As much as I hate basketball (I really don’t see how there is any skill involved, unless you think being tall is a skill), I voted for MJ. I was close to taking Babe Ruth, but EVERYBODY knows MJ, and only 99% of people know Babe. There have been a lot of great players near Babe’s talent in baseball, but I think MJ stands so far above the other NBA superstars that the difference alone gets him my vote.

I don’t think anyone has ever dominated a sport like Babe Ruth did. In 1920, he hit more home runs than any other TEAM in baseball. He was a man among boys.

Not only was the greatest of his time, but he stimulated social change unlike that of nearly any other athlete. Jordan, for all of his on court success, failed to comment when Nike was discovered to be using child labor to produce their products, as well as when an African American youth was killed over a pair of Air Jordans. Jordan was a great businessman, and achieved international notoriety the likes of which few have. But Ali stood up during one of the most volatile and combustible eras of American history, and with pride and honor, defended his beliefs. In my opinion, to truly be considered the pen-ultimate example of American athletic success, we cannot forget an athlete’s social contributions. Muhammad Ali spurred an era of celebrity evolvement in social causes with his actions, and set the bar for all of his predecessors. Perhaps the most telling aspect of Ali’s worthiness is as follows. Most of these athletes have at one point or another be used as the prefix of the title, “the next…” The next jordan, the next Gretzky, etc. But no one has ever claimed there to be another Ali. That is because Ali was a transcendent figure in American culture. A man whose dominance on the field was equaled only by his social awareness.

Either Pele or Ali. Soccer is the biggest team sport in the world while boxing is also international and Ali made it even more so.

My first inclination was to go Ruth or Jackie Robinson because of their overwhelming impact on baseball, but in the end, even as baseball expands its reach, it simply cannot compare to soccer for international popularity.

I would not be upset if Ali were the choice, but my pick is Pele as the ultimate international star.

His dominance in his sport was greater than the others IMO. He has more ASSISTS all time then the next highest scoring player (Mark Messier) has TOTAL POINTS. He’s won the Cup 4 times, NINE MVP’s, 10 scoring titles, plus a few others that are somwehwat unique to hockey (5 lady Byng’s for example).

was the greatest player on the world’s best team in the world’s most popular sport? Who was called upon to promote the sport in the U.S.A. because there was nobody else in the world with his name recognition?

I cannot say with authority that Pele is the greatest soccer player in history, but I can say that he was recognized in his career as a unique player and that it is probable that his was the only name most Americans could name in the world of soccer during his heyday. I think it is true that he was instrumental in bringing the World Cup championship to Brazil in 2 of their first 3 victories. (I think he was injured for one.)

If we are talking about an international HOF, I don’t think the first inductee can be a baseball, basketball or football player, no matter how great they were. To do so would be to put the U.S.A. at the middle of the sports universe and to make our eccentric preferences the yardstick for the world’s attention. And I say this as a person who does not care for soccer at all and is a fanatic about baseball.

Im a big Ali fan, but Im not even sure he’d go first into my boxing HOF. Id have to think about it. If we’re giving heavy weight to his outside of the ring status then it really doesnt go as far beyond the US as people seem to think here. Nor is it that important. He’s more like a snapshot of one moment in time in America. There’s no overwhelming theme behind Ali that should make him #1 in an international sports HOF. Inside the ring, he may have been the greatest – but its far from a consensus. Nor does he stand far above his contemporaries like some of the others on that poll.

Pretty much all of these guys besdies him in their prime could play in any time.

Babe Ruth was a fat sack of crap who may have been ahead of his time but IMAGINE seeing him hit Roger Clemens.

 I have never read any credible analyst who did not assert that Ruth was not the greatest baseball player in history. Among sabermetricians I have read a number of articles that compare him to other claimants, often to Barry Bonds who is the only one in contention, and they all come to the conclusion that Ruth has an edge even there.

Aside from Jordan, and I am not positive about him, I don’t think there is any athlete who can claim to be virtually uncontested as the greatest of all time in his sport. Despite all the caveats about Ruth (whose image is fixed in people’s heads from his later fatter years. He was always large but not necessarily fat.)- that he played in a segregated game, that ball players were less athletic in his day and all the rest- his reputation remains intact as do the arguments for accepting that reputation as legitimate.

With all that, and even accepting that Ruth was well-known outside the U.S.A., I still think that Pele stands above everyone as the first inductee into an international HOF because for a long time he was considered the greatest player in the most popular sport in the world.