughout his career, including Olympic titles. He won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. He also played for the Canton Bulldogs professional football team, and they won unofficial world championships in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Additionally, he won the intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship in 1912.
 
Deepster said:
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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How many HoFers actually have "moments"?

Mays had one. Jeter had one. Bo Jackson had one. Hell, I'll argue that Agee had 2 and Swoboda one in the '69 series.

Did Ripken? Did Aaron? Did Thome? Did Killebrew?

I'll tell you Barry Bonds' "moment": playing out of position despite Andy Van Slyke trying to move him over, which resulted in not being able to get to Sid Bream's single fast enough to throw him out at home. Juan Marichal's "moment" was breaking a bat over Johnny Roseboro's head.

"Moment" is a dumb way of looking at a career.
 
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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...and Sanders just walked away from Detroit in his prime. Those are 3 great examples. All legitimate all-time greats. That Baylor stat is scary sad.
 
SubbaBub said:
I knew he won Olympic medals andbpre-NFL championships but had to post this just for the ballroom dancing.

Yes, Jim Thorpe won several championships throughout his career, including Olympic titles. He won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. He also played for the Canton Bulldogs professional football team, and they won unofficial world championships in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Additionally, he won the intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship in 1912.
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I did say “gold medals aside”, or did you miss that? I also never heard of gold medals being referred to as “Championships” in amateur athletics. Funny you didn’t mention Thorpe played for the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves (before they moved to Atlanta) and the NY Giants, but never won a championship. Your argument is a weak one. :rolleyes:
 
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storrsroars said:
How many HoFers actually have "moments"?

Mays had one. Jeter had one. Bo Jackson had one. Hell, I'll argue that Agee had 2 and Swoboda one in the '69 series.

Did Ripken? Did Aaron? Did Thome? Did Killebrew?

I'll tell you Barry Bonds' "moment": playing out of position despite Andy Van Slyke trying to move him over, which resulted in not being able to get to Sid Bream's single fast enough to throw him out at home. Juan Marichal's "moment" was breaking a bat over Johnny Roseboro's head.

"Moment" is a dumb way of looking at a career.
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He would've been fine if he said Trout's teams never won and he wasn't marketable, we all know that. I thought we also all knew he was the best player in baseball when he was in his prime and he did some pretty amazing things on the diamond. I thought this was a quite a moment.

 
HooperScooper said:
This moment was a pretty iconic moment.

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Aaron was a great overall player, but that's simply an achievement. It's not a brilliant play in a clutch situation. Aaron was going to get 715 at some point.
 
Waquoit said:
Huh? It demolishes your assertion that Thorpe never won a championship.
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My “assertion”?????? I started my OP “Not sure on this and it’s going back aways”. It was more of a question on Thorpe than anything else. Lol
 
storrsroars said:
Aaron was a great overall player, but that's simply an achievement. It's not a brilliant play in a clutch situation. Aaron was going to get 715 at some point.
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Yes. And that iconic HR is his moment. A moment Trout does not have.
 
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superjohn said:
He would've been fine if he said Trout's teams never won and he wasn't marketable, we all know that. I thought we also all knew he was the best player in baseball when he was in his prime and he did some pretty amazing things on the diamond. I thought this was a quite a moment.

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Deepster said:
Yes. And that iconic HR is his moment. A moment Trout does not have.
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What was iconic about it? Did it win a game? Was it in a must-hit situation?

He was going to get 715 at some point. It didn't matter to the game being played one bit.

Might as well say McGwire's 62nd or Bonds' 71st were "moments".
 
storrsroars said:
What was iconic about it? Did it win a game? Was it in a must-hit situation?

He was going to get 715 at some point. It didn't matter to the game being played one bit.

Might as well say McGwire's 62nd or Bonds' 71st were "moments".
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He was going to get 715. And he did. That’s the moment.

You’re boxing in someone’s memorable moment as some October game winning play. Trout doesn’t have any of those. Or anything else. He has no HOF milestone achievements. Nothing more than a “oooh” highlight from some random in season midweek game.
 
storrsroars said:
What was iconic about it? Did it win a game? Was it in a must-hit situation?

He was going to get 715 at some point. It didn't matter to the game being played one bit.

Might as well say McGwire's 62nd or Bonds' 71st were "moments".
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This is spoken like you just don't get baseball at all.
 
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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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Yiiiiiikes lol

Yes, Trout is really that special. Trout's 5th best season trounces some MVP seasons lol
 
superjohn said:
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.
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His injuries have largely been freak injuries. He won't be Mike Trout of yesteryear, but he's still a very very good player. The move to RF I think will help out a lot.
 
storrsroars said:
Aaron was a great overall player, but that's simply an achievement. It's not a brilliant play in a clutch situation. Aaron was going to get 715 at some point.
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So maybe it was really more a moment for Scully.
 
SubbaBub said:
I knew he won Olympic medals andbpre-NFL championships but had to post this just for the ballroom dancing.

Yes, Jim Thorpe won several championships throughout his career, including Olympic titles. He won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. He also played for the Canton Bulldogs professional football team, and they won unofficial world championships in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Additionally, he won the intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship in 1912.
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I was always amazed by Thorpe and Ted Williams. They were good at whatever they did, it would appear. Ted was a great pilot and was even inducted into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame. His exceptional 20/10 vision certainly helped him with much of that success.
 
Baseball has two big categories of players that can’t be considered for any “greatest ever” list:

Steroid era - Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Clemons, etc. cheated and can’t be considered.

Segregation - the players before Jackie Robinson were not playing against the best, and it took baseball at least 5 years to get integrated after Robinson. Ty Cobb would never have put up the numbers he did against an integrated major leagues. This does make Ted Williams 1957 season even more impressive, hitting 38 homers and .388 against the best of the best at age 39, in an era where 39 is older than it is today.
 
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The answer to the original question is:

Football- Bo Jackson and Barry Sanders. Stats only begin to describe the things these two could do.

Basketball - Dominique Wilkins is the best ATHLETE to never win an NBA title. Despite being lazy and defense optional for most of his career, he was the Human Highlight Film. The things he could do with his body were breathtaking. He found religion on defense late in his career, but he no longer had the talent around him on the Hawks to challenge for a title.

An example of what a freak Wilkins was is that he blew out his Achilles in late January 1992, at the age of 32, and returned to start the next season and average 29.9 points and finish 5th in MVP voting. For at least the next 25 years, no NBA player made close to that kind of recovery from an Achilles.
 
Cliff Robinson, the NIT doesn't count...
 
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