Kerry Wood -- Greatest what-if ever?

One you would never think of because of how spectacular he was when he played but ....



The Kid. The Thumper. The Splendid Splinter. Teddy Ballgame.

521 HRs and 525 career doubles. A .344 career BA. Last man to top .400 in a season.

But here's the kicker:

Missed all or the most part of 5 of his prime seasons because of service to his country during WWII and Korea. Only 2,654 career hits because of that.

I just wish I was alive to see him play.

Tell me Grandpa Spnited, what was Teddy like?

 

If Tyson hadn't gone to jail, I think he would have become the most dominant the heavyweight ever... Instead, he's still one of the best, but not in the class of the true elite like Ali, etc...

Brien Taylor belongs on this list... So does Bo Jackson, who I definitely think is the best athlete I've ever seen...

 

For a banger, Tyson had good boxing skills (as did George Foreman) and showed that on his way up and early in his first reign as champion (watch his clinical destruction of Tyrell Biggs - supposedly the Ali to his Frazier) when Kevin Rooney was in his corner. He could string fast, hard punches together better than any heavyweight since Joe Louis.

Mr. Friend O' beat me to it with Tony Ayala, a highly-ranked, undefeated, 19-year-old bad-ass junior middleweight who went to jail for sexual assault in 1983. Plenty of potentially great matchups for him around that weight in those days against Benitez, Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Davey Moore, maybe even Hagler. Got out and made a comeback in 1999.

 

Harry Agganis

http://www.agganisarena.com/about/arena/harry.html

First round pick of the Cleveland Browns but he decided to play baseball for the Red Sox instead. Spent 15 months in the military and died at age 26 during his second season with the Sox.

 

Good thread. I submit for consideration Tim Richmond. Could make the car do pretty much whatever he wanted it to do. Seven wins, 17 top 10s and third in the Winston Cup standings in '86, his third full season and his first with a decent equipment. Could have been the Jeff Gordon of his time. Died of AIDS in '89.

 

I would also like to add linebacker Clayton Weishuhn of the Patriots to the list. Nobody tackled like Weishuhn - he made Steve Nelson look average before he blew out his knee.

While we are talking about knees - I agree with adding Gord Kluzak to the list but what about Bobby Orr? Imagine what his final numbers would have been like with two healthy knees.

 

Ki-Jana Carter -- Seemed ready to become the league's next great RB, then blew out knee in preseason of his rookie year.

Hank Gathers -- His numbers were probably inflated playing at LM, but still...

Lyman Bostock -- In four seasons, Bostock was a .311 hitter for the Twins and Angels. Then in Sept. 1978 (from Wikipedia)...

After eating a meal with a group of people, Bostock got in the back seat of his uncle's car. As the vehicle crossed the intersection of 5th and Jackson streets, a car pulled up along side them. The driver got out and fired one blast of a 410 gauge shotgun into the back seat where Bostock was sitting. The shooter, Leonard Smith, did not even know Lyman Bostock. His lethal wrath was intended for his estranged wife, Barbara Smith, who was along with the group as a guest of Bostock's uncle, Thomas Turner, who happened to be her godfather. The blast missed the woman but struck Bostock in the left temple. He died two hours later at a Gary hospital. It was later discovered that Bostock had known the woman in the car for a total of twenty minutes.

Just horrible...

 

Sirs, Madames,

A Jeopardy form to this--using "what if" in question form might be appropriate.

For hockeyphiles: What if Bryan Fogarty had never touched a drop?

For horse-racing types: What if Sham had come along one year earlier or one year later? (For the record, in defence of Sham, he did finish ahead of Secretariat once.)

For a ton of Olympic athletes: What if African nations hadn't boycotted in '76? What if a US-led confederation of like-minded nations hadn't boycotted in '80? What if the Soviet Bloc hadn't responded in kind in '84?

For ring types: What if Teofilo Stevenson had been allowed to turn pro?

For soccerphiles: What if the United Kingdom entered a single team in the World Cup (like it does in the Olympics and in other sporting milieus)?

And everyone has questions, nobody answers.

(For the record, Fogarty would have been a decent defenceman but no Bobby Orr, Sham would have easily won two legs of the Triple Crown, Filbert Bayi vs John Walker would have been the race of '76 and one of the greatest 1500m in Olympic history, Stevenson would have been lit up by Larry Holmes, and George Best wouldn't be compared to Pele but Pele would be compared to George Best.)

YHS, etc

 

Was never a big fan of Stevenson (a guy who could bang but was too mechanical for my liking) and I agree with Mr. Friend O', he would have been dismantled by Holmes (no shame in that - Holmes was the best heavyweight of my lifetime). I wonder what would have become of Barcelona super heavy champ Roberto Balado who died in a car accident.

Three-time Olympic heavyweight gold emdalist Felix Savon of Cuba is another intriguing "What if?"

 

Having seen him in the minors, I'll submit Josh Hamilton. He may not be the head of the class, but he's pissed away an AWFUL lot of talent.