OT: Boston GREATS top 10

[Triumph]

I must agree.

The Sox and Celts owned Boston until Brady.

 

[Boomer B]

Ted Williams at 10? He was pretty much regarded as one of, if not, baseballs greatest hitter.

 

[Drunken Cicerone]

I can’t see the argument for Williams to be anywhere below 7

 

[signbabybrady]

Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady
Brady

 

[VrabelJr]

This list feels random. Ted Williams should definitely be above Pedro and Ortiz, who are both too high. Gronk should be up there in the 5-7 range. He changed football.

 

[Triumph]

Bobby Orr was always 2nd fiddle when he was the GOAT. McDavid is close, but not Orr.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I can’t see the argument for Williams to be anywhere below 7

If we mean “greatest talent”, then he’s #1. Add in his 5 prime years he lost being a fighter pilot in war, he’s at over 700 HRs while hitting .330 or something.

If we mean a mix of talent and rings, then probably #5 cause he won no titles.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Glad to see Pedro getting recognition but he should be above Ortiz. We’ll never see another guy again like Pedro. I think the top 4 are just right, then it should be

5. Williams
6. Pedro
7. Cousy
8. Bourque
9. Havlicek
10. Ortiz

(11. Derrick White !!!)

After #6, there’s not an extremely strong case for the ordering, and also I don’t know if these guys are really ahead of Gronkowski, Hannah, Pierce, Ruth (pre-Yankees), or a few others.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Bobby Orr was always 2nd fiddle when he was the GOAT. McDavid is close, but not Orr.

Yeah I wonder what Gretzky or McDavid’s stats would look like with the small factor of being a defenseman. Orr is the greatest peak hockey player of all-time, but I understand why the longevity argument hurts him. No one has ever come close to even mimicking what Orr did. Check out his plus-minus.

 

[Family]

Why is Cousy ahead of Hondo?

For those who remember, Havlicek rivaled Bird's greatness.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Yeah I wonder what Gretzky or McDavid’s stats would look like with the small factor of being a defenseman. Orr is the greatest peak hockey player of all-time, but I understand why the longevity argument hurts him. No one has ever come close to even mimicking what Orr did. Check out his plus-minus.

Gretzky has said that Orr was better than him.

Ted Williams did two different tours in the Marines, otherwise, he would have caught Ruth. He belongs at #1.

Russell #2, Brady #3, and of course, Bobby Orr #4

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Gretzky has said that Orr was better than him.

Ted Williams did two different tours in the Marines, otherwise, he would have caught Ruth. He belongs at #1.

Russell #2, Brady #3, and of course, Bobby Orr #4

Williams would have caught the GOAT of his sport.

Brady is the undisputed GOAT of his sport.

How can you argue Williams over Brady?

 

[1960Pats]

Deciding between Russell and Brady is tough. Bill won more titles but that's easier to do in basketball than football because of single game eliminations in football. But damn, 11 wins during his 13 years is incredible. And two as the player/coach to finish it off says a lot.

I'd put these players on the list of all time greatest and not just Boston.
Russell, Bird, Brady, Gronk, Hannah, Orr, Pedro and Williams. They were all the best at what they did.

I'd throw Auerbach in there as both a coach and a GM too. And to top it off I've been blessed enough to have seen Red and every one of those players in person.

 

[jmt57]

Usually an exercise such as this is flawed due to recency bias.

It's interesting that that is not the case here, since nearly everyone on this forum never saw Ted Williams or Bob Cousy play, most here never saw Bill Russell, and many here never saw Bobby Orr or John Havlicek. Good for all of you to think through a long term, historical perspective.


While this is an individual honor, you cannot just ignore the team achievements. With that in mind, Brady should rank number one.

Nobody is a bigger fan of Bobby Orr than me, but all those knee injuries and surgeries robbed him of a lengthy career. If modern medical techniques were available back then, he would likely be considered on par or ahead of Gretzky. Unfortunately that did not happen, so to me he ranks fourth. Larry Bird needs to be ahead of Orr.


I'm not sure what to do with the Red Sox players. Pedro was integral to the Sox finally winning a world series. He earned two Cy Young awards, playing in Fenway during his prime. But he's a pitcher, which means he is only playing in 20% of the team's games. As awesome as he was for seven years in Boston, I think that his rank needs to be lower.

Ortiz was here for twice as long and was a great leader, but as a DH he did not play in the field. He might need to drop a couple of spots as well, though I'm writing those words with less conviction.

 

[FCB02062]

Everyone on that list won at least one championship in Boston except Williams and Bourque. Bourque should be 10, Williams 9.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Gretzky has said that Orr was better than him.

Ted Williams did two different tours in the Marines, otherwise, he would have caught Ruth. He belongs at #1.

Russell #2, Brady #3, and of course, Bobby Orr #4

Top tier: Williams, Russell, Brady, who are top 6 across all cities/all sports/all time (only Ruth-Jordan-Gretzky compare)
2nd tier: Bird, Orr, Pedro, which as I write this sounds ridiculous to call any of them 2nd tier
3rd tier: Hondo, Papi, Gronk, Hannah, Yaz, McHale
note: within a tier, no particular order

 

[jmt57]

Everyone on that list won at least one championship in Boston except Williams and Bourque. Bourque should be 10, Williams 9.

Do we replace Bourque with Phil Esposito?

Before somebody responds that Espo's time in Boston was too short, it was one year longer than Pedro's (8 years vs 7), and Esposito was part of two championship teams to Martinez' one.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Williams would have caught the GOAT of his sport.

Brady is the undisputed GOAT of his sport.

How can you argue Williams over Brady?

Ted Williams is arguably the greatest hitter in baseball history. He spent 5 years of his prime as a fighter pilot in war when he was averaging 35-40 HR's a year. He definitely would have hit > 700 HR's, is the last guy to hit over .400 for a season, and had a .344 career batting average.

 

[Boomer B]

Bobby Orr was always 2nd fiddle when he was the GOAT. McDavid is close, but not Orr.

McDavid?

McDavid isn’t top 5 yet

Tier 1

Gretzky
Orr
Lemieux
Howe

Tier 2

Jagr
Crosby
Richard
Messier
McDavid
Yzerman
Lafleur
Bourque
Lidstrom
Sakic

 

[Boomer B]

Ted Williams is arguably the greatest hitter in baseball history. He spent 5 years of his prime as a fighter pilot in war when he was averaging 35-40 HR's a year. He definitely would have hit > 700 HR's, and was the last guy to hit over .400 for a season.

Arguably the greatest hitter doesn’t put him ahead of un-arguably the greatest QB