ChiTownPhilly
Not Too Soft
... all that jazz.
(Or, you can always tell it's wilderness time for Philadelphia sports when this topic comes up in the media...)
I looked about in the search functions to see if this has come up before. I can't believe it hasn't- I'm sure I'm not searching effectively, but (to paraphrase Robert E. Smith) "here we go again."
I guess the old chestnut of 'Top-10 Philadelphia Team Sports Athletes' will serve as well as any to start. Typically, my problem with such conversations is that contributors act as though no Philadelphia sports occurred outside of their own life-span. This is understandable from the hoi polloi, but the public mouthpieces whom one would expect would know better often take the same approach.
So- my initial parameter is- major team sports only- don't want to minimize the greatness of Joe Frazier, Bernard the Executioner, or (if we want to extend it to Philly region), Carl Lewis- but the task is hard enough without having to work out the apples-and-oranges of Team Players vs. Individual Champions.
10: Steve Van Buren. People forget about old Steve Van Buren. Running back for the late-40s-early 50s Eagles, he had more to do with Philadelphia's back-to-back championships than any other player. He was the primary weapon in a run-first NFL. A case could be made that he was the best pro running back of the first half of the 20th century.
9. Eddie Collins. The most valuable member of baseball's most storied infield (the $100,000 infield), a player in the discussion for "greatest 2nd baseman of all-time." Mr. Cocky was often clutch in the World Series- the best player on the "White Elephants" that won three series in four years ('1910-'11-'13). Batted .429 in the '10 series and .421 in the '13 series.
8. Bernie Parent. I'll advocate for Parent, in spite of his relatively narrow prime, on the grounds that a narrow but transcendent prime can yield outsized rewards in goal. I'll assert that he was the most important component in the Flyers' back-to-back cups. I believe that if you take away Parent, Philadelphia joins the St. Louis Blues in the "never-won-a-cup" badlands.
7. Steve Carlton. I don't think anyone here will question that he's an historically great pitcher. I'm sure some controversy will attach to my having him this low. I sometimes provocatively say "not only is Carlton NOT the best L-handed pitcher in baseball history, he's not the best L-handed pitcher in Philadelphia history." More on this later...
6. Chuck Bednarik. Another forgotten man in people's focus on modernity- "the last of the sixty-minute men." A nice offensive lineman and an absolutely outstanding linebacker, his contributions will never be duplicated.
5. Grover Cleveland Alexander. Old Pete is almost always overlooked in these lists. For those who even know anything about him, he might be bypassed because he split his career with three teams (Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals). His very best years were in Philadelphia. To get a flavor of his contributions, here are Ol' Pete's 7 PHL years, expressed as a one-season average:
27W 13L 356 innings, opponent BA: .231.
(Trivia time- you might be able to win a bar-bet with this particularly insidious piece of trivia. The set-up runs like this- "in 1968, Denny McLain won 31 games for Detroit, the last major-leaguer to achieve this high a figure. Who was the last National League pitcher to win more than 30 games in a year?" Those who have a little knowledge of baseball (a dangerous thing, here) will predictably answer Dizzy Dean. But that would be wrong. Diz won exactly 30 in 1934... not more than 30. The last NL pitcher to win more than 30 games in a season was when Alexander won 33 for Philly in 1916.)
I'll take a break, here. My top four (a.k.a: all-time Philly Team Sports Mt. Rushmore) will follow...
(Or, you can always tell it's wilderness time for Philadelphia sports when this topic comes up in the media...)
I looked about in the search functions to see if this has come up before. I can't believe it hasn't- I'm sure I'm not searching effectively, but (to paraphrase Robert E. Smith) "here we go again."
I guess the old chestnut of 'Top-10 Philadelphia Team Sports Athletes' will serve as well as any to start. Typically, my problem with such conversations is that contributors act as though no Philadelphia sports occurred outside of their own life-span. This is understandable from the hoi polloi, but the public mouthpieces whom one would expect would know better often take the same approach.
So- my initial parameter is- major team sports only- don't want to minimize the greatness of Joe Frazier, Bernard the Executioner, or (if we want to extend it to Philly region), Carl Lewis- but the task is hard enough without having to work out the apples-and-oranges of Team Players vs. Individual Champions.
10: Steve Van Buren. People forget about old Steve Van Buren. Running back for the late-40s-early 50s Eagles, he had more to do with Philadelphia's back-to-back championships than any other player. He was the primary weapon in a run-first NFL. A case could be made that he was the best pro running back of the first half of the 20th century.
9. Eddie Collins. The most valuable member of baseball's most storied infield (the $100,000 infield), a player in the discussion for "greatest 2nd baseman of all-time." Mr. Cocky was often clutch in the World Series- the best player on the "White Elephants" that won three series in four years ('1910-'11-'13). Batted .429 in the '10 series and .421 in the '13 series.
8. Bernie Parent. I'll advocate for Parent, in spite of his relatively narrow prime, on the grounds that a narrow but transcendent prime can yield outsized rewards in goal. I'll assert that he was the most important component in the Flyers' back-to-back cups. I believe that if you take away Parent, Philadelphia joins the St. Louis Blues in the "never-won-a-cup" badlands.
7. Steve Carlton. I don't think anyone here will question that he's an historically great pitcher. I'm sure some controversy will attach to my having him this low. I sometimes provocatively say "not only is Carlton NOT the best L-handed pitcher in baseball history, he's not the best L-handed pitcher in Philadelphia history." More on this later...
6. Chuck Bednarik. Another forgotten man in people's focus on modernity- "the last of the sixty-minute men." A nice offensive lineman and an absolutely outstanding linebacker, his contributions will never be duplicated.
5. Grover Cleveland Alexander. Old Pete is almost always overlooked in these lists. For those who even know anything about him, he might be bypassed because he split his career with three teams (Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals). His very best years were in Philadelphia. To get a flavor of his contributions, here are Ol' Pete's 7 PHL years, expressed as a one-season average:
27W 13L 356 innings, opponent BA: .231.
(Trivia time- you might be able to win a bar-bet with this particularly insidious piece of trivia. The set-up runs like this- "in 1968, Denny McLain won 31 games for Detroit, the last major-leaguer to achieve this high a figure. Who was the last National League pitcher to win more than 30 games in a year?" Those who have a little knowledge of baseball (a dangerous thing, here) will predictably answer Dizzy Dean. But that would be wrong. Diz won exactly 30 in 1934... not more than 30. The last NL pitcher to win more than 30 games in a season was when Alexander won 33 for Philly in 1916.)
I'll take a break, here. My top four (a.k.a: all-time Philly Team Sports Mt. Rushmore) will follow...
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