Note: Today I am releasing the first of four pieces in a long-gestating project on the greatest athletes of all time. Like all lists, I am fully aware that this will engender disagreement, and that’s part of the point. My criteria include sporting accomplishments — championships, MVPs, world records — as well as off-the-field impact and historical significance. Some figures, like Michael Jordan, have a mixed legacy; others, like Pelé, have an almost unblemished one. I would love to hear your thoughts, so please do consider dropping a comment whether you agree or disagree. This piece will be followed by numbers six through ten for the men, and then a separate top ten for women.
1. Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth remains the number one choice. He completely changed the game of baseball with his power hitting and his two-way play. America’s game would never be the same. From humble beginnings in Baltimore, he became the highest-paid and most visible athlete in the world. His larger-than-life personality — the booze, the women, the cigars — all contribute to his myth.
The 1927 Yankees remain shorthand for the greatest team ever assembled, and Ruth’s pairing with Lou Gehrig gave baseball one of its most iconic duos. The relatively early deaths of both men add a certain pathos to the story. Ruth won seven World Series titles, hit 714 home runs in an era when power was rare, and essentially invented the modern slugger. He even has an iconic candy bar named after him. Unassailable.
2. Muhammad Ali
Next to Ruth, Ali is 1A. You could argue Jordan for pure dominance and brand success, but Ali was not only great in the ring — he intersects with 20th-century history in ways that put him over the top.
From his origins as Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay to his name change, his foregrounding of Muslim identity, his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, and his connections to the Black Power movement and Malcolm X, Ali became far more than a boxer. He later paid a tragic physical price for fighting too long, and his public battle with Parkinson’s disease only deepened his stature.
Ali talked better than anyone before or since, floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee, and was a three-time heavyweight champion of the world. He looms large not just in sport, but in global cultural memory. A clear number two.
3. Michael Jordan
Jordan comes in at number three — though among younger generations he is arguably better remembered than Ruth or Ali, which suggests that his status may continue to rise.
From his famous early cut from his high school varsity team, to the game-winning shot as a freshman at North Carolina in 1982, to his early playoff frustrations against Boston and Detroit, Jordan’s arc is mythically clean. Once he broke through, the dominance was total: six NBA championships, five MVPs, ten scoring titles, and an undefeated Finals record.
Off the court, Jordan became the most successful sports marketer in history. His shoe deals and advertising footprint dwarfed anything that came before. His legacy is not without complications — gambling rumors, the David Stern suspension theories, a rocky tenure as owner of the Charlotte Hornets, and an ongoing public feud with Scottie Pippen — but none of that erases what he was on the court. An undeniable number three.
4. Pelé
Pelé belongs at number four because he remains the single greatest icon in what is almost certainly the world’s most popular sport. I grew up on basketball, baseball, and football, yet even I knew who Pelé was by the age of six.
For people like my son — a soccer fan and influencer — Pelé is bigger than Ruth or Ali. Other players, Messi included, may rival or surpass him on pure technical grounds, and Maradona has a competing mythos, but Pelé’s status as a hero from the global south remains unmatched.
He won three World Cups with Brazil, scored over 1,000 career goals depending on how one counts, and became the first truly global sports celebrity. By all accounts, he was also a gracious and generous human being. There is little that detracts from his legacy. A natural number four.
5. Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson belongs on this list for his brave and immensely graceful breaking of baseball’s color barrier — and by extension, professional team sports in America.
Credit is due to Branch Rickey for taking the risk, but it was Robinson who carried the weight. Through his base stealing, his hitting, his defense, and above all his composure, Robinson became a model of quiet strength and dignity under pressure. He won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award, an MVP, a World Series title, and was a perennial All-Star.
One may admire Jordan without loving him, but Robinson is universally — and rightly — beloved. He helped reshape not just baseball, but American race relations more broadly. A fitting number five.
Dedication:
For Steve Treader, the greatest sportswriter I know.