Who is your pick as the most dominant athlete over the last 50 years......
 

...in their respective sport?

It's a tough question. I would have to say my pick would be someone who was so dominant in their sport where there are few who would question the pick, and also, the next best person was quite a ways behind.

My nominees would be;

Wayne Gretzky; I think the only player who could have come close to his records was Mario Lemieux, however Mario's career was cut short by injuries. Having said that, Gretzky's name is plastered all over the record books, and will probably remain that way for a long time.

Michael Jordan; Certainly the best in my generation, however there are probably players that some would argue would be right there with Jordan. I don't know enough about earlier players to comment.

Tiger Woods; The only player comparable is Jack Niklaus. They say that Tiger is on route to shatter all of Niklaus' records, if so, by how big of a gap?

Michael Phelps; Everyone knows how much he dominated the last Olympics, however Mark Spitz is pretty close.

Lance Armstrong; What did he win.....7 Tours du France? That's pretty incredible. Any other cyclist come close? (I'm no cycling expert)

Michael Schumacher; He won 7 Driver's Championships in Formula 1 racing. The next best won 4......quite a difference. My only issue is that they say it is 70% car, 30% driver...........so how much of a contender can he be?

Valentino Rossi; Unlike F1 racing, bike racing is 70% rider, 30% bike. Rossi is unbelievable on a bike.

So out of my nominees, I think I would go with Gretzky.

Who are your nominees, and who's your pick?

The key word is ATHLETE. Those who you mention were great superstars but not the greatest athletes of their sport with exception of Lance or Rossi. My pick for greatest athlete is Bo Jackson. MLB AllStar, NFL All Pro. He has the highest yards per carry of any RB in NFL history at 5.4 ypc. Yes, I know Jim Brown has the record because Bo was 23 attempts shy of the minimum attempt number. He once ran a 4.12 40 yard dash. He was offered a spot on the Olypmic team but turned it down to persue Baseball. He was the total package of speed, strength, power, and heart. He has his hip replaced and still played MLB baseball and retired because he could play up to the level he wanted to anymore. 100% pure class.

Maybe my title should have read "most dominant in their respective sport"

Um, thanks for your input, and thanks for playing. Moving along now......

I don't know MOST dominant but as far as CONSISTANTLY dominant, guys that come to mind include:

NBA: Jordan, Russell, Wilt, Shaq.
NHL: Gretzky, Hasek, Orr
NFL: Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Rice, Favre and Marino
MLB: Ichiro, Yastrzemski, Rose, Orel Hershiser(my big game fave)

that's a tough choice. there are so many most dominant athlete. hard to think man.... great post....

gretzky. nobody dominated their sport like he did.

Gretzky is a good pick. Others came close, but didn't have his longevity. Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux come to mind. They had great statistics but Wayne stayed healthy for much longer and truly cemented his records.

Nice call on Mike Bossy...few people realize he is the only player in NHL history to have scored 50 or more goals in their first 9 seasons....no one, not Gretzky, not Lemieux, no one other than Bossy has achieved that!

Most Dominant:
NHL: Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy, Coffey

When I was a kid I was able to stay after a Wings game and met quite a few Islanders players. I was a Wings fan, but Mike Bossy was my favorite player. I still have the rookie card he autographed for me. I had several people tell me they were shocked that Billy Smith stopped and chatted with me as he had a reputation or something. I knew he had one on the ice.

I think it helped that I wore an Islanders jersey-style shirt that night. :)