oochymp 2,393 Posted April 12, 2016 (edited) On Mike & Mike this morning they were talking about the best NBA players to spend their whole career with one team (prompted by Kobe's final game coming up) and it got me thinking it'd be fun to do one of our off-season tournaments based on that idea but expand to all four major sports. If there's enough interest I'm willing to coordinate a bracket and post poll threads. My thought on format is to do a separate bracket for each of the major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL) which should help control some of the football bias that I'm sure will exist here. This can be used as a nominating thread and I'll figure something out to narrow results down. For eligibility: (1) the player must be retired; (2) the player must have spent all of his time in the appropriate league with a single franchise as defined by the league (meaning that someone like Bruce Matthews, who spent his whole career with the Oilers/Titans would be eligible as would any MLB or NHL players who spent time in a different franchise's development system, as long as all MLB or NHL appearances were for the same franchise) I'll keep a running tally of nominated players here, and I'll list my own nominations in a separate post: NFL Barry Sanders Bruce Matthews Dick Butkus Lawrence Taylor Jim Brown Joe Greene Walter Payton Bart Starr Art Shell Anthony Munoz Gene Upshaw Roger Staubach Terry Bradshaw John Elway Dan Marino Jim Kelly Marvin Harrison Michael Irvin Rod Smith Reggie Wayne Tom Nalen Jim Otto John Hannah Michael Strahan Merlin Olsen Randy White Bob Lilly Mike Singletary Ray Lewis Jack Ham Jack Lambert Chuck Bednarik Derrick Brooks Derrick Thomas Mel Blount Darrell Green Troy Polamalu Ronde Barber Lynn Swann John Stallworth NBA Kobe Bryant John Stockton Reggie Miller Elgin Baylor Jerry West David Robinson Bill Russell Wes Unseld Larry Bird Magic Johnson Isiah Thomas Julius Erving John Havlicek Joe Dumars Kevin McHale Hal Greer MLB Derek Jeter Ernie Banks Roberto Clemente Joe DiMaggio Lou Gehrig Tony Gwynn Chipper Jones Sandy Koufax Mickey Mantle Stan Musial Cal Ripken Jr. Jackie Robinson Ted Williams Carl Yastrzemski Craig Biggio Barry Larkin NHL Mario Lemieux Mike Bossy Nicklas Lidstrom Maurice Richard Steve Yzerman Bobby Clark Marty Pavelich Michal Pivonka Milan Hedjuk Denis Potvin Joe Sakic Jean Beliveau Stan Mikita Gilbert Perreault Alex Delvecchio George Armstrong Edited April 21, 2016 by oochymp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.AirMcNair. 1,232 Posted April 12, 2016 Some NFL nominees. Barry Sanders Bruce Matthews Ray Lewis Dick Butkus Lawrence Taylor Jim Brown Joe Greene Walter Payton Bart Starr Art Shell Anthony Munoz Gene Upshaw Roger Staubach Terry Bradshaw Dan Marino John Elway Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted April 12, 2016 NFL nominations John Elway Dan Marino Jim Kelly Roger Staubach Barry Sanders Walter Payton Jim Brown Marvin Harrison Michael Irvin Rod Smith Reggie Wayne Tom Nalen Jim Otto John Hannah Bruce Matthews Anthony Munoz Michael Strahan Merlin Olsen Randy White Bob Lilly Joe Greene Mike Singletary Ray Lewis Jack Ham Jack Lambert Chuck Bednarik Lawrence Taylor Derrick Brooks Derrick Thomas Mel Blount Darrell Green Troy Polamalu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BJORN 679 Posted April 12, 2016 Derek Jeter Tony Gwynn Niklas Lidstrom I'll update as I think of more Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oochymp 2,393 Posted April 12, 2016 (edited) this is harder than I thought, but Wikipedia is helpful: List of NHL players who spent their entire career with one franchise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia NHL nominees: Mario Lemieux Mike Bossy Nicklas Lidstrom Maurice Richard Steve Yzerman Bobby Clark Marty Pavelich Michal Pivonka anyone who's been following hockey for longer than a decade want to look over that list and tell me who else should be included? MLB: List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernie Banks Roberto Clemente Joe DiMaggio Lou Gehrig Tony Gwynn Chipper Jones Sandy Koufax Mickey Mantle Stan Musial Cal Ripken Jr. Jackie Robinson Ted Williams Carl Yastrzemski NBA: List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kobe Bryant (I know I said already retired, but do we make him an 'exception'? he'll probably be officially retired before this list is finalized) John Stockton Reggie Miller Elgin Baylor Jerry West David Robinson Bill Russell Wes Unseld Larry Bird Magic Johnson Isiah Thomas Julius Erving Edited April 12, 2016 by oochymp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BJORN 679 Posted April 12, 2016 this is harder than I thought, but Wikipedia is helpful: List of NHL players who spent their entire career with one franchise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia NHL nominees: Mario Lemieux Mike Bossy Nicklas Lidstrom Maurice Richard Steve Yzerman Bobby Clark Marty Pavelich anyone who's been following hockey for longer than a decade want to look over that list and tell me who else should be included? Milan Hedjuk, Denis Potvin, Joe Sakic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bay 2,003 Posted April 12, 2016 Milan Hedjuk, Denis Potvin, Joe Sakic Add in Jean Beliveau, Stan Mikita, Gilbert Perreault. Haven't been following hockey that long, but these are the names that have to be in the discussion that I recognize from the list. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oochymp 2,393 Posted April 15, 2016 I think we've got a good list of names to start with, I'll post a poll at some point this weekend to narrow the lists down some, I'm thinking of capping it at 8 for each sport? Unless we can get a few more nominees in the non-NFL categories and go to 16 for each sport Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted April 15, 2016 If you need some noms to make the brackets nicer: NBAJohn HavlicekJoe DumarsKevin McHaleHal GreerMLBCraig BiggioBarry LarkinNHLAlex DelvecchioGeorge Armstrong Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ATL_Predator+ 1,196 Posted April 15, 2016 Kobe Bryant Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FartWaffles 1,857 Posted April 16, 2016 (edited) Darrell Green Ronde Barber Lynn Swan John Stallworth Edited April 16, 2016 by FartWaffles Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
