St. Louis' 10 Greatest Athletes

Left to right: Bruce Sutter, Bob Gibson, Red Schoendienst,

Stan Musial, Whitey Herzog, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith.

Today, the Mets opened the 2018 baseball season at home to the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 9-4.

St. Louis' 10 Greatest Athletes

My metro areas lists won't be like my lists for the States: While it is possible for someone to qualify on both lists, this is about players who played for local teams, not necessarily athletes who grew up there. In other words, great players in individual sports like boxing or tennis or track are out.

Honorable Mention to members of the Baseball Hall of Fame not otherwise in the Top 10: From the Cardinals, 1st basemen Charles Comiskey, Jake Beckley, Jim Bottomley, Johnny Mize and Orlando Cepeda; 2nd basemen Frankie Frisch and Red Schoendienst shortstop Ozzie Smith; left fielders Chick Hafey and Joe Medwick; and pitchers Grover Cleveland Alexander, Jessie Haines, Burleigh Grimes, Dizzy Dean, Steve Carlton and Bruce Sutter. (Ol' Diz was an all-time great, but an injury kept him from being great long enough to make the Top 10.

And from the Browns, shortstop Bobby Wallace, left fielder Goose Goslin, catcher Rick Ferrell, and pitcher Satchel Paige.

Honorable Mention to members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame not otherwise in the Top 10: From the Cardinals, tight end Jackie Smith, cornerback Roger Wehrli, and offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf; and from the Rams, offensive tackle Orlando Pace.

Honorable Mention, in particular, to Kurt Warner, quarterback, St. Louis Rams, 1998-2003 -- who is, after all, the only quarterback to lead a St. Louis team to an NFL Championship. The Rams' "Greatest Show On Turf" didn't last long, pretty much from Warner's assumption of the quarterbacking duties in the 1999 preseason following Trent Green's injury, until a finger injury Warner suffered early in the 2003 season -- barely 4 full seasons.

But those seasons, with Warner, running backs Marshall Faulk and Dre Bly, and receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim and Ricky Proehl, with Orlando Pace blocking for them, was one of the most spectacular offensive shows in NFL history, winning Super Bowl XXXIV -- the 1st NFL Championship in St. Louis history, and the 1st for the Rams franchise in 48 years. Warner was named Most Valuable Player of that game, and would be named NFL MVP in 1999 and 2001.

A 4-time Pro Bowler, he got the Rams into Super Bowl XXXVI, but they lost. He was later be signed by the Arizona Cardinals, the former St. Louis football team, and got them into Super Bowl XLIII, their 1st NFC Championship, and their 1st NFL Championship Game under any name in 60 years. But they lost, too.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this year. He was elected to the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame and the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor. In 2010, the NFL Network ranked him 90th on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. If the Rams institute a new team hall of fame once their permanent Los Angeles (Inglewood) stadium opens, he might be named to it, even though he never played a professional game in the L.A. metropolitan area.

Honorable Mention to members of the Basketball Hall of Fame not otherwise in the Top 10: From the Hawks, centers Ed Macauley and Clyde Lovellette; forwards Cliff Hagan and Lenny Wilkens; and guard Slater Martin, Richie Gerin and Zelmo Beaty; and from the Spirits, forward Maurice Lucas.

Honorable Mention to Blues who are members of the Basketball Hall of Fame not otherwise in the Top 10: Goaltenders Glenn Hall and Grant Fuhr, defensemen Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger, left wing Brendan Shanahan, right wing Joe Mullen, and centers Bernie Federko, Doug Gilmour and Adam Oates.

Honorable Mention to the St. Louis Boys of 1950. Of the 11 players of the U.S. team that upset England at the 1950 World Cup, 5 were from St. Louis. Goalkeeper Frank Borghi and center-half Charlie Colombo, outside right Frank "Pee Wee" Wallace and inside right Gino Parianiplayed for St. Louis Simpkins-Ford. Right back Harry Keough played for St. Louis McMahon, St. Louis Raiders and St. Louis Kutis.

Left back Joe Maca played for Brooklyn Hispano. Center forward Joe Gaetjens played for Brookhattan. Left half Walter Bahr, the last survivor, and midfielder Ed McIlvenny were playing for Philadelphia Nationals. Inside left John Souza and outside left Ed Souza played for Fall River Delponta Delgada in Massachusetts.

10. Larry Wilson, safety, St. Louis Cardinals (football), 1960-72. Like 1920s football star George Wilson, to whom he appears not to have been related, he was nicknamed Wildcat, but the earlier Wilson is not the reason. When he was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in 1960 -- they moved to St. Louis between the draft and the next season -- their defensive coordinator, Chuck Drulis, created a play he code-named "Wildcat," inventing the safety blitz. The Cards drafted Larry specifically to take advantage of this, as his play at the University of Utah showed him to be both really fast and hard-hitting.

Larry Wilson was so tough! (How tough was he?) He was so tough, he once played a game with both hands taped over, including his fingers, because he had broken both wrists -- and still intercepted a pass. It was 1 of 52 he picked off in his career, for 800 yards, including 5 touchdowns.

The aforementioned Jerry Kramer called him "the finest football player in the NFL." It seems a crime that he never appeared in a Playoff game in his 13 seasons, but Kramer's Packers dominated the NFL Western Division at the time, so the closest the Cardinals came was finishing 2nd in 1964, making the subsequent Bert Bell Benefit Bowl (a.k.a. the Playoff Bowl).

It's not that they weren't good: They were 9-5 in 1963, 9-3-2 in 1964, 8-5-1 in 1966, 9-4-1 in 1968, and 8-5-1 in 1970. We're not talking about a one-man team here. Had he hung on just a little longer, he could have been a part of the Cardinals' 1974 and '75 NFC Eastern Division Champions.

He made 8 Pro Bowls, and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the NFL 1960s and 1970s All-Decade Teams (even though he retired in 1972, and the only other man named to both teams was Dick Butkus), and the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 43rd on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. It is a crime that he was not named to the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010, especially since he was still alive and available for an interview (and still is now). No player from the 1999 TSN 100 had a bigger dropoff. Along with Ronnie Lott, Paul Krause, Ken Houston and Emlen Tunnell, he is probably still 1 of the top 5 safeties in football history.

The Cardinals retired his Number 8 well before they moved to Arizona. Even though he never played for Arizona (though he was a Cardinals executive both before and after the move, serving as scouting director, personnel director, general manager and vice president, retiring from an active role in 2002), he is in their Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium. Although he never played for the Rams, they (before moving back to Los Angeles) named him to the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame at the Edwards Jones Dome.

9. Marshall Faulk, running back, St. Louis Rams, 1999-2005. A star at San Diego State University, he made 7 Pro Bowls, and was named the NFL's Rookie of the Year in 1994 and Most Valuable Player in 2000. At the turn of the 21st Century, he was probably the NFL's best all-around player, helping the Rams reach Super Bowls XXXIV (won) and XXXVI (lost).

He finished his career with 12,280 rushing yards and an even 100 rushing touchdowns; and 767 catches for 6,875 yards and 36 touchdowns. The Indianapolis Colts, with whom he started, named him to their Ring of Honor. San Diego State and the Rams both retired Number 28 for him. He was elected to both the College and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 2010, the NFL Network listed him 70th on their list of the NFL's 100 Greatest Players.

His cousin Kevin Faulk was also a star running back, and helped the Patriots win 3 Super Bowls, including beating the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

8. Rogers Hornsby, 2nd base, St. Louis Cardinals, 1915-26 and 1933; and St. Louis Browns, 1933-37. He would rank a bit higher on this list had he stayed in St. Louis for his entire career, but he was traded away from the Cardinals -- despite being their best hitter and their manager of their 1st World Series-winning team -- because he was a rotten guy. This included being a racist and a compulsive gambler.

He also might have been the greatest righthanded pure hitter who ever lived. His .358 lifetime batting average is a record for righthanders. He batted .402 over a 5-year stretch from 1922 to 1926, including .424 in 1924, the highest in Major League Baseball since 1894.

He won 7 National League batting titles, 2 home run titles, 4 RBI titles, and all 3, the Triple Crown, in 1922 and 1925. He was named NL Most Valuable Player in 1925 and 1929. He collected 2,930 hits, and had 301 home runs. That doesn't sound like much now, but when he played his last game in 1937, only Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx had more. In addition to his 1926 World Championship with the Cardinals, he also won Pennants with the Chicago Cubs in 1929 and 1932.

But he went on to make 2 troubling discoveries: He was respected, but hated, and teams couldn't wait to get rid of him, his ego, and his private troubles; and he was a far better manager with himself as a player than without, frequently frustrated when his players weren't very good, let alone as good as he was.

He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. When The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999, Hornsby came in 9th, the highest-ranked 2nd baseman.

The Cardinals named him to their team Hall of Fame, and dedicated a statue to him outside Busch Stadium. While uniform numbers began to be used during his career, he never wore the same number long enough to be identified with it, so a Cardinal "STL" logo stands in for a retired number along with their other honorees.

7. Brett Hull, right wing, St. Louis Blues, 1988-98. Picking a player for the Blues is difficult, because most of their better players also spent significant time with other teams, including Hull, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger and Keith Tkachuk. But Hull is the only one with a statue outside their arena. He scored 741 goals in his NHL career, 527 of them with the Blues.

6. Bob Pettit, forward, St. Louis Hawks, 1955-65. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star, a 2-time NBA MVP, and the 1st NBA player to score 20,000 points. (This wouldn't be a big deal today. It was a huge deal then, in 1965.) He won the 1958 NBA Championship with the Hawks. After they moved to Atlanta, they retired his Number 9. He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players.

5. George Sisler, 1st base, St. Louis Browns, 1915-27. He started out as a pitcher, and in his rookie year, 1915, he outpitched his hero, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, twice. But, like another lefthanded pitcher who had his 1st full season in 1915, Babe Ruth, he turned out to be a much better hitter.

"Gorgeous George" -- or "the Sizzler" -- had a .340 lifetime batting average, including American League batting titles in 1920 and 1922. In 1922, he nearly led the Browns to the Pennant, falling 1 game short of the Yankees. He collected 257 hits, a major league record that stood until Ichiro Suzuki got 262 in 2004. For his career, he had 2,812 hits, and he might be much better remembered had he gotten the remaining 188 to get to 3,000.

He also led the AL in stolen bases 4 times, and for decades was regarded as the best-fielding 1st baseman in the game's history. When the Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1939, there were 25 inductees, 12 of whom were still alive, and 11 of them attended the opening ceremony -- all but Ty Cobb, who got held up getting there and just missed it. Sisler was the last survivor of those 12, living until 1973.

Many people forgot him, but The Sporting News didn't, ranking him 33rd on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999. When the current Busch Stadium opened in 2006, a statue of Sisler was placed outside, even though he never played for the Cardinals.

(The Browns became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, but they have not honored him in any way. And since his last season in the majors was 1930, the last year before every team adopted uniform numbers, there is no number to retire for him, which is another reason why he's not as well remembered as, say, Cobb or Ruth.)

He had 3 sons involved with professional baseball, including Dick Sisler, whose home run on the last day of the 1950 regular season gave the Philadelphia Phillies the National League Pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers -- whose team president, fellow University of Michigan graduate Branch Rickey, had signed him as a scout. George said, "I felt awful and terrific at the same time."

4. Albert Pujols, 1st base, St. Louis Cardinals, 2001-11. In 11 seasons with the Cards, Phat Albert made 10 All-Star teams. He also drove in at least 100 runs every season until 2011, when he had 99. He batted .328 with the Cardinals, with a 170 OPS+, 455 doubles, and 445 home runs. With all of that, and his being a 1st baseman, he was frequently compared with Stan Musial, a.k.a. Stan the Man, even getting the same nickname, "El Hombre."

His subsequent tenure with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim hasn't been as successful, but he goes into the 2018 season with 614 home runs, more than any player has ever hit honestly except Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. (Jim Thome finished with 612.) By the year 2027, expect to see him in the Hall and to see his Number 5 retired at Busch Stadium.

3. Lou Brock, left field, St. Louis Cardinals, 1964-79. He led Southern University of Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the 1959 NAIA Championship (national championship for small schools). Based on this, and on his major league achievements, he was elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

An 8-time MLB All-Star, he collected over 3,000 hits, and set records (which still stand, at least within the National League) for stolen bases in a season and a career. He led the St. Louis Cardinals to the 1964 (won), 1967 (won) and 1968 (lost) World Series. In 1967, he won the Babe Ruth Award, 1 of the 2 awards given to the Most Valuable Player of the World Series. (Bob Gibson got the better-known award, the Sport Magazine Award.)

The Cardinals retired his Number 20. He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame and The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players, ranked 58th.

2. Bob Gibson, pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals, 1959-75. Like Wilt Chamberlain, he played college basketball, in his case for Omaha's Creighton University. Also like Wilt, he played for the Harlem Globetrotters. Unlike Wilt, he couldn't stand the clowning, and wanted to play serious sports only. And since baseball paid more than basketball at that point, he chose baseball. And when Bob Gibson played baseball, it was a serious sport.

He didn't regret his choice of sports, but many men did. More so than even Don Drysdale, he was considered the meanest pitcher of his generation. He once said, "I didn't throw at a lot of guys, but when I did, I made sure I hit them." He also presaged Charles Barkley with this remark: "Why do I have to be a role model for your kid? You be a role model for your kid."

Along with Brock and Ken Boyer, he helped the St. Louis Cardinals win the 1964 and (with the additions of Orlando Cepeda and Roger Maris) 1967 World Series, and was named the Series MVP both times. In Game 1 in 1968, he set a Series record with 17 strikeouts. He seemed unbeatable, having already won Game 7 in both 1964 and 1967, but the Detroit Tigers got to him in Game 7 in 1968.

That 1968 season saw him put together the lowest earned-run average of the post-1920 Lively Ball Era, 1.12. For his career, he was 251-714, with 3,117 strikeouts, making him the 1st National League pitcher to fan 3,000. He made 9 All-Star Games, won 2 Cy Young Awards (1968 and 1970), and won 9 Gold Gloves. He also pitched a no-hitter in 1971.

He was named to the Baseball Hall of Fame, The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. The Cardinals elected him to their team Hall of Fame, retired his Number 45, and erected a statue of him outside Busch Stadium.

Do you want to tell Gibson he's not the greatest athlete ever to play for a St. Louis sports team? Neither do I. But he respects the history of the game, and of the Cardinals in particular, to accept that, in St. Louis, only Stan was truly The Man.

1. Stan Musial, left field, St. Louis Cardinals, 1941-63. Like Sisler and Babe Ruth, he was a lefthander who started as a pitcher. Like Ruth, but also played the outfield. Unlike Sisler and Ruth, his pitching career ended when he landed on his shoulder while making a great catch in the minor leagues. So he became a full-time outfielder -- and, along with Hornsby and Hank Aaron, a candidate for the title of greatest hitter in National League History.

Ted Williams, Stan's contemporary, always said he wanted people to think of him as the greatest hitter who ever lived. If there's one thing Ted liked more than hitting, it was talking about hitting. Once, he went on and on about Stan, until his son, John Henry Williams, asked if he thought Stan was as good a hitter as he was, and Ted said, "Yes, I do." That says it all; the rest is details.

Here's some of the details. He shares with Aaron and Willie Mays the record of 24 All-Star Game appearances. (There were 2 ASGs every year from 1958 to 1962, so he appeared in them in the last 20 of his 22 MLB seasons.) He had a career batting average of .331. Someone once asked him why he was always smiling, and he said, "If you had a lifetime batting average of .331, you'd be smiling, too!" He won 7 batting titles. His OPS+ was a whopping 159, meaning he was 59 percent better at producing runs than the average player of his time.

He was the 1st man to collect his 3,000th career hit on television, in 1958. He finished with 3,630 hits -- exactly 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road. He hit 725 doubles, 3rd all-time behind Tris Speaker and Pete Rose -- and Stan's last hit, in 1963, went under the glove of Rose, then a rookie 2nd baseman for the Cincinnati Reds.

He hit 475 home runs, more than any National Leaguer before him except Mel Ott. He had 1,951 RBIs, more than any NLer before him and still 7th all-time, including 10 100+ seasons. He finished with more extra-base hits (1,377) and more total bases (6,134) than any other player (with both records having been broken by Aaron).

He won 4 Pennants with the Cardinals, winning the World Series in 1942, 1944 and 1946, and losing it in 1943. He won 3 NL MVP awards, in 1943, 1946 and 1948 -- in this last, missing the Triple Crown by 1 home run -- and finished 2nd 4 other times, including 1957, when he won his last batting title, and Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility. In 1999, The Sporting News listed him 10th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and fan balloting put him on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

In 2011, Barack Obama awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Reflecting his service to his adopted hometown, and to his country, serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II in 1945 -- the only year between 1942 and 1946 that the Cardinals didn't win the Pennant -- a new bridge for Interstate 70 over the Mississippi River, which opened just after his death in 2013, was named the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, and is nicknamed the Stan Span.

The Cardinals retired his Number 6, and dedicated a statue to him outside Busch Stadium, having since moved it to the new ballpark with that name. On its base is a quote from the Commissioner at the time, Ford Frick: "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."

Top 10 Athletes From Ohio

March 1, 1803: Ohio is admitted to the Union as the 17th State.

Top 10 Athletes From Ohio

Making a list for Ohio was complicated not just by the fact of the 2 long-established major league cities in the state, Cleveland and Cincinnati, more recently joined by Columbus; but also by the role of football in the State.

The National Football League was founded in Canton in 1920, mainly because of Ohio's role in early pro football before that. Before the NFL, the Ohio League was the leading professional football league. And many of that league's teams would join the NFL: The Columbus Panhandles, the Dayton Triangles, the Massillon Tigers, the Portsmouth Spartans, the Akron Pros, and, most successfully both before and after the NFL's debut, the Canton Bulldogs. None of those teams survive today. (Well, the Spartans so, sort of: In 1934, the moved, becoming the Detroit Lions.)

And today's NFL teams from the state, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals, don't go back nearly that far, although both were founded by Paul Brown, who got his start in Massillon, before moving on to Ohio State. As a result of this football heritage, you could make a list of the top 10 football players just from Ohio, and still leave out a lot of great players.

Golf, of course, is not a sport, so that lets out Jack Nicklaus of the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, even though Sports Illustrated did name him their 1978 Sportsman of the Year; and, in 2005, George W. Bush awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Honorable Mention to these World Champion Yankees from Ohio: Thurman Munson of Canton, Paul O'Neill of Columbus, Jim Leyritz of the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, and David Justice of Cincinnati.

And, though neither ever threw or faced a pitch for the Yankees, Miller Huggins of Cincinnati, and George Steinbrenner of the Cleveland suburb of Rocky River. (Note: Never mention to Clevelanders, who tend to be Indians fans, that George is from Cleveland. They're a bit sensitive about it.)

Honorable Mention to Bill White of the Cleveland suburb of Warren. A pretty good 1st baseman and a pretty good hitter who helped the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, then broadcast for the Yankees from 1971 to 1988, the 1st black person to regularly do so for a major league team. (Jackie Robinson had done so for NBC, but not for any particular team.) Then he served as President of the National League from 1989 to 1994.

He served on the Baseball Hall of Fame's Committee on Veterans, but, in spite of a lifetime's body of work elevating the game, he is not in the Hall. Since he's no longer on the Committee, he is no longer subject to the rule that members are ineligible. (Most ex-players, managers, or executives on it are already in the Hall.) He's 84 years old. What are they waiting for?

Honorable Mention to Baseball Hall-of-Famers from Ohio who didn't otherwise make the Top 10: Buck Ewing of the Cincinnati suburb of Hoagland, Ed Delahanty of Cleveland, Roger Bresnahan of Toledo, Elmer Flick of the Cleveland suburb of Bedford, Rube Marquard of Cleveland, Jesse Haines of the Cincinnati suburb of Phillipsburg, Bill Mazeroski of Tiltonsville, Phil Niekro of Martins Ferry, and Barry Larkin of the Cincinnati suburb of Silverton.

Walter Alston of Morning Sun, and the aforementioned Miller Huggins are also in the Hall of Fame, for what they did as managers. So is Branch Rickey of Lucasville, for what he did as a general manager and a de facto owner.

There are actually 2 different World Series Most Valuable Player awards. The one we usually think of was originally the SPORT Magazine Award, and last year was renamed the Willie Mays Award. It has only 1 winner who played for the losing team, Bobby Richardson of the 1960 Yankees, who lost that Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates when Mazeroski hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 7, the only time that's ever happened.

For so doing, Mazeroski, also considered by many to be the best-fielding 2nd baseman ever, received the Babe Ruth Award, the lesser of the 2 Series MVP awards, established in 1949, and expanded to be an award for the entire postseason, much as hockey does with the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Gene Tenace of Lucasville and the Oakland Athletics swept the awards in 1972. Mike Schmidt won the SPORT/Mays Award in 1980, while his teammate, Californian Tug McGraw, won the Ruth Award. Steve Yeager of Dayton and the Los Angeles Dodgers was named 1 of 3 winners of the SPORT/Mays Award in 1981, with his teammates Ron Cey (Tacoma, Washington) and Pedro Guerrero (the Dominican Republic); Cey won the Ruth Award.

Honorable Mention to Charlie Gould of Cincinnati. The 1st baseman on baseball's 1st openly professional team, the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, he was the only member of the team to actually be from Cincinnati, or from anywhere in Ohio or the Ohio Valley.

Honorable Mention to Heisman Trophy winners from Ohio: Frank Sinkwich of Youngstown (1942 for the University of Georgia), Les Horvath of the Cleveland suburb of Parma (1944 for Ohio State), Vic Janowicz of the Cleveland suburb of Elyria (1950 for Ohio State), Dick Kazmaier of the Toledo suburb of Maumee (1951 for Princeton University), Howard "Hopalong" Cassady (1955 for Ohio State), Desmond Howard of Cleveland (1991 for, ironically, the University of Michigan, and MVP of Super Bowl XXXI), Charles Woodson of the Toledo suburb of Fremont (1997 for Michigan, ranked 11th on ESPN's list of the Top 25 College Football Players), and Troy Smith of Columbus (2006 for Ohio State).

The 1963 Heisman winner is also from Ohio, and is in this Top 10.

Honorable Mention to Archie Griffin of Columbus. Only 1 man has ever won the Heisman Trophy twice. He's the one, having won it in 1974 and 1975. In 2008, ESPN named ranked him 21st on their list of the Top 25 College Football Players of All Time. But his pro career wasn't nearly as successful, although he did help his home-State Cincinnati Bengals win the 1981 AFC Championship and play in Super Bowl XVI.

In 1991, he was Ohio State's Assistant Athletic Director, and filmed one of those recruiting commercials that colleges show during broadcasts of sporting events. He said that his hard work was rewarded, but just when you think he was going to mention his 2nd Heisman, he said,: "I received something no one else in the world has: A degree from the Ohio State University with my name on it."

He later served as President of Ohio State's Alumni Association, and as a part-owner of minor-league baseball's Dayton Dragons, and is now on the board of directors for Columbus-based Motorists Insurance.

Honorable Mention to these other Football Players not otherwise in the Top 10: Benny Friedman of Cleveland, Clarke Hinkle of Toronto (outside Steubenville), Lou Groza of Martins Ferry, Len Dawson of Alliance (MVP of Super Bowl IV), Paul Warfield of the Cleveland suburb of Warren, Alan Page of Canton, Larry Csonka of Stow (MVP of Super Bowl VIII), Jack Lambert of Mantua, Dan Dierdorf of Canton, Joey Galloway of Bellaire, Cris Carter of the Cincinnati suburb of Middletown, Ben Roethlisberger of Lima, and LeVeon Bell of the Columbus suburb of Reynoldsburg.

Of those, Roethlisberger and Bell are still active; of the rest, only Galloway is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and with over 700 receptions and over 10,000 receiving yards, he should be.

Honorable Mention to Don Shula of the Cleveland suburb of Painesville. He was a good player, a defensive back in the 1950s, but made his name as a coach. After building the great Detroit Lions defense of the early 1960s, he won the 1968 NFL Championship as head coach of the Baltimore Colts (but lost Super Bowl III to the Jets), then won 5 AFC Championships with the Miami Dolphins, including Super Bowls VII (the undefeated 1972 season) and VIII.

He is the winningest coach in NFL history, with 349 wins. When he broke George Halas' old record of 324 in 1993, Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year.

Honorable Mention to Lou Holtz of East Liverpool. Sure, he's an annoying analyst for ESPN. Sure, Notre Dame haters can't stand him. And, sure, his 1 pro job, with the 1976 Jets, was an unmitigated disaster, 3-10. But he's one of the greatest college coaches of all time, going 249-132-7, in a career that spanned from 1969 to 2004.

He was an assistant on Woody Hayes' Ohio State staff that won the 1968 National Championship. At William & Mary, he won the 1970 Southern Conference Championship. At North Carolina State, he won the Peach Bowl in the 1972 season, and the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship and the Liberty Bowl in the 1973 season. At the University of Arkansas, he won the 1978 Orange Bowl, the 1979 Southwest Conference Championship, and the 1982 Bluebonnet Bowl.

At Notre Dame, he won the 1988 National Championship, the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, the 1990 Orange Bowl, the 1992 Sugar Bowl, and the 1993 and 1994 Cotton Bowls. He was named national Coach of the Year in 1977 and 1988. At the University of South Carolina, he won the 2001 and 2002 Outback Bowls.

Honorable Mention to these Basketball Players not otherwise in the Top 10: Neil Johnston of Chillicothe, Alex Groza of Martins Ferry (Lou's brother), Jerry Lucas of the Cincinnati suburb of Middletown (1961 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year), Gus Johnson of Akron (no relation to the sportscaster of the same name), Nate Thurmond of Akron (a high school teammate of Johnson's), Wayne Embry of New Carlisle, Alvin Robertson of the Cleveland suburb of Barberton, Charles Oakley of Cleveland, and Ron Harper of Dayton.

Johnston, Lucas, Johnson, Thurmond and Embry are in the Basketball Hall of Fame -- Lucas twice, in his own right and as a member of the U.S. team that won the Gold Medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. If that entire team is in the Hall, and the entire 1992 Barcelona "Dream Team" is, then so should the 1984 Los Angeles team be, which would thus elect Robertson. Groza probably would be in the Hall, if not for the point-shaving scandal of 1951.

Wardell Stephen Curry, a.k.a. Dell Curry, lived in Akron while he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and his son, Wardell Stephen Curry II, a.k.a. Steph Curry, was born in Akron. But Dell grew up in Virginia, and Steph in North Carolina while Dell played for the Charlotte Hornets, so neither qualifies for Ohio.

Honorable Mention to Bryan Smolinski of the Toledo suburb of Genoa. Of the 27 men born in Ohio to play in the NHL, the former Islander is the leading scorer, with 274 goals and 651 points. He was also a member of the U.S. team that won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

Honorable Mention to Michael Rupp of the Cleveland suburb of Parma. His goal opened the scoring in Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, giving the New Jersey Devils the Cup. Although he later played for the Rangers, he is still a New Jersey hockey hero. He is now an analyst for the NHL Network and for his favorite team growing up, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

(People growing up in Ohio in the 21st Century can root for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but previously had to make a choice: Ignore the Reds-Pirates, Browns-Steelers and Bengals-Steelers rivalries, and root for the Penguins; or ignore the Indians-Tigers, Browns-Lions, Cavaliers-Pistons and Ohio State-Michigan rivalries, and root for the Detroit Red Wings.)

Honorable Mention to these Ohio Boxers: James Jeffries of the Columbus suburb of Carroll, Heavyweight Champion 1899 to 1904; Johnny Kilbane of Cleveland, Featherweight Champion 1912 to 1923; Ezzard Charles, the Cincinnati Cobra, Heavyweight Champion 1949 to 1951, named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine in 1949 and 1950; Joey Maxim of Cleveland, Light Heavyweight Champion 1950 to 1952; and Aaron Pryor of Cincinnati, Light Welterweight Champion 1980 to 1986.

Honorable Mention to Harrison Dillard of Cleveland. He is the only man to win Olympic Gold Medals in both a sprint and a hurdle footrace. In 1948 in London, he won the 100 meters, making him the unofficial "world's fastest human." In 1952 in Helsinki, he won the 110 meter hurdles. In both, he anchored the U.S. team that won the 4x100 meter relay, giving him a total of 4 Medals, all Gold.

In 1955, he was given the James E. Sullivan Award for the best American amateur athlete of the year. At 93, he is one of the oldest living Olympic Gold Medalists.

Honorable Mention to Tony Trabert of Cincinnati. He won the U.S. Open in 1953, the French Open in 1954, and came very close to winning the Grand Slam in 1955, winning the French, Wimbledon and the U.S., but only reaching the Semifinal of the Australian Open.

Honorable Mention to Peggy Fleming of Cleveland. She was the only American to win a Gold Medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, but it made her a legend, the most celebrated American figure skater ever. It's amazing what live color television can do.

Honorable Mention to Scott Hamilton of the Toledo suburb of Bowling Green. He won the Gold Medal in men's figure skating at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Bosnia (then Yugoslavia), and has succeeded Dick Button as the voice of American figure skating commentary.

Dishonorable Mention to Pete Rose of Cincinnati. No player in the history of Major League Baseball played in more games, or had more plate appearances, at-bats, or hits -- or outs. He was named to 17 All-Star Games, including at 5 different positions. He won a Rookie of the Year (1963), a National League Most Valuable Player award (1973), 3 batting titles and even 2 Gold Gloves.

He has long been fond of saying that no player has played in more winning games. He reached postseason play 8 times, and just missed 6 others, winning 6 Pennants and 3 World Series, including 1975, when he was awarded the Series MVP and Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year. He had a 44-game hitting streak, tied for the longest in NL history.

The Reds have retired his Number 14, and the fans, for whom he once symbolized baseball for an entire generation, named him to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

But he knew the rule, baseball's one "death penalty" rule, and he broke it anyway. The thing is, if he had come clean immediately, he probably would have been reinstated at the 1st opportunity, as George Steinbrenner was when he was "permanently banned" a year later. And he'd probably have gotten into the Baseball Hall of Fame only a little late. But he blew it.

And he will never be elected to the Hall during his lifetime. They may wait until after he dies to remove him from the "permanently ineligible" list. Because most fans will not want to hear his acceptance speech.

Dishonorable Mention to Kevin Youkilis of Cincinnati. Of all the players on the 2004 and 2007 World Champion * Boston Red Sox, whom Sports Illustrated foolishly gave their 2004 Sportspeople of the Year award, he wasn't the most evil, or the most cheating, but with his ass-wiggling batting stance, he was certainly the most annoying.

How annoying was he? He was so annoying, a Yankee Fan named his blog Fack Youk, giving it a Boston accent. He ended it in December 2012, after Yankee general manager Brian Cashman began one of his dumbest experiments, signing Youkilis, which lasted all of 6 months, 3 months of actual playing time.

Now, the Top 10:

10. Edwin Moses of Dayton. Before March 1976, he had only run the 440-meter hurdles once, but he qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team. Four months later, in Montreal, he ran his 1st international race at that distance, and won the Gold Medal. He missed the 1980 Olympics due to the U.S. boycott, then won the event again in 1984 in Los Angeles, and won a Bronze Medal in 1988 in Seoul -- and 33 is a little old for a hurdler.

From September 2, 1977 to June 4, 1987, he won 122 straight races. He won the 1983 Sullivan Award, and shared Sports Illustrated's 1984 Sportsperson of the Year award with gymnast Mary Lou Retton.

9. George Sisler of the Cleveland suburb of New Franklin. He started out as a pitcher, and in his rookie year with the St. Louis Browns, 1915, he outpitched his hero, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, twice. But, like another lefthanded pitcher who had his 1st full season in 1915, Babe Ruth, he turned out to be a much better hitter.

"Gorgeous George" -- or "Sisler the Sizzler" -- had a .340 lifetime batting average, including American League batting titles in 1920 and 1922. In 1922, he nearly led the Browns to the Pennant, falling 1 game short of the Yankees. He collected 257 hits, a major league record that stood until Ichiro Suzuki got 262 in 2004. For his career, he had 2,812 hits, and he might be much better remembered had he gotten the remaining 188 to get to 3,000.

He also led the AL in stolen bases 4 times, and for decades was regarded as the best-fielding 1st baseman in the game's history. When the Baseball Hall of Fame opened in 1939, there were 25 inductees, 12 of whom were still alive, and 11 of them attended the opening ceremony -- all but Ty Cobb, who got held up getting there and just missed it. Sisler was the last survivor of those 12, living until 1973.

Many people forgot him, but The Sporting News didn't, ranking him 33rd on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999. When the current Busch Stadium opened in 2006, a statue of Sisler was placed outside, even though he never played for the Cardinals.

(The Browns became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, but they have not honored him in any way. And since his last season in the majors was 1930, the last year before every team adopted uniform numbers, there is no number to retire for him, which is another reason why he's not as well remembered as, say, Cobb or Ruth.)

He had 3 sons involved with professional baseball, including Dick Sisler, whose home run on the last day of the 1950 regular season gave the Philadelphia Phillies the National League Pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers -- whose team president, fellow University of Michigan graduate Branch Rickey, had signed him as a scout. George said, "I felt awful and terrific at the same time."

Sisler and Rickey were both charter inductees into the College Baseball Hall of Fame, for their activities at Michigan -- though it should be mentioned that this is not as ironic as it might now seem, because, when they were at Ann Arbor, Michigan and Ohio State were not the arch-rivals that they would become.

8. Ken Griffey Jr. of Cincinnati. The son of a 3-time All-Star right fielder who won back-to-back World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76, he was born in the same town -- Donora, Pennsylvania -- and on the same day of the year (November 21, albeit 49 years later), as Stan Musial. and he might have been a better all-around player than Stan the Man.

Indeed, as a center fielder who excelled in every area of the game, lots of people compared him to Willie Mays -- in Seattle, he even wore Willie's number, 24. Unfortunately, a string of injuries meant that, in spite of everything he accomplished, he was denied the chance to do even more, perhaps making him more comparable to Mickey Mantle.

In 1999, while not yet 30 years old, "Junior" was selected by The Sporting News as one of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and by fan balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. But the 2nd half of his career would be riddled by injury. He still managed to bat .284 lifetime, with a 136 OPS+, 2,781 hits including 630 home runs -- 4th all-time among honest men, including the 2nd half of back-to-back jacks with his father on the 1990 Seattle Mariners -- and 1,836 RBIs, including 8 100+ seasons.

He was a 13-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, the 1997 American League Most Valuable Player, and, in 1995, told the Mariners to "Jump on my back," and he carried them all the way to the AL Championship Series, probably convincing voters to approve the funding for what became Safeco Field, and saving Major League Baseball in the Northwest.

Ironically, the new ballpark was, unlike the homer-happy Kingdome, a pitcher's park, and it's one of the reasons he left. In 8 seasons in his adopted hometown of Cincinnati (Number 24 had been retired for Tony Perez, so he switched to his father's number, 30), he and the Reds never made the Playoffs, and they traded him to the Chicago White Sox, and he helped them win the AL Central Division, after 2 AL West titles in Seattle. But he never appeared in a World Series, giving him more career home runs than anyone who didn't.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility, with a record 99.32 percent of the vote. The Mariners retired his Number 24, and both they and the Reds elected him to their team Halls of Fame.

His son, George Kenneth Griffey III, a.k.a. Trey Griffey, was a receiver for the University of Arizona, and was good enough to be selected for the postseason East-West Shrine Game earlier this year. He was not drafted by any NFL team, and has since been signed and waived by both the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins. (UPDATE: He has since been signed and played by the Pittsburgh Steelers.)

7. Roger Staubach of the Cincinnati suburb of Silverton. Because he went to the U.S. Naval Academy, which has a national student body, and played for the Dallas Cowboys, it's hard to think of him as being from Ohio, or anywhere therein. But he had to come from somewhere.

In 1963, he led Navy to a Number 2 national ranking before losing to Number 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl, and won the Heisman Trophy -- and he remains the last player from any of the service academies to win it. He was injured for much of the 1964 season, but was Captain of Navy's baseball team in 1965. In 2008, ESPN named ranked him 9th on their list of the Top 25 College Football Players of All Time.

After graduation, he served in Vietnam, though not in combat, and played on service teams until his commitment was complete. The Cowboys had drafted him, and he was able to join them in 1969. They won the NFC Championship in 1970, with Craig Morton as quarterback, but lost Super Bowl V. He was handed the starting job, and led them to win Super Bowl VI, being named the game's MVP.

A 6-time Pro Bowler, and the 1971 NFL MVP, he became known as Captain Comeback and, after the Cowboys' success led to their calling themselves "America's Team," Captain America. Due to his success at scrambling, he became known as Roger the Dodger -- though he certainly hadn't dodged the draft, military or NFL. He led them to 3 more NFC Championships and victory in Super Bowl XII in the 1977 season.

The Academy retired his Number 12. The Cowboys don't retire numbers, but they haven't given 12 out since he retired after the 1979 season, and they named him to their Ring of Honor. He was named to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and the NFL's 1970s All-Decade Team. When The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, Staubach was ranked 29th. When the NFL Network named its 100 Greatest Players in 2010, he was ranked 46th.

6. Jesse Owens of Cleveland. Certainly, he is the most important athlete on this list. Like his contemporary, Joe Louis, he was born in Alabama, but his family went to the Midwest as part of the "Great Migration" of black people leaving the South for good-paying industrial jobs in the considerably (but not completely) less racist North. He had already equaled the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100-yard dash at East Technical High School. Then he went to Ohio State, and set all kinds of records in preparation for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Let's end the myth right here: On the opening day of the Olympics, Chancellor Adolf Hitler only congratulated German medalists. The President of the International Olympic Committee told him to greet every medalist, or none at all. He chose none at all -- with an exception for American sprinter Helen Stephens, whom he actually propositioned, and she turned him down -- and this was before Owens competed, so Hitler did not "snub" Owens any more than he snubbed anyone else.

Two days after the opening, on August 3, Owens won the 100 meters, edging Ralph Metcalfe, also black, and a future Congressman from Illinois. The next day, he won the long jump, falling short of the world record, which he had already set while at Ohio State. The next day, he won the 200 meters, edging another black competitor, Matthew "Mack" Robinson -- Jackie's older brother, who attended the University of Oregon. Both men surpassed the existing world record in the event.

Four days after that, he anchored the U.S. 4x100-meter relay team. That's 4 Gold Medals in track & field at a single Olympics, a feat not matched by any competitor since, save one, and in the exact same 4 events: Carl Lewis in 1984.

Owens had won those Gold Medals, and had the German fans cheering his name, shattering Hitler's myth of "Aryan supremacy." He was not quite 23 years old. Hitler did, indirectly, stop him from winning any further medals, because World War II ended up canceling the Olympics for 1940 and 1944.

He made money where he could, including, after World War II, helping Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein run a new all-black professional baseball league, but it fell apart quickly. "You can't eat four gold medals," he said of his financial struggles thereafter. Eventually, the federal government appointed him a goodwill ambassador, but he never again received the attention that Louis and Robinson did. In 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded him the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He died in 1980 after decades of heavy smoking, and has become a forgotten legend. I wish I could rank him higher, but his time at the forefront of sports was rather brief.

5. LeBron James of Akron. (While it's only 40 miles south of Cleveland, as an industrial city of 200,000 people, it's not fair to call it a "suburb.") Where to begin? He was the 1st high school basketball player to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and he's the only athlete to be named their Sportsperson of the Year twice. (In 2012 and 2016. He was preceded by Tiger Woods, but golfers are not athletes.) Being on the cover so often does not seem to have jinxed him.

He went straight from high school to the NBA, to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, and became, except for Michael Jordan, the most-hyped player in NBA history. He was named Rookie of the Year in 2004. As of the 2017-18 season, he had been named to 15 All-Star Games, including 3 times being named the game's MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2008, and in the next 5 seasons, he was named to the All-Defensive First Team. He is a 4-time regular-season MVP.

But it's the postseason where the greatest of the great stamp their legends. In 2007, he got the Cavs to their 1st NBA Finals, but they got swept. After repeated Spring humiliations, and practically begging team owner Dan Gilbert to get better players around him, he played out his contract and, in a live ESPN special, said, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach." The people of Northern Ohio saw this as a massive betrayal, but let the record show that he did respect his contract, rather than forcing a move.

He went to the Miami Heat, played 4 seasons for them, and reached the Finals all 4 years, winning the title in 2012 and 2013. His contract completed there, he made peace with Gilbert, and returned to the Cavs. In his 1st 3 seasons back, he took them to the Finals all 3 times -- meaning he's now been to 7 straight Finals. In 2016, he finally got them their 1st title. For all 3 of his titles, he was named the winner of the Bill Russell Award as Finals MVP. He also led the U.S. team to the Olympic Gold Medal in 2008 in Beijing and in 2012 in London. He is 33 years old, and could have many more big years.

We are now hearing that he and Cavs management are feuding again, and people are already guessing where he will end up. Give it up, Knicks fans: He didn't want you last time, and he doesn't want you this time. He's had enough with chaotic management. (UPDATE: It turned out to be the Los Angeles Lakers.)

The Number 23 he wore with the Cavs in honor of Jordan, and the Number 6 he wore with the Heat in honor of Russell, will almost certainly be retired. He will almost certainly be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He will almost certainly be one of the first people selected in 2021 if the NBA names a 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. (I say, "Almost certainly," because, as Pete Rose and the steroid users have shown us, there is no longer any such thing as a sure thing.

But he is not the greatest basketball player ever to come from Ohio. In terms of achievement, he is still behind...

4. John Havlicek of Bridgeport. Like Frank Howard, 4 years older and also a basketball player at Ohio State (but who chose baseball instead, and hit 382 home runs), he was nicknamed "Hondo." He may have been the most versatile basketball player who ever lived, capable of playing all 5 positions.

As sophomores in 1960, he and Jerry Lucas helped Ohio State win the National Championship. They then lost the Final to the University of Cincinnati in 1961 and 1962. Havlicek was drafted by the Boston Celtics, and his 1st year, 1962-63, was Bob Cousy's last year. They won the NBA Championship in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969.

Bill Russell then retired, but in 1970, Dave Cowens arrived, and he and Havlicek became the nucleus of a new great team. They won 68 games in 1973, but were beaten by the Knicks in the Playoffs. They rebounded in 1974, winning the title, and Havlicek was named the Finals MVP. They won another title in 1976, and he retired after the 1978 season. He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and the Celtics retired his Number 17. Chris Mullin later said he wore 17 in Hondo's honor.

Havlicek, Mazeroski, Phil and Joe Niekro, and Lou and Alex Groza all grew up within a few miles of each other, near Steubenville (hometown of singer Dean Martin), across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia, where Mazeroski was born. They also grew up within a few years of each other: Lou was born in 1924, Alex in 1926, Bill in 1936, Phil in 1939, Hondo in 1940, and Joe in 1944. The Niekros and Havlicek were boyhood friends, and would later meet Mazeroski and the Grozas and become friends with them as well.

Sports Illustrated did a feature on them in 1988, calling them "The Valley Boys." It also mentioned some guys they would have been, if not necessarily friends with, at least aware of: The aforementioned Holtz and the much-older Hinkle, Bob Gain of Wheeling (a College Football Hall-of-Famer and Browns teammate of Lou Groza, born in 1929), Calvin Jones of Steubenville (a College Football Hall-of-Famer, born in 1933), Gene Freese of Wheeling (a Pirate teammate of Mazeroski's, born in 1934), Bill Jobko of Bridgeport (a star for Ohio State and the Los Angeles Rams, born in 1935), Chuck Howley of Wheeling (a Super Bowl winner with the Dallas Cowboys, born in 1936), and Bob Jeter of Weirton, West Virginia (a Super Bowl winner with the Packers, born in 1937).

The article didn't mention Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers of Steubenville, because he moved to California as a boy, and he qualifies there, not here.

3. Marion Motley of Canton. Cooperstown, New York, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is much too small a town to have much chance of producing a player who will reach it. That is not the case with Canton, an industrial city of 72,000, 60 miles south of Cleveland, which was the birthplace of the NFL, and was thus selected as the site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It has produced 3 members: Marion Motley, Alan Page and Dan Dierdorf -- and Chris Spielman could one day become the 4th.

In 1946, just as the Los Angeles Rams were reintegrating the NFL with Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, the Cleveland Browns were making the All-America Football Conference integrated from its start, with running back Motley and guard Bill Willis. So pro football is sometimes said to have had "four Jackie Robinsons."

He helped the Browns win all 4 AAFC titles and the 1950 NFL Championship. He led the AAFC in rushing in 1948 and the NFL in 1950. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the NFL's 1940s All-Decade and 75th Anniversary Teams. The Browns have not retired his Number 76, but they have named him to their Ring of Honor, and the University of Nevada has retired the Number 41 that he wore there.

Motley became, after Bronko Nagurski, the model of the big bruising fullback, to be followed by men like Jim Brown and Jerome Bettis. He was also described by Blanton Collier, then an assistant to Paul Brown and later his successor as head coach, as someone who "had no equal as a blocker" and "a great, great linebacker."

When The Sporting News named their 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999, they listed Brown 1st, and Motley, who played his last game in 1953, before TV took hold and NFL Films was founded, was listed 32nd. In 2010, the NFL Network listed Motley 74th on their list of the 100 Greatest Players, and Brown 2nd. But no less a player than Motley's quarterback, Otto Graham, said, "There is no comparison between Jim Brown and Marion Motley. Motley was the greatest all-around fullback."

In his 1970 book The Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football, Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman called him the best player in the history of the sport. When "Dr. Z" updated that book in 1984, 14 years later, following a refresher on a lot of old football film, he refused to change that ranking.

2. Mike Schmidt of Dayton. A 12-time All-Star, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, a leader of the National League in home runs 8 times and in RBIs 4 times, he has been called the greatest 3rd baseman who ever lived. His 548 home runs led all National Leaguers, and all righthanded hitters, in his generation. (Among American Leaguers and lefthanders in his generation, only Reggie Jackson had more.)

He was named National League Most Valuable Player in 1980, 1981 and 1986 -- the last of these, in spite of the Mets finishing 21 1/2 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1980, he was named MVP of the World Series, the Phillies' 1st title. In 1983, as part of the team's Centennial, fan balloting named him the greatest player in franchise history -- and he still had 163 home runs, an MVP, and a Pennant ahead of him. All told, he helped the Phillies reach the postseason 6 times -- and they'd only done so twice before.

His Number 20 was retired (he said he wore it in honor of his favorite player growing up, Frank Robinson of the nearby Cincinnati Reds), and he was easily elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility. In 1999, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and was ranked 28th on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him not only the highest-ranking 3rd baseman, but the highest-ranking player who debuted after 1967.

Fast facts with which you can amaze your friends: On June 23, 1971, Rick Wise pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies, and the last out was a line drive to 3rd baseman John Vuckovich; on August 15, 1990, Terry Mulholland pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies, and the last out was a line drive to 3rd baseman Charlie Hayes; in between was the entire career of Mike Schmidt, but, despite all the big moments he was a part of, he never played in a winning no-hitter.

But Schmidt is not the greatest athlete, or the greatest baseball player, to come from Ohio. After all, as great as he was, there's no Mike Schmidt Award.

1. Cy Young of Gilmore. He was born Denton True Young on March 29, 1867, and by 1889 "Dent" Young was pitching in the minor leagues. He was given a tryout by a team in Canton, and after throwing some of his fastballs against a wooden fence, the manager said it looked like a cyclone had wrecked it. So he became "Cyclone" Young, and this was shortened to "Cy."

Canton became too small for him, and in 1890, the Cleveland Spiders of the National League came calling. Many pitchers who were proven good by then were harshly affected by the 1893 move of the distance between home plate and the pitcher's mound from 50 feet to 60 feet, 6 inches. If anything, it made Young more effective. He kept pitching, and pitching, and pitching, until 1911, at the age of 44.

His records of 906 career appearances, 76 shutouts and 2,803 strikeouts have been surpassed by many pitchers, but most of his records are, due to the increase in hitting after 1920 and the rise of the relief pitcher in the latter half of the 20th Century, absolutely unassailable unless there is an equally dramatic change in the other direction: 511 wins, 316 losses, 815 starts, 749 complete games, 7,356 innings pitched, and 29,565 batters faced.

There's no way to know how many pitches he threw, but if we guess that he averaged a little over 4 pitches per batter, that's over 120,000 pitches in his career. Don't show that number to Brian Cashman, or he'll have a stroke. His career ERA was 2.63, his ERA+ 138, and his WHIP 1.130 -- so he wasn't just feasting off the Dead Ball Era: He was great even by the standards of his own time.

He pitched 3 no-hitters, and when he pitched a perfect game for the Boston Americans (forerunners of the Red Sox) against the Philadelphia Athletics (and their own Hall of Fame pitcher, Rube Waddell, no less) on May 5, 1904, not only did it make him the 1st pitcher to throw a perfect game in the American League, or in either League with the 60-and-6 distance, but it made him the 1st pitcher to throw no-hitters in both Leagues.

He didn't have many chances for postseason play. In 1892, he helped the Spiders finish 2nd in the NL, and they wound up beating the Pennant-winning Boston Beaneaters (forerunners of the Braves) for the Temple Cup, although he didn't win a game in that series. In 1903, he went 2-1 for the proto-Red Sox during the 1st-ever World Series, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1904, they won the Pennant again, but the New York Giants chickened out, and the World Series wasn't played.

He won 241 games for the NL Spiders, and another 29 for the AL Indians, so his 270 wins are still the most in Cleveland history, 4 ahead of Bob Feller. He won 192 games for the Red Sox, and Roger Clemens was only able to tie him for the team's all-time lead. In 1947, at age 80, he appeared at the Yankees' 1st Old-Timers Day, in a Cleveland Indians uniform, Number 29. (The Indians have not retired the number for him, but both they and the Red Sox have elected him to their team halls of fame.)

This was the only color photo I could find of Cy Young, taken

at that Old-Timers Day in 1947. Ironically, he's holding a bat.

The Chicago White Sox player in the background is

his Hall of Fame contemporary, Big Ed Walsh.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, in its 2nd round of elections, with the only pitchers preceding him in the previous year's election being Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson. In 1999, 88 years after his last game, and 44 years after his death, The Sporting News ranked him 14th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, again trailing only Johnson and Mathewson among pitchers. That same year, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, even though he was already 33 years old when the 20th Century began.

When he died at age 88 in 1955, a month after the end of the season, Major League Baseball established the Cy Young Award, to be given to the most valuable pitcher in the major leagues, since many people thought pitchers, appearing only 1 game out of every 4 in those days, shouldn't be eligible for the Most Valuable Player award. The inaugural honoree, in 1956, was Don Newcombe, and he won the MVP anyway. In 1967, each League was given a separate award.

Because of the historical distinction of the 1st World Series, a statue of Cy Young now stands on the campus of Northeastern University, roughly where the pitcher's mound was at the Red Sox' home at the time, the Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Supposedly, a few years before he died, someone walked up to him and said, "Didn't you used to play baseball?" Cy Young answered, "Mister, I won more games than you'll ever see."

Happy Paul O'Neill Day!

Met fans probably think their team made a great trade in getting Yoenis Cespedes. But they've never made a trade as good as this one. Even their 1983 trade for Keith Hernandez and their 1985 trade for Gary Carter only got 1 World Series win. This one led to 4 World Series wins for the Yankees.

November 3, 1992: On the same day that Bill Clinton is elected President of the United States, the Yankees trade center fielder Roberto Kelly and 1st baseman Joe DeBerry to the Cincinnati Reds, in exchange for right fielder Paul O'Neill.

At the time, I thought this was a great trade for both teams. O'Neill was a good hitter and a good fielder, who had done well in Cincinnati, playing for an equally fiery right fielder, his manager, Yankee Legend Lou Piniella. (Sweet Lou doesn't have his Number 14 retired or a Plaque in Monument Park, but he helped the Yankees win 4 Pennants and the YES Network gave him a Yankeeography, so I'm calling him a Yankee Legend -- capital Y, capital L.)

Playing in Yankee Stadium, with the short porch in right field, I figured O'Neill would hit more home runs than in the more neutral confines of Riverfront Stadium, and that Yankee Fans would love his intense personality.

I was right on both counts, as Paulie was our right fielder for the next 9 years, effectively taking the spot that many fans thought that Jay Buhner should have still had. In those 9 years, the Yankees made the Playoffs 7 times, winning 5 Pennants and 4 World Series. (He also won the Series with the Reds in 1990.) Although his Number 21 hasn't been officially retired, it's hardly been given out since. Last season, he got his Monument Park Plaque.

Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps has been mocked as a lousy trade. Think of it, instead, as Jay Buhner for Paul O'Neill: 5 Pennants for New York, none for Seattle.

I also figured that Kelly, a native of Panama and an All-Star in 1992, would find the Reds a better fit. He'd been held back by being a righthanded hitter in Yankee Stadium, where left-center and center fields, while not as pronounced as in the pre-renovation era, was known as Death Valley. Riverfront was not only friendlier to righthanders, but had artificial turf, accommodating his speed. I thought the Reds were getting a great player.

As it turned out, I was wrong on this count. Although he made another All-Star Team with the Reds in 1993, injuries plagued him, and while he was on postseason teams with the 1995 Los Angeles Dodgers, the 1997 Seattle Mariners, and the 1998 and 1999 Texas Rangers, he never played on a Pennant winner. In 2000, the Yankees brought him back, but released him in April, and he never played in the majors again.

A sad story? Not so fast. He managed in the minor leagues, and since 2008, he has been the 1st base coach and hitting instructor for the San Francisco Giants. With them, he now has 3 World Series rings, only 2 fewer than O'Neilly. Also on manager Bruce Bochy's staff are forer Yankees Dave Righetti Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens and Joe Lefebvre. How about that?

(Kelly, with former Giants star Pablo Sandoval.)

Not that this gives the Reds any comfort: They still haven't won a Pennant, or even a National League Championship Series game, since 1990. "Curse of Paul O'Neill," Ohio Valley?

*

November 3, 1926: Two of the top players of the last decade -- in the case of one, of the last 2 decades -- resign as player-managers. George Sisler, arguably the greatest 1st baseman who has ever lived to this point, resigns as manager of the St. Louis Browns, but will remain a player. Dan Howley is named his replacement.

On the same day, Ty Cobb resigns as manager of the Detroit Tigers, and announces his retirement from baseball. Soon after, a 3rd legend retired as a player-manager, Tris Speaker of the Cleveland Indians.

Unlike Sisler, for whom everything seems to have been above-board, it soon came out that the Georgia Peach and the Grey Eagle were coerced into retirement because of allegations of game-fixing brought about by Dutch Leonard, a former pitcher managed by Cobb. Leonard claimed proof existed in letters written to him by Cobb and Smoky Joe Wood, former ace pitcher, who'd been Speaker's teammate on the Boston Red Sox and again with the Indians.

Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis held a secret hearing with Cobb, Speaker and Wood. A second secret meeting among the AL directors led to the unpublicized resignations of Cobb and Speaker. Rumors of the scandal led Judge Landis to hold additional hearings, in which Leonard subsequently refused to participate.

Cobb and Wood admitted to writing the letters, but claimed that a horse-racing bet was involved, and that Leonard's accusations were in retaliation for Cobb's having released him from the Tigers, thereby demoting him to the minor leagues. Speaker denied any wrongdoing.

On January 27, 1927, Judge Landis cleared Cobb and Speaker of any wrongdoing, because of Leonard's refusal to appear at the hearings. Landis allowed both Cobb and Speaker to return to their original teams, but each team let them know that they were free agents, and could sign with any club they wanted.

Speaker signed with the Washington Senators for 1927, and Cobb with the Philadelphia Athletics. Speaker then joined Cobb in Philadelphia for the 1928 season, the last in the majors for each of them. (Sisler played on until 1930.) Cobb said he had come back only to seek vindication, and to say that he left baseball on his own terms.

Cobb's replacement as Tiger manager was George Moriarty, a former Tiger infielder who is, until now, an American League umpire. He is the only man to hold the positions of player, umpire, scout and manager. He will also become the grandfather of Michael Moriarty, who becomes an actor, best known for playing a baseball player in the film Bang the Drum Slowly. Speaker's successor in Cleveland is Jack McCallister, and having succeeded Speaker is about the only noteworthy thing about him.

*

November 3, 1953: Baseball's rules committee restores the 1939 rule which says that a sacrifice fly is not charged as a time at bat.

Also‚ the committee votes for the "no gloves on the field rule." Hank Greenberg‚ who proposed the change‚ says "Aside from the possibility of hindering the play‚ gloves on the field look sloppy." It also made it easy for opposing players to sneak creepy-crawly or otherwise disgusting things in the glove of an easily scared player, such as the Yankees' Phil Rizzuto.

The committee also makes a rule that any runner will be called out for deliberately running the bases backwards or even taking a lead off the base in the wrong direction.

A new balk rule is instituted which gives the batter an option: If he gets a hit after a balk is called‚ he has the option of accepting the outcome of the pitch‚ instead of being limited to the advance of the runner(s). This is the baseball equivalent of a football team that is the beneficiary of a penalty having the option to decline it, if the outcome of such is more advantageous to them than the outcome of the penalty.

Rule suggestions rejected‚ as noted by Bob Timmerman‚ include the re-legalization of the spitball‚ 2 bases for an intentional walk‚ and the option of declining ball 4.

November 3, 1954: The Yankees tour Japan, and draw a record crowd of 64‚000 when they play the 1st game against the All-Japan Stars in Osaka. Andy Carey slugs 13 home runs‚ and catching prospect Elston Howard bats .468 on the 25-game tour. Each has thoroughly impressed the Yankee brass, and both get promoted to the Yankees for 1955 -- in Howard's case, making him the 1st black player for the Yankees in a regular-season game.

November 3, 1964: Philadelphia voters approve a bond issue raising $25 million to pay for a new stadium that will house both the Phillies and the Eagles.

Due to cost overruns, a 1967 measure will be needed to authorize an additional $13 million, bringing the final price tag to approximately $50 million, making Veterans Stadium one of the most expensive ballparks ever built. (To put that in perspective: The inflation-adjusted total cost of $384 million compares with the $24 million, or $184 million in today's money, needed to build Shea Stadium.) Various delays will keep The Vet from opening for 6 1/2 years, before it does so on April 10, 1971.

As bad as The Vet was in its last few years, it served its purpose: It saved the Phillies and Eagles from moving out of Philadelphia. Until then, the Phils were playing at Connie Mack Stadium, formerly named Shibe Park, which seated only 33,608 and was stuck in the North Philadelphia ghetto, which was just struck by a race riot the summer before the 1st bond issue, which certainly didn't help the atmosphere in the stands as the Phils lost 10 straight games to blow what looked like a sure Pennant.

And the Eagles were playing in Franklin Field, a much nicer stadium that seated 67,000 at the time, but was built in 1922 with absolutely straight grandstands, providing bad sightlines if the ball was at the other end of the field; no luxury boxes, and a poor lighting system.

Both teams needed a modern stadium, and, while the "cookie-cutter" trend got old in a hurry, and The Vet did as well, without it, the Phillies might, today, be in Denver or Seattle or Toronto, while the Eagles, instead of almost moving to Phoenix, as they apparently were considering for the 1985 season, due to owner Leonard Tose's financial woes, might have actually done so.

November 3, 1968: Cardinal broadcaster Harry Caray is struck by a car while crossing a street in St. Louis. Both of his legs are broken‚ as are his nose and one of his shoulders.

He recovers, but while he does, it is revealed that he was having an affair with Susan Busch, the wife of Augie Busch, the son of Cardinal owner Gussie Busch. Harry never denied it, only saying, "I never raped anybody" -- essentially admitting it and calling Susan Busch a slut. (Augie would divorce her and marry Virginia, a lawyer. He has 2 children with each wife.)

Gussie fires Harry, and Harry heads to Chicago, and burnishes his already-potent legend by broadcasting for first the White Sox, then the Cubs. Today, it's hard to imagine Harry with any team but the Cubs, or to imagine anyone else as the voice of the Cardinals other than Jack Buck.

November 3, 1970: The Phillies trade Curt Flood to the Senators for 3 minor league players. The embattled outfielder had refused to go to Philadelphia after the 1969 trade from the Cardinals, citing he was not a piece of property to be sold, becoming the first player to seriously challenge the reserve cause. He would quickly wash out with the Senators, unable to shake off the rust from missing the entire 1970 season.

November 3, 1989: The NBA's expansion Minnesota Timberwolves play their 1st game. They lose 104-96 to the Seattle SuperSonics at Seattle Center Coliseum. Tyrone Corbin leads the T-Wolves with 20 points, while Dale Ellis of the Sonics leads all scorers with 33.

*

November 3, 1993: Cleveland pitcher Cliff Young is killed in a truck crash in Willis‚ Texas. He is only 29. He is the 3rd Indians pitcher to die this year, following Steve Olin and Tim Crews in the spring training boating accident that also badly injured ex-Met Bob Ojeda.

November 3, 1995, 20 years ago: The NBA's expansion Toronto Raptors play their 1st game. Unlike the Timberwolves, their debut is at home and a win. They beat the New Jersey Nets, 94-79. Alvin Robertson scores 30 for the Raps, the only major league sports team ever named for a dinosaur.

November 3, 1996: Kobe Bryant makes his NBA debut at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Just 18 years old, and the 2nd-youngest player in NBA history to that point, the son of former Philadelphia 76er Joe "Jellybean" Bryant plays just 6 minutes and does not score, nor does he record any assists, and just 1 rebound.

He does, however, play on the winning side: Shaquille O'Neal, the former Orlando Magic star also playing his 1st game for the Lakers, drops 35 points on the Timberwolves, and the Lakers win 91-85.

November 3, 2001: The Arizona Diamondbacks even the World Series at 3 games apiece with a 15-2 win over the Yankees in Game 6. Randy Johnson gets the win for Arizona, while Danny Bautista drives in 5 runs. Arizona knocks out a Series-record 22 hits‚ and scores 8 runs in the 3rd inning, knocking Andy Pettitte out of the box.

November 3, 2004: The Mets name Yankee coach Willie Randolph, who grew up in Brooklyn as a Met fan, as their new manager. The Phillies name Charlie Manuel as their new manager. One of these moves will work out only so well, and no more. The other will work out very, very well.

On this same day, Sergei Zholtok dies. He played for several team in his NHL career, most recently the Nashville Predators, and had gone back to his native Latvia to play during the NHL lockout. He suffered a heart attack while playing for Riga 2000 against Dinamo Minsk of Belarus, in Minsk. He was only 31.

November 3, 2012: The Nets make their Brooklyn debut, a little delayed due to Hurricane Sandy. The opponents are the Toronto Raptors, who played their 1st game at home to the Nets, 17 years to the day before.

This time, the Nets announce their freakin' presence with authority. Despite 28 points from the Raps' Kyle Lowry, the Nets win 107-100, led by 27 points from Brook Lopez. Attendance: 17,732.

Cleveland's All-Time Baseball Team

It's now clear that I won't get all 30 teams done for this project before Opening Day, which is this coming Monday afternoon. Of course, if I were doing this for football, with all the various positions available, it would take a lot longer.

But an All-Northern Ohio football team would be better than one for baseball. It would also be one of the best regional teams anywhere, because, while Ohio loves its baseball (both the Cleveland and the Cincinnati sides), it is nuts about football.

Nevertheless, I move on:

13. Cleveland’s All-Time Baseball Team

This team consists of players from the northern half of Ohio -- including the northwest corner, the Toledo metropolitan area, which is closer to Detroit than it is to Cleveland, and in fact the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens have been a Tiger farm team for as long as I can remember.

Still, if you ask a Toledo-area athlete if he would rather accept a scholarship to The... Ohio State University or to the University of Michigan, he would be less likely to say "M Go Blue" and more likely to say, "Go Bucks, Michigan Sucks."

The dividing line is pretty much the northern edge of Interstate 270, the "beltway" around the State capital of Columbus. The State House is 107 miles from Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark, and 142 miles from Jacobs Field, or whatever the Indians are calling it now.

When Jim Tressel, now working for the University of Akron but best known as the head coach at Ohio State, was the head coach at Youngstown State University, about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, he called the stretch of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania between them "The State of Youngstown." It helped with recruiting.

It also seems to have inspired former Rutgers University and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano to call the region that includes the entire States of New Jersey and Delaware, plus the rest of the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, "The State of Rutgers."

This might be a better team than an all-time Indians' squad, and does have a few Indians on it. It certainly has one hell of a pitching staff. But it's also worth noting that not one member of this team played in a major league game after 1987.

1B George Sisler of Akron. Because he starred in the late 1910s and the 1920s, well before the TV era, he has been virtually forgotten. Even in 2004, when Ichiro Suzuki broke his 84-year-old single-season record of 257 hits, it barely got any notice.

Gorgeous George batted .340 -- for a career. He won 2 American League batting titles, batting over .400 both times. He stole 375 bases, 4 times leading the AL. In 1922, he nearly led the St. Louis Browns to the Pennant, and was named AL Most Valuable Player. He was also regarded as the best-fielding 1st baseman of his time. He was, without question, the best player in Browns history.

He played before uniform numbers were worn, so there's no retired number for him. And the Browns moved after the 1953 season to become the Baltimore Orioles, who make no reference at Camden Yards to their St. Louis heritage, so there's no team to remember him. But he was one of the first inductees into the Hall of Fame, in 1939. In 1999, The Sporting News remembered him: On their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, he came in at Number 33.

Honorable Mention to Joe Kuhel of Cleveland Heights. Playing in the AL in the 1930s and ‘40s, he was not going to break through onto the All-Star team with Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg in the way. But the Washington Senator was 3 times a .300 hitter, twice a 100-RBI man, and collected 2,212 hits.

Honorable Mention to Bill White of Warren, who won Gold Gloves and hit well for the St. Louis Cardinals, helping them win the 1964 World Series, before becoming a Yankee broadcaster from 1971 to 1988 and President of the National League from 1989 to 1993. He could have been the 1st black Commissioner... but that would have required the baseball team owners to think forward, and they usually don't do that. He should be in the Hall of Fame for all his contributions.

Honorable Mention also to Fred Merkle, whose baserunning blunder (a.k.a. Merkle's Boner) seemed to cost the New York Giants the 1908 Pennant. Actually, his blown popup in the 12th inning of the deciding Game 8 (yes, Game 8) of the 1912 World Series was much more his own fault, and perhaps more damaging. He had a career OPS+ of 109, and won Pennants with the Giants (1911, '12 and '13), Brooklyn Dodges (1916), and, ironically considering they benefited from his Boner 10 years earlier, the Chicago Cubs (1918). He was a very good player.

2B Bill Mazeroski of Tiltonville. Born in Wheeling, West Virginia, closer to the team he ended up playing for, the Pittsburgh Pirates, although Ohio is Ohio, so he's in the Indians' sphere of influence. He hit the only home run ever to win a Game 7 of a World Series, in 1960. He also won a Series with the Pirates in 1971 -- the only Pirate besides Roberto Clemente to have played on both of those World champions.

He was a member of 7 All-Star teams, won 8 Gold Gloves, and is often considered the greatest-fielding second baseman ever. Hall of Fame, Number 9 retired.

Honorable Mention to Bill Wambsganss of Cleveland. A hometown hero for the Indians, he was a member of their 1920 World Champions, and, of course, pulled off the only triple play in the history of postseason baseball thus far -- an unassisted triple play. He wasn't much of a batter, but in 1920 he stroked 11 triples, and in 1921 and '22, he led the AL in sacrifice hits.

Honorable Mention to Solomon "Sol" White of Bellaire. He played on all-black teams in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, and in 1907 he wrote what is believed to be the first published history of black baseball, Sol White's History of Colored Baseball. He later became an organizer of black leagues and teams. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in its making-up-for-lost-time election of 2006.

SS Roger Peckinpaugh of Cleveland. He debuted in the majors in 1910 with the Indians, at age 19. In 1914, he was traded to the Yankees, and at the end of the 1915 season, he was named the interim manager for the last 15 games -- at age 23, even younger than Lou Boudreau was when he took over the Indians a generation later.

He went on to help the Senators win their 1st 2 Pennants, winning the World Series in 1924, but he's probably best known now for the 8 errors he made in the '25 Series, including 2 in Game 7, bracketing an RBI, going from goat to hero to goat real fast. He was named Most Valuable Player in the AL in 1925, although this is a predecessor award to the official one recognized by MLB that began in 1931. He would manage the Indians in 2 later terms, but never won another Pennant.

3B Sal Bando of Cleveland. The Captain of the Oakland Athletics dynasty of the early 1970s was a 4-time All-Star, hit 242 homers despite playing most of his home games at the Oakland Coliseum and Milwaukee County Stadium, and twice drove in 100 or more runs. In 1973 he led the AL in doubles and total bases. He later served as general manager of the Indians, while his brother Chris was their catcher.

LF Ed Delahanty of Cleveland. The best of a set of 5 brothers to reach the majors, a record, the others being Frank, Jim, Joe and Tom. He had a lifetime batting average .346, 3 times batted .400, 7 times had 100 RBIs in the Dead Ball Era, hit 522 doubles, had an OPS+ of 152, and collected 2,597 hits. Clearly, he was one of the greatest hitters who ever lived. But he was an alcoholic, and died under mysterious circumstances in 1903. He was only 35. He's in the Hall of Fame, and the Phillies inducted him into the Philadelphia Baseball Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Gene Woodling of Akron. He batted .300 4 times, led the AL in on-base percentage in 1953, and won 5 straight World Series with the Yankees, 1949 to 1953. The Yankees traded him to the Baltimore Orioles after the 1954 season, the trade that brought pitchers Bob Turley and Don Larsen. Unfortunately, he was one of several ex-New York baseball stars brought in to the early Mets, but he was 39 and done. Still, he was a Yankee star and should be remembered.

CF William Ellsworth Hoy of Houcktown. Some called him Billy, because they didn't want to use the usual nickname that deaf people got at the time, which was then used to describe those unable to speak but was becoming a slur meaning stupid. But after learning to speak, he told people, "Call me Dummy."

He first reached the majors in 1886 with the NL version of the Washington Senators, and led the league in stolen bases. He had his best seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, and had a lifetime batting average of .288, and 2,048 hits in just 14 seasons. At the time of his retirement, he held the career record for games played and putouts by a center fielder.

In 1961, at the age of 99, he was invited to throw out the first ball at a World Series game between the Yankees and Reds at Crosley Field, which was built on the site of a previous Reds ballpark in which he played. He got a standing ovation that he could see, if not hear. He died shortly thereafter, and was then believed to be the oldest living former player ever.

He is in the Reds' Hall of Fame, and count me in with the people who believe he should be in Cooperstown, even if the story that he was the originator of baseball umpires’ left hand for balls, right hand for strikes calls is probably untrue.

RF Elmer Flick of Bedford. He started with the Philadelphia Phillies, and led the NL in RBIs in 1900, before becoming one of the NL players raided by the AL. He led the AL in batting, slugging, on-base percentage and triples in 1905; and in runs, triples and stolen bases in 1906. He also led it in stolen bases in 1904 and triples in 1907.

There were no MVP awards or all-star teams in his era, but his lifetime batting average was .313, and his OPS+ a mighty 149. He never appeared in postseason play, so he can't be remembered that way, and there were no uniform numbers to retire in his time, so there's no number of his on the wall at Progressive Field. But he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and he is honored in the Indians' Hall of Fame in the stadium's Heritage Park, so he won't be completely forgotten.

Honorable Mention to Tommy Henrich of Massillon. He was such a great clutch hitter that Yankee broadcaster Mel Allen nicknamed him Old Reliable. He's probably best known for a strikeout: In Game 4 of the 1941 World Series, he swung and missed for what seemed to be the last out, but Brooklyn Dodger catcher Mickey Owen couldn't hang on to the third strike, and Henrich reached first, starting a Yankee rally that ended with a Series win in the next day’s Game 5.

He led the AL in triples in 1947 and '48. In Game 1 of the 1949 Series, also against the Dodgers, Henrich hit a home run to break up a scoreless duel between Allie Reynolds and Don Newcombe, the first-ever walkoff homer (as we would now call it) in postseason history.

He reached 5 All-Star teams, played on 8 Pennant winners and 7 World Champions from 1937 to 1950. His career OPS+ was 132. He hit 183 home runs despite only playing 11 major-league seasons -- he didn't reach the majors until he was 24 and missed 3 years in the Coast Guard in World War II.

When he died in 2010 at age 96, he was the oldest living ex-Yankee. It's a shame that the Yankees have never given him a Monument Park Plaque.

C Thurman Munson of Canton. The AL Rookie of the Year in 1970, and its MVP in 1976, he is still the only Yankee ever to win both awards. He was the 1st Yankee to be awarded the team captaincy since Lou Gehrig. He won 3 Pennants and 2 World Championships, and was named to 7 All-Star Games.

Let me tell you why I love Thurman: In Game 3 of the 1978 ALCS, when the Yankees most needed a home run from him, he hit the longest home run of his career, appropriately enough into Monument Park. Sadly, he would be the next Yankee to be honored there. His Number 15 is retired.

Utility: Roger Bresnahan of Toledo. He played every position, including pitcher, but is best known as a catcher for the New York Giants. A member of their 1905 World Championship teams, he would have made at least 9 All-Star Games had they been played in his time. He had a lifetime OPS+ of 126. Hall of Fame.

Special Mentions to Moses Fleetwood "Fleet" Walker and his brother Welday Walker of Steubenville, briefly the 1st black players in Major League Baseball before the blacklist came down in 1884; and to Elmer Gedeon of Cleveland, who played 5 games in the outfield for the 1939 Senators, before being killed in World War II.

SP Denton True Young of Newcomerstown. In his 1st professional tryout, he threw a ball so hard it smashed through a fence. His manager said it looked like it had been wrecked by a cyclone. So Dent Young became Cyclone Young, later shortened to Cy Young.

We've all heard the words "Cy Young Award" so many times that the man for whom the most valuable pitcher award is named gets lost in the shuffle. So here's the facts: He pitched for the NL Cleveland Spiders, the Boston Red Sox (winning the 1st World Series in 1903), and the AL Indians. He holds these records, which will be unbreakable until the rules are significantly changed to again favor pitchers and reduce wear and tear on their arms: Most career wins, 511; losses, 313; games started, 815; complete games, 749; innings pitched, 7,355; and batters faced, 29,565. Think about that: Nearly 30,000 times, he faced a big-league batter.

Career winning percentage, .618; ERA, 2.63; ERA+, 138; WHIP, 1.130; no-hitters, 3, including the first perfect game under the 60-feet-6-inches pitching distance in 1904; and strikeouts, 2,803, most ever until Walter Johnson surpassed him.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in its second class in 1937, and to the MLB All-Century Team in 1999, even though nearly half his career was in the 19th Century. That same year, when The Sporting News announced its 100 Greatest Baseball Players, he came in at Number 14 -- 88 years after his last game, they knew he was more than just the name on an award.

In Boston, on the campus of Northeastern University, roughly on the site of the pitcher’s mound of the Huntington Avenue Grounds, the Red Sox' home before Fenway Park, there is a statue of Young. And his former home in Newcomerstown is a museum in his honor. He pitched before uniform numbers, but I've seen film of him in an old-timers' game wearing Number 29.

SP Richard "Rube" Marquard of Cleveland. When the New York Giants signed him, his bonus was $11,000, a record at the time. The lefty's first few games were poor, and he was mocked as The $11,000 Lemon. Then he found his control, and he became The $11,000 Beauty. He was nicknamed Rube after another superstar lefty pitcher, Rube Waddell.

He won 201 games, and is one of the few pitchers to pitch in the World Series for both the Giants (1911, '12 and '13) and the Dodgers (1916 and '20). He is in the Hall of Fame, but played before uniform numbers.

SP Hubert "Dutch" Leonard of Birmingham. That's Ohio, not Alabama, or Michigan. A master of the knuckleball, well before the Ohio-born Niekro brothers, in 1914 he set a major-league record for lowest ERA in a season, 0.96. His ERA+ that season? A touched-by-God 279. He helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in 1915, '16 and '18. He finished with a 139-118 record and an ERA+ of 115.

He should not be confused with a later pitcher, Emil "Dutch" Leonard of Illinois, also a knuckleballer.

SP Urban Shocker of Cleveland. The Yankees traded him to the St. Louis Browns in 1918, and that proved to be a bit of a mistake: They won the Pennant in 1921, '22 and '23, but not in '20 and '24, and Shocker's pitching nearly got the Browns past the Yanks in '22. He won 27 games in '21, and the Yanks undid one of their worst trades with one of their best, getting him back in '25. He then helped them to win the '26 Pennant and the '27 World Series.

He compiled a record of 187-117 with an ERA+ of 124. He was 18-6 in his last full season, 1927, before a heart defect killed him at age 37. He's not in the Hall of Fame, but he should be. And what a great name: Although this man of French-Canadian descent was born Urbain Jacques Schockor, his nom de horsehide makes him sound like a hardcore rapper: "Urban Shocker."

SP Phil Niekro of Blaine. The master of the knuckleball, the last remaining active player for the Milwaukee Braves, and the 1st great pitcher for the Atlanta edition. He was a member of the 300 Win and 3,000 Strikeout Clubs. With his brother Joe (who doesn't quite make this team), he formed the winningest brother combination ever. Hall of Fame, Number 35 retired, and he got a statue outside Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which was moved to Turner Field (and will, presumably, be moved to the Braves' new Cobb County ballpark).

The rotation for this Cleveland area team is so strong it has no room for Joe Niekro (who won 221 games), George Uhle of Cleveland (who won an even 200 games, mostly for his hometown Indians), Denny Galehouse of Doylestown and Ned Garver of Ney (both pitching for the only St. Louis Browns Pennant ever in 1944), 2 great pitchers named Sam Jones (Sad Sam of Woodsfield and the 1920s Yankee dynasty, and Toothpick Sam of Stewartsville who in 1955 became the 1st black pitcher who threw a no-hitter in the majors), Dean Chance of Wayne (1964 Cy Young winner -- both Leagues), Steve Stone of Lyndhurst (1980 AL Cy Young winner) and Dave Dravecky of Youngstown (a former All-Star whose comeback story first inspired, then saddened).

Also, while Jim Bagby Jr. was born in Cleveland while his father Jim Sr. pitched for them, and pitched pretty well for the Indians himself, both grew up in Georgia, and would have qualified for the Atlanta team rather than for this one.

Honorable Mention to Ray Brown of Alger, who pitched for the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues, and was elected to the Hall of Fame for his contributions. We may not be able to trust the stats we have available, but in 1938, the Pittsburgh Courier, a black paper, suggested 5 Negro League players to the Pirates in a telegram: Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige. That was pretty good company that Brown was in. The telegram was never answered. Brown was already 39 when Jackie Robinson debuted, and never made it to the majors.

RP Rollie Fingers of Steubenville. He was the fireman -- as was said at the time, not the "closer" -- of the 1970s Oakland Athletics dynasty, before becoming the 1st big-money reliever with the San Diego Padres and then the Milwaukee Brewers, winning the AL MVP in 1981 (28 saves and an ERA of 1.04!). He was on the mound to close out the World Series for the A's in 1972, '73 and '74, and also pitched for the Brewers in the '82 Series.

When he retired, his 341 saves were the most all-time. Both the A's and the Brewers retired his Number 34. He is the only pitcher with a losing record in the Hall of Fame, but who cares about that? When The Sporting News announced its 100 Greatest Baseball Players in 1999, he came in at Number 96. Oh yeah, he had that handlebar mustache. The bullpen could also include Dick Drago of Toledo and Brett Tomko of Cleveland.

MGR Walter Alston of Darrtown. He had just one at-bat as a major league player, a strikeout with the 1936 St. Louis Cardinals. But with the Dodgers, in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, 4 World Series (1955, '59, '63 and '65) and 3 other Pennants (add '56, '66 and '74, plus a lost Playoff in '62).