Throughout baseball history, there have been great catchers in every era in different shapes and forms, from Mickey Cochrane to Bill Dickey to Yogi Berra to Johnny Bench to Carlton Fisk to Gary Carter, etc. In the 1990s and 2000s, MLB’s catching landscape was dominated by two figures, Mike Piazza in the NL and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez in the AL. As different as the two were, Piazza being the big slugger with at-best average defensive skills and Rodriguez being the all-around hitter and Gold Glover backstop, each was a dominant player at the position for well over a decade and has been immortalized in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Given their overlapping and highly accomplished careers, it is only natural to ask:
Note: Updated for Paul Pierce’s 2021 Hall of Fame selection.
In April 2019, in his capacity as an analyst on ESPN’s NBA Countdown and much to the chagrin of his co-hosts, Paul Pierce boldly proclaimed that he had a better NBA career than Dwyane Wade. Reaction from all corners was swift and merciless, as many pundits and fans ridiculed his statements and Heat fans chanted “Paul Pierce sucks!” at a Miami home game. Despite the relatively one-sided response to Pierce’s assertion, let us take a closer look at this head-to-head comparison and analytically and objectively answer the question:
When you look at the NHL’s all-time wins leaderboard for goalies, the first two names come as no surprise – Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, two of the greatest goalies in league history. Go down to the third and fourth spots, however, and you may be a little surprised by the names – Roberto Luongo and Ed Belfour (as of the end of the 2018-2019 season). Though both were excellent goalies for nearly two decades, most fans would not consider them among the greatest (i.e. top 5-10) goalies in NHL history and in fact, Luongo never even won a Vezina Trophy! Nevertheless, wins are wins and only two goalies in NHL history had more wins than these two, which begs the question:
With six Super Bowl titles (as of the end of the 2018 season), the Pittsburgh Steelers are tied with the New England Patriots for the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history. From the four-time champions of the 1970s to the more recent championship teams, the Steelers have been characterized by strong quarterback play (Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger), a ferocious defense (the Steel Curtain of the 1970s and the Troy Polamalu-led 21st century defense), and a powerful rushing game. The key catalysts for Pittsburgh’s vaunted rushing attack throughout the years have been Hall of Fame running backs Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis, who rank #1 and #2, respectively, on the team’s all-time rushing list. As such, it is only natural to debate who is the greatest running back in Steelers history by asking:
Note: Updated for Larry Walker’s 2020 Hall of Fame selection.
Every major league baseball team is constantly on the lookout for the next great five-tool player (speed, power, hitting for average, fielding, arm strength), with the best example in today’s game being Mike Trout. In recent memory, two of the best five-tool talents of the 1990s and 2000s were Carlos Beltran and Larry Walker, who between the two of them, had nearly 5,000 hits, 800 home runs, 3,000 runs scored, 3,000 runs batted in, and 500 stolen bases, and were honored with All-Star selections, Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, batting titles, and MVPs. Though each player’s respective Hall of Fame credentials have been (and in Beltran’s case, will be) debated among Cooperstown voters, between the two of them, the question is:
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