The Five Best Athletes of All-Time

We’ll always favor the athletes who have made more recent impacts, as these are the ones who’ve affected our lives. Still, there have been many hugely influential athletes from the past, and I’ve done my best to include them here.

After all, we weren’t there to see most of the athletes of the 1900s so it’s hard to completely realize what they meant to society at the time. What you should know is that many of the men from the past paved the way for the big stars we enjoy today.

These are the five most influential athletes in sports history, in my opinion of course. If you have thoughts of your own, by all means share them.

Ty Cobb. A pioneer in the baseball world, his time came before Babe Ruth’s. He was one of the first true superstars of the sport and still remains one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game.

As far as boxing goes, Muhammad Ali was the most high profile boxer to ever grace the sport. His personality and charisma were second to none, and the same can be said about his boxing skills.

Pele. He did for soccer what Michael Jordan did for basketball and Babe Ruth did for baseball. Probably the greatest soccer player to ever don a uniform, this Brazilian legend will live on forever.

In baseball, no one gets more credit for shaping the sport than Babe Ruth does. He changed the way people watched the sport, and turned it into the biggest thing in the country. He also helped the Yankees to a dynasty that still lives on to this day.

Michael Jordan. He completely transformed the game of basketball, and inspired a generation of younger kids to want to be like him. He also has the biggest impact on the sports marketing world in the history of sports.

More about the author: A major sports lover, he also enjoys writing about bathroom lighting fixtures and bathroom ceiling lights.