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or way better than they ended up being, if not for injury or something else happening to derail their career?
MLB- Ken Griffey Jr. Already a hall of famer but I think if he had the durability of say Ripken he'd be in the conversation of best ever.
NHL- Mario Lemieux Put up crazy numbers while missing a good chunk of his prime due to injuries and hodgkins. Stats should have been closer to Gretzky.
Cam Neely Scored a ton of goals when able to play, but chronic injuries kept him off the ice for extended periods of time.
Eric Lindros Was a beast and probably the best of his generation, but concussions severely limited playing time and cut career short.
NFL/MLB- Bo Jackson Got injured before I got to see him play but seemed like he had all the talent to be a superstar in both sports.
NBA- Cant think of many here but Grant Hill was pretty amazing in his Pistons days, then spent basically his entire prime hurt. Could have been one of the best ever.
In examining this question, I would ignore injuries suffered on the field of play (with a few exceptions, like a baseball player getting beaned or something similar) as well as natural diseases an athlete suffered. Those kind of "injuries" were inherent to the player's genetic makeup (more prone to injury) or style of play. There are many, MANY athletes who would had Hall of Fame caliber careers if not for sport-related injuries and some athletes who would have been even greater if not for their injuries, but the injuries are part of who they were.
I WOULD make exceptions for non-sports related injuries or other factors beyond a player's control that impeded his career, like serving in the armed forces during World War II. For example, Ted Williams might have broken many career baseball records, including the home run record, had he not missed nearly 5 seasons due to military service (3 years in World War II, 2 years in the Korean War). (I think Williams would have fallen a bit short of Babe Ruth's home run record, but would have hit to close to 700 home runs in his career if he had not served in the U.S. military.)
Incidentally, Barry Bonds was a distinctly better player than Ken Griffey Jr., even if you exclude his possible "PED" seasons (which probably started in about 1999).
MLB = Ken Griffey Jr. - Have to agree with this one. He had it all but injuries ruined giving him a real shot at the HR mark. My Top 3 who could have been the best but were involved with PED/Steriod nonsense: Bonds, Arod, Clemens.
NHL = Mario Lemieux - Have to agree with this as well. Missing time because of the Hodgkins took its toll... but to be quite honest Gretzky's #'s are so outrageous I dont think he could have beat him even if he played a full career. Easily 2nd place though no doubt.
NFL = Barry Sanders - He'd probably be the all-time rushing leader if he didn't decide to retire so early in his career. He was 30 and although not "young" in RB terms... he rushed for 2000+ yards at 29 and nearly 1500 at 30 and at the time was only about 1500 yards from surpassing Walter Paytons all-time rushing record.
NBA = Magic Johnson - We all know what happened here... career cut short by HIV... won 5 Championships in a short period of time. 3-time Finals MVP and 3-time league MVP.
Golf = Arnold Palmer - Who knows where his #'s would be if he didn't have to play with the likes of Nicklaus. Same could be said for Jack... he'd have 20+ Majors if it weren't for Arnie.
Mike Tyson - had he not gone to jail, would have been even better and not had his career interrupted - which curtailed his ability.
Monica Seles - tennis player, had she not been stabbed by an over-zealous Graf fan, when she was Number 1 and had many more Grand Slams left in her.
I think there's a difference between someone who had already established his level of play and just decided to hang 'em up a few years early. Taking Barry Sanders, for instance, a lot of people would still say he was arguably the best running back since at least Walter Payton, and maybe since Jim Brown. A better candidate for 'coulda been the best' at RB might be, say, Gale Sayers.
Taking a look at baseball, I sometimes wonder what would have been of Dwight Gooden if he had stayed clean.
Mike Tyson - had he not gone to jail, would have been even better and not had his career interrupted - which curtailed his ability.
Monica Seles - tennis player, had she not been stabbed by an over-zealous Graf fan, when she was Number 1 and had many more Grand Slams left in her.
Iron Tyke was a great fighter, but I think he was exposed against James Buster Douglas, which was not a fluke loss, in my view. Tyson was great against fighters against whom he could use speed and agility. But against boxers who could throw a left jab, he had no answer. All the great heavyweights - Foreman, Ali, and maybe even a younger Larry Holmes - would have beaten Tyson. Lennox Lewis crushed him. He would have done that if they had been ten years younger, I think.
Incidentally, Barry Bonds was a distinctly better player than Ken Griffey Jr., even if you exclude his possible "PED" seasons (which probably started in about 1999).
I disagree with this completely. It's a fair argument as to whom was actually better, but to say Bonds w/o PEDs was distinctly better is a bit of a stretch. Bonds did steal bases, but Griff drove in runs, scored runs, and was great in the field, as was Bonds, of course.
My list is athletes who could have been an "all-time great" and not necessarily the "best ever". Athletes that could have been named in the Top Ten All-Time in their respective sport had their careers not been cut short.
Salvador Sanchez had he not died so young.
Gerald McClellan had he not been permanently incapacitated so early in his career.
Terrell Davis - injuries.
Joe Namath - don't laugh; had his knees not been injured even prior to his NFL career, he would have been a double threat--passing and running. Think Tebow if Tebow could throw a ball accurately. Watch early footage of Joe before his injuries, he was a nimble runner with quickness and agility.
I also think Ken Griffey Jr. would have been one of the best ever had he not been plagued with injuries. He is one of my all-time favorite baseball players. Better than Bonds IMHO.
I also agree with Ted Williams as a "best ever" had he not lost so many prime years of his career serving in the military. Same can be said for Willie Mays who lost almost two seasons during his time in the Army.
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