It is next to impossible to compare players in any sport to players of different eras. How does the skill set of a Bart Starr compare to that of Brett Farve? Could Babe Ruth play in the more athletic modern era? Would Dr. J be more than a 6th man on some of the modern championship teams?
I do believe that you can look at certain criteria to judge a player's contribution to his team and to the sport as it relates to his time period: 1) Championships- How many did a player win. But even then we need to think in regards to if that player won them because of the team or did the team win them because of the man. 2) Personal Awards- MVP...Pro-Bowls...All-Star Team....etc. 3) Records- I mean, Johnny Unitas threw TD passes in 47 consecutive games!!!! An incredible achievement for any era, but mind blowing when you consider it happened when teams predominantly ran the ball. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in one game!!! Seriously...How do you quantify that? 4) Personal Stats...FG %...passer rating...batting average. 5) Clutch game performance- Some people are just "players" and heart can not be measured by anything short of this.
Taking all that into consideration we do, in fact have to consider... Era differential....Rule changes....Updates in training methods and in training equipment. All these things have created, not only changes in the game but changes in the physiology of the players themselves.
But beyond a doubt there are players who transcend "era". There are players that, if it were possible, could be picked out of the era in which they played would excell in the modern sport. I will give you three players and why they transcend the "era" argument.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Kareem scored more points than any other player in NBA history with 38,387 points. He won six NBA championships and was the recipient of a record six MVP Awards. He also had two Finals MVP awards, fifteen NBA First or Second Teams, a record nineteen NBA All-Star invitations. He averaged 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game.
Kareem was an unstoppable low-post threat who had an ambidextrous skyhook that was and still would be next to impossible to stop.
Willie Mays: Best "all around player" to ever play the game. The "Say Hey Kid" won two MVP awards and had 24 All-Star Game appearances . He ended his career with 660 career home runs, which is currently fourth all-time. In 1999, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of five NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons. Usually regarded for his hitting ability, Mays won 12 golden gloves and was among the best centerfielders in history. His over-the-shoulder catch on Vic Wertz's 450-foot drive in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series was the most famous and spectacular defensive play of his illustrious career. Mays won his first Gold Glove at age 26 and his final one at age 38, making him the oldest outfielder ever to win a Gold Glove.
Jack Lambert: Selected in the second round of the 1974 NFL Draft, Lambert was thought to be too small to play linebacker in the NFL. At 6'4" and a wiry 220 pounds he had incredibly quick feet and was known for the hard hits he inflicted on ballcarriers. Extemely instinctual and able to read offenses instantly he went on to earn the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award as a central figure on a great Steeler defense that went on to win their first Super Bowl by beating the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 in Super Bowl IX.
Lambert went on to win 4 more Super Bowls, 6 AFC title games, was a two-time NFL Defensive Player of Year, made the All-Pro team eight times and appeared in nine straight Pro Bowls. He averaged 146 tackles per season for the first 10 years that he played the game.
These three players played beyond any persons ability to pidgeon-hole them into the specific era in which they played. If they played today, the evolution of training methods and equipment would have only produced players even more dominating then they were in the 50's...60's...and 70's.
Make no mistake about it, had any of these players been born later and were playing the game right now.... we would STILL be calling them... All-star....All-pro...and MVP.
Heart transcends any time period.
-LLT
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Originally Posted by ALLD
