When a quarterback is drafted high in the first round, he is expected to become a franchise savior and turn around a team’s fortunes; though some of these lofty draft picks go on to become Hall of Famers (e.g. Peyton Manning and John Elway, to name a few), others are colossal busts (e.g. JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, etc.). Somewhere in-between these two extremes is the quarterback who does not quite become a superstar, but nevertheless has a very long and productive career as a starter with flashes of brilliance; two signal-callers in recent memory who fit this mold were Kerry Collins and Vinny Testaverde – neither was an all-time great, but both played nearly two decades in the NFL and had Pro Bowl seasons, retiring as among the most prolific passers in league history (which is certainly nothing to scoff at). Looking back on these two underrated, but productive quarterbacks, the comparisons lead to a natural question:
Who was better – Kerry Collins or Vinny Testaverde?
In the late 1990s, two of the brightest up-and-coming young big men in the NBA were Juwan Howard of the Washington Bullets/Wizards and Antonio McDyess of the Denver Nuggets; both averaged 20+ points per game and were All-NBA selections by the age of 25, leading many basketball pundits to anoint them as future superstars in the post-Michael Jordan era. While neither player quite reached the expected superstardom for one reason or another, both nevertheless had long and productive careers in the Association; given their comparable playing positions and similar career trajectories across overlapping careers, it makes sense to ask the question:
500 career home runs is one of baseball’s magical milestones, with only 28 players in league history having reached that mark as of the end of the 2021 MLB season; aside from those with issues of steroid usage during their careers (e.g. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, etc.), it is also generally viewed as an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame. Among this illustrious group, two of the first 10 players to achieve the milestone were Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews – both longtime NL stars and peers in the 1950s and 1960s, each played a non-traditional power position (shortstop and third base, respectively) and finished his career with exactly 512 home runs, which makes for an interesting comparison:
During the 1960s, as the NHL moved from the Original Six era into expansion, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs won nine out of the possible 10 Stanley Cups for the decade (five for Montreal, four for Toronto). While each team was loaded with future Hall of Fame players, two of the brightest stars were centers Dave Keon of the Maple Leafs and Henri Richard of the Canadiens – despite relatively diminutive physical sizes (both stood less than 5’10”), each was a giant on the ice, playing nearly 20 years apiece for their respective franchises and serving as captain for a number of those years. Even more than half a century later, these two stars from a bygone era remain legends of the game – in comparing the duo, the question arises:
Note: Updated for Scott Rolen’s 2023 Hall of Fame selection.
In 2012, longtime Chicago Cubs star (and later broadcaster) Ron Santo was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the newly formed Golden Era Committee after never coming close during his 15 years on the regular writers’ ballot, a long overdue recognition for a third baseman who was equally adept with both the bat and the glove. Fast forward a decade or so, and another all-around great third baseman in Scott Rolen faced a similar uphill climb since first becoming eligible in 2018, finally earning his induction in 2023. A closer look at their respective careers shows some striking similarities between the accomplishments of Santo and Rolen, thus prompting an interesting question and comparison:
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