# Name Your Favorite Team's Ten Greatest Players **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730 "2009-03-08T14:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/1 "2009-03-08T14:07:48Z")
Making lists such as these is a subjective, bullshit-infused exercise which I enjoy greatly. I would suggest the following guidelines: [ul] [li]Any players from franchise history is fair game. For instance, my list contains players from both the Minneapolis and L.A. Lakers[/li][li]Players should be evaluated based on contributions to that team, not their entire career. Babe Ruth is fair game for inclusion on a list of great Red Sox, but maybe not great Braves[/li][li]If you suggest an addition to someone else’s list, you should point out who you would remove from the list.[/li][/ul] Keep it to ten. You can add a brief supplement if needed, like I have done. The players on my lists are presented in no particular order. **Great Lakers** [ul] [li]Earvin Johnson[/li][li]Kareem Abdul-Jabbar[/li][li]James Worthy[/li][li]Kobe Bryant[/li][li]Shaquille O’Neal[/li][li]Elgin Baylor[/li][li]Jerry West[/li][li]George Mikan[/li][li]Wilt Chamberlain[/li][li]Gail Goodrich[/li][/ul] (Sorry, man- Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon, A.C. Green, Jumpin’ Jim Pollard, and others) **Great Hawks** [ul] [li]Dominique Wilkins[/li][li]Wayne Rollins[/li][li]Bob Pettit[/li][li]John Drew[/li][li]Joe Johnson[/li][li]Kevin Willis[/li][li]Dan Roundfield[/li][li]Lou Hudson[/li][li]Eddie Johnson[/li][li]Mookie Blaylock[/li][/ul] (Soon, very soon- Josh Smith, Al Horford) Who you got? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/2 "2009-03-08T14:45:53Z")
I’ll play. Tennessee Titans Steve McNair Eddie George Albert Haynesworth Kyle Vanden Bosch Craig Hentrich Rob Bironas Derrick Mason (now with the Ravens) Frank Wycheck Drew Bennett (moved on) Pacman Jones (a tragic case!) Jevon Kearse Bruce Matthews Cortland Finnegan Keith Bulluck I can’t trim down from this list. Sorry. If pressed, remove the ones with parenthesized comments. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/3 "2009-03-08T14:55:13Z")
Fair enough, Zeldar. The Ten limit is not a rule, merely a guideline. You didn’t want to include anybody from the Titan’s earlier incarnation as the Houston Oilers? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/4 "2009-03-08T15:03:57Z")
> [@Shot\_Clock](#): > > Fair enough, Zeldar. The Ten limit is not a rule, merely a guideline. You didn’t want to include anybody from the Titan’s earlier incarnation as the Houston Oilers? Thanks for the leeway. I only became a real fan of the team in 2000, after they had been in Nashville a while. I know the Oilers had some greats, but they were before my time with the franchise. I interpreted the OP to be looking for _my_ favorites. If the consensus greats are who you’re looking for, then certainly at least half of the all-time 10 would be Oilers. I used as a memory aid: [Tennessee Titans - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Titans#Notable_players) but only after I had the first 11. Good thing I did check that page, or I might have omitted two of the real greats on the current team: Finnegan and Bulluck. I went there to be sure how Bruce spells his last name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/5 "2009-03-08T15:06:52Z")
DALLAS COWBOYS (numbered to ensure 10 … not ranked) 1. Roger Staubach 2. Troy Aikman 3. Emmitt Smith 4. Michael Irvin 5. Tony Dorsett 6. Bob Lily 7. Randy White 8. Deion Sanders 9. Charles Haley 10. Larry Allen Alternates: Herschel Walker, Bob Hayes, Drew Pearson NON-PLAYERS: Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Tex Schramm ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_Clock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Shot\_Clock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_Clock)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/6 "2009-03-08T15:15:08Z")
**To Clarify** : it can be your favorites, or consensus greats. It might be helpful if you specified which approach you took. Have fun! And I like Bearflag’s addition of non-players. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/7 "2009-03-08T15:18:55Z")
Toronto Blue Jays in no particular order: Roberto Alomar Carlos Delgado Dave Stieb Roy Halladay Tony Fernandez George Bell Lloyd Moseby Jesse Barfield Tom Henke Devon White Honorable mentions to Joe Carter, Ernie Whitt, Roger Clemens (who only pitched in Toronto for two years and was the best pitcher in baseball both years) John Olerud, Shannon Stewart, Vernon Wells, Jim Clancy, Duane Ward, and Paul Molitor. I’m doing this purely by subjective opinion, no particular system. White’s on the list in part because he was my favourite and he was awesome in the playoffs. I know it seems weird to some Carter’s not on my list but he wasn’t really that great even when he was good, and when he was bad he was one of the worst regular players in the major leagues. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/8 "2009-03-08T15:41:40Z")
New York Yankees 1. Babe Ruth 2. Mickey Mantle 3. Joe Dimaggio 4. Lou Gehrig 5. Yogi Berra 6. Whitey Ford 7. Rickey Henderson \* 8. Reggie Jackson \* 9. Bill Dickey 10. Derek Jeter I include asterisks and rank these guys lower than they may deserve SOLELY because, great as these guys were, they only spent a small part of their careers as Yankees. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/9 "2009-03-08T15:59:15Z")
The Packer All-stars: Sterling Sharpe Reggie White Ray Nitschke Brett Favre John “Johnny Blood” McNally Bart Starr Donald Driver Jim Taylor Almost there: A. J. Hawk Aaron Kampman Mark Tauscher ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/10 "2009-03-08T16:07:49Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > The Packer All-stars: > > Sterling Sharpe > Reggie White > Ray Nitschke > Brett Favre > John “Johnny Blood” McNally > Bart Starr > Donald Driver > Jim Taylor > > Almost there: > A. J. Hawk > Aaron Kampman > Mark Tauscher No Don Hutson? No Paul Hornung? I’d put those two above McNally and Driver, and Sharpe. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Walking\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@The\_Walking\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Walking_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/11 "2009-03-08T17:29:08Z")
Kansas City Chiefs: Len Dawson Jan Stenerud Nick Lowery Derrick Thomas Neil Smith Marcus Allen Emmitt Thomas Bobby Bell Willie Lanier Christian Okoye Best player to ever play for the Chiefs - Joe Montana Non-players - Lamar Hunt, Hank Stram ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/12 "2009-03-08T17:39:10Z")
Arizona Cardinals. 1. Kurt Warner 2. Larry Fitzgerald 3. Dan Dierdorf 4. Jim Hart 5. Ottis Anderson 6. Roger Wehrli 7. Jake Plummer 8. Anquan Boldin 9. Mel Gray 10. Neil Lomax Honorable mention goes to Pat Tillman. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/13 "2009-03-08T17:41:29Z")
The New York Football Giants 1. Lawrence Taylor 2. Harry Carson 3. Phil Simms 4. Mark Bavaro 5. Frank Gifford 6. Y.A. Tittle 7. Michael Strahan 8. Eli Manning 9. Carl Banks 10. Joe Morris In no particular order (except #1) ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/14 "2009-03-08T17:49:58Z")
Cleveland Browns Jim Brown RB Otto Graham QB Paul Warfield WR Marion Motley RB Len Ford DE Bill Willis, G, DL Mike McCormack T Frank Gatski C Ozzie Newsom TE Gene Hickerson G Cleveland Indians Bob Feller P Tris Speaker CF Lou Boudreau SS Manny Ramierez OF Albert Belle OF Kenny Lofton OF Jim Thome 1b/3b Omar Vizquel SS Gaylord Perry P Nap Lajoie 2b Cleveland Cavs LeBron James F Brad Daughtery C Mark Price G Hot Rod Williams F Lenny Wilkens G Zydrunas Illgauskus C Ron Harper G Austin Carr G Larry Nance F Craig Ehlo G-F ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/15 "2009-03-08T17:55:27Z")
Arizona Diamondbacks. 1. Randy Johnson 2. Luis Gonzalez 3. Jose Valverde 4. Craig Counsell 5. Jay Bell 6. Mark Grace 7. Steve Finley 8. Curt Schilling 9. Orlando Hudson Wow, that was tough. I can’t really even think of ten players who have spent enough time with the Diamondbacks to count. Of course, the team has only been in existence since 1998 but this team has really churned players. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/16 "2009-03-08T17:57:34Z")
Portland Trail Blazers Clyde Drexler Buck Williams Terry Porter Bill Walton\* Brandon Roy Geoff Petrie\* Maurice Lucas Sidney Wicks\* Rasheed Wallace Cliff Robinson \*They were on the team before I was even born, but their contributions can’t be denied ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/17 "2009-03-08T17:58:30Z")
lions 1. Barry Sanders 2. Doak Walker 3. Charlie Sanders 4. Lem Barney 5. Joe Schmidt 6. Jack Christianson 7. Bobby Laine 8. Dutch Clark 9. Y&ale Lary ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/18 "2009-03-08T18:16:44Z")
> [@The\_Walking\_Dude](#): > > Kansas City Chiefs: > > Len Dawson > Jan Stenerud > Nick Lowery > Derrick Thomas > Neil Smith > Marcus Allen > Emmitt Thomas > Bobby Bell > Willie Lanier > Christian Okoye > > Best player to ever play for the Chiefs - Joe Montana > Non-players - Lamar Hunt, Hank Stram I was a Raiders fan in the Chiefs’ glory days. I’d have put Otis Taylor and Buck Buchanan on that list somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/19 "2009-03-08T18:49:54Z")
Chicago Fire (pretty short existence, meh) 1. Peter Nowak 2. Lubos Kubik 3. Carlos Bocanegra 4. Zach Thorton 5. Ante Razov 6. Cuauhtemoc Blanco 7. Chris Armas 8. Gonzalo Segares 9. DaMarcus Beasely 10. CJ Brown ---
**Author:** ![The\_Walking\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@The\_Walking\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Walking_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730/20 "2009-03-08T19:27:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I was a Raiders fan in the Chiefs’ glory days. I’d have put Otis Taylor and Buck Buchanan on that list somewhere. I was especially tempted to put Buchanan in there instead of Okoye, it was a tough call. I grew up a Chiefs fan in the late 80s and 90s, though, so a lot of my picks were oriented there. A lot of people would have left Nick Lowery off as well, but he was one of the better kickers in the NFL for a long time. I was also a kicker/punter in high school, so I hold a special respect for kickers in general. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-favorite-teams-ten-greatest-players/488730.md?page=2)