Who are your most underrated athletes?
- Thread starter Say Hey Kid
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MiamiScreamingEagles
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Dave Concepcion. Being part of the bigger named superstars Rose, Bench, Morgan and Perez, people sometimes overlook his part in what has generally been regarded as one of the best starting eights of all-time. His defense and glove were known but he was also a solid hitter as he matured.
Fran Tarkenton. He has the crutch of going 0-3 in Super Bowls but his body took a beating on mostly hard dirt winter grounds. His ability to scramble as he did, was legendary. It was an era when QBs took hits.
Blame. The race horse that defeated Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He is an afterthought, and the victory was unpopular due to the script written pertaining to Zenyatta retiring an undefeated champ. But he was a multiple graded stakes winner who sadly became unpopular and his wonderful jockey Garrett Gomez, also perhaps underrated despite being a Hall of Famer, never recovered from some negative press for beating a queen.
Unbridled. Pulled off the rare feat of winning the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic in the same year. His siring ability is also among the best of his generation having produced separate winners of each of the three Triple Crown races.
Ken Norton the boxer. He beat Ali twice even though the record shows otherwise.
Fran Tarkenton. He has the crutch of going 0-3 in Super Bowls but his body took a beating on mostly hard dirt winter grounds. His ability to scramble as he did, was legendary. It was an era when QBs took hits.
Blame. The race horse that defeated Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He is an afterthought, and the victory was unpopular due to the script written pertaining to Zenyatta retiring an undefeated champ. But he was a multiple graded stakes winner who sadly became unpopular and his wonderful jockey Garrett Gomez, also perhaps underrated despite being a Hall of Famer, never recovered from some negative press for beating a queen.
Unbridled. Pulled off the rare feat of winning the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic in the same year. His siring ability is also among the best of his generation having produced separate winners of each of the three Triple Crown races.
Ken Norton the boxer. He beat Ali twice even though the record shows otherwise.
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Bradshaw, Swann, Greene, Lambert. 4 Super Bowls in 6 years these men are underrated.
Norton totally agree.
Never hear Bradshaw's name mentioned even before Brady for GOAT but all TB did was win huge games that is what great QBs do. 4-4.
Norton totally agree.
Never hear Bradshaw's name mentioned even before Brady for GOAT but all TB did was win huge games that is what great QBs do. 4-4.
DaaaaB's
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Greene and Lambert are not underrated at all. They're widely considered 2 of the best to ever play their position. Not sure Swann is underrated either. Maybe Bradshaw but it's also easier to win Super Bowls when you have the best D in the history of the NFL.
As for the OP, I'd say Malone is underrated but not sure the rest of the list is. They're all pretty revered imo except for McCrimmon who wasn't near as talented as the other athletes on the list.
Off the top of my head, Larry Murphy and Sterling Sharpe are two guys I'd say are underrated. Ron Lyle is an underrated boxer.
Jonah Lomu - he is well known in countries where Rugby is a popular sport, but that doesn't really cover a large territory. To say that he was a freak athlete would be a major understatement.
Jackie Robinson - ok, ok, before I get slammed, I know that he is well known even beyond the sport of baseball. But that's actually might be a reason why he is underrated. Everyone knows him as the guy who broke the color barrier, but few know just how awesome of a player he was. He was already 28 as a rookie.
Here are some stats with Jackie Robinson:
- Just 291 career strikeouts in 10 seasons, or 29.1 per season. 740 career walks, nearly 3-1 ratio. By comparison Adam Dunn had 222 Ks in 2012 alone (and made the all-star game that season).
- career high in strikeouts came in 1952 with 40, same season where he had 106 walks and .440 OBP.
- If those low strikeout numbers indicate that he was just a singles hitter, nothing could be further from the truth. He had 5 seasons of .500+ slg%.
- 6-time all-star (honestly looks like it should have be more), 1-time MVP (again looks like it should have been more) and a legit 5-tool player.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Robinson was a 4-sport star at UCLA in baseball, football, basketball and track.
Jackie Robinson - ok, ok, before I get slammed, I know that he is well known even beyond the sport of baseball. But that's actually might be a reason why he is underrated. Everyone knows him as the guy who broke the color barrier, but few know just how awesome of a player he was. He was already 28 as a rookie.
Here are some stats with Jackie Robinson:
- Just 291 career strikeouts in 10 seasons, or 29.1 per season. 740 career walks, nearly 3-1 ratio. By comparison Adam Dunn had 222 Ks in 2012 alone (and made the all-star game that season).
- career high in strikeouts came in 1952 with 40, same season where he had 106 walks and .440 OBP.
- If those low strikeout numbers indicate that he was just a singles hitter, nothing could be further from the truth. He had 5 seasons of .500+ slg%.
- 6-time all-star (honestly looks like it should have be more), 1-time MVP (again looks like it should have been more) and a legit 5-tool player.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that Robinson was a 4-sport star at UCLA in baseball, football, basketball and track.
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TheAngryHank
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Panteras
“I’ll remember this hell of a journey”- Barkov
Man I thought of Jonah Lomu right away when I saw this thread exactly for the reasons you said. He is considered a goat in rugby but it’s not a sport followed in most areas of the world. Dude was a freak. RIP.
Vasilevskiy
The cat will be back
Tadej Pogaçar as of current athletes. What he does in cycling on a daily basis has not been seen in the last... 40 years?
Shawn Heins 44
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angusyoung
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Underrated NBA players
Bob Pettit - 2x MVP, 10x 1st team All NBA, lead one of the the two teams to beat Russell Celtics scoring 50 in deciding game. He was putting up as good of stats as ever in 63 and 64 range which is the same time players like West/Oscar/Wilt were at their best statistically, so it's not like he just beat 50s white guys.
Gus Williams - he was the best offensive player on late 70s Sonics (79 champion, 78 finalist) with 27ppg playoffs and 29ppg finals, then had some solid individual seasons after that as well. Mostly remembered for holding out a season.
Bob Lanier - Lanier was the Stafford of 70s Pistons putting up 24, 12 and 4 type stats at center on teams that weren't going anywhere, by the time he switched to a good Milwaukee team he was past his prime.
Mookie Blaylock - He was one of the best defensive PGs, 3pt shooting, passing ability and solid enough scoring (had a few 17ppg seasons) and did it on winning teams as the Hawks in the 90s with Mutombo were around the level that the Jazz have been with Gobert. Not on the level of the above three players, but a solid guard like Lowry and Conley have been.
Bob Pettit - 2x MVP, 10x 1st team All NBA, lead one of the the two teams to beat Russell Celtics scoring 50 in deciding game. He was putting up as good of stats as ever in 63 and 64 range which is the same time players like West/Oscar/Wilt were at their best statistically, so it's not like he just beat 50s white guys.
Gus Williams - he was the best offensive player on late 70s Sonics (79 champion, 78 finalist) with 27ppg playoffs and 29ppg finals, then had some solid individual seasons after that as well. Mostly remembered for holding out a season.
Bob Lanier - Lanier was the Stafford of 70s Pistons putting up 24, 12 and 4 type stats at center on teams that weren't going anywhere, by the time he switched to a good Milwaukee team he was past his prime.
Mookie Blaylock - He was one of the best defensive PGs, 3pt shooting, passing ability and solid enough scoring (had a few 17ppg seasons) and did it on winning teams as the Hawks in the 90s with Mutombo were around the level that the Jazz have been with Gobert. Not on the level of the above three players, but a solid guard like Lowry and Conley have been.
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Panteras
“I’ll remember this hell of a journey”- Barkov
I wonder if someone at ESPN reads these boards.
www.espn.com
Why Jackie Robinson was an even better baseball player than you realize
Robinson's legacy is about so much more than his numbers, but that doesn't mean he was anything less than amazing on the field.
frisco
Some people claim that there's a woman to blame...
Elgin Baylor
Roy Campanella--Made the HOF on shortened MLB career (color line at the start, car accident at the finish). Was playing in the Negro leagues at 15, starting at 17 and a star and at 19. Only got to the majors at 26. With the
Negro Leagues, barnstorming, winter ball, and MLB probably caught more games against legit competition than anyone. Best catcher ever, all considered.
Ron Francis--Giving him credit for a pro-rated 94-95 labor-shortened season had 4 100-point seasons, 8 90-point years, 5th all-time in NHL scoring, superior defensive player and faceoff man, two Stanley Cups, long time captain. These boards rate him around 130th overall.
Steven Jackson--8 consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons with the Rams.
Craig Ramsay-As good a defensive forward as Gainey and better offensive player.
My Best-Carey
Roy Campanella--Made the HOF on shortened MLB career (color line at the start, car accident at the finish). Was playing in the Negro leagues at 15, starting at 17 and a star and at 19. Only got to the majors at 26. With the
Negro Leagues, barnstorming, winter ball, and MLB probably caught more games against legit competition than anyone. Best catcher ever, all considered.
Ron Francis--Giving him credit for a pro-rated 94-95 labor-shortened season had 4 100-point seasons, 8 90-point years, 5th all-time in NHL scoring, superior defensive player and faceoff man, two Stanley Cups, long time captain. These boards rate him around 130th overall.
Steven Jackson--8 consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons with the Rams.
Craig Ramsay-As good a defensive forward as Gainey and better offensive player.
My Best-Carey
I think there are a few ABA players that belong in this discussion. I feel (and maybe you guys will disagree) that Basketball historians treat ABA similar to the way hockey historians treat WHA, pretend that it didn't exist. If you look at the list of players that spend significant time in ABA you will see a bunch of all time greats.
While guys like Rick Barry, Dr J, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Spencer Haywood and Moses Malone went on to solidify their legacies in NBA, there were a number of ABA greats who either played all of their career in ABA or spent all of their prime there.
We will never know how guys like Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Jimmy Jones, Mack Calvin and others would do in NBA. Guys like Dan Issel and George McGinnis have also spent significant part of their prime in ABA, although they were later very productive NBA players, you could make the case that they are underrated all time.
While guys like Rick Barry, Dr J, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Spencer Haywood and Moses Malone went on to solidify their legacies in NBA, there were a number of ABA greats who either played all of their career in ABA or spent all of their prime there.
We will never know how guys like Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, Jimmy Jones, Mack Calvin and others would do in NBA. Guys like Dan Issel and George McGinnis have also spent significant part of their prime in ABA, although they were later very productive NBA players, you could make the case that they are underrated all time.
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