Basketball: Top sports figure at the age of 21?

The other day on ESPN SportsCenter they were talking about LeBron James and asking if he is the top sports figure of all time at the age of 21. That is, if you look at an athlete's career up to the age of 21, who comes out on top? The ones they discussed were Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, Doc Gooden, Wayne Gretzky, Mickey Mantle, and LeBron.

So, who's #1?

Has to be Tiger for me, I mean he was on that show at like age 4 or something & could putt better than me now lol. He played on pro courses at like 7 & is just such a legend. He is the Ronaldhinio of golf :sport-smiley-019: & then of course Rooney

[Edited on 5/22/06 by hammerboy]

Was Tyson the Heavyweight champ by then? If so, you'd have to take that into deep consideration. Even though the guy has turned out to be a dreg of society, he was so darn intimidating early in his career...

Actually, if I remember right, Tyson was heavyweight Champ at only 18. I agree with Gibbs... for dominance in a sport, I'm going with Tyson.

Tyson unified the three boxing titles at the age of 20, but I put him at #2.

By the age of 21, Wayne Gretzky had already won three straight MVP awards and had broken the single season records for goals, assists, and points. He's #1 in my book.

After Gretz and Tyson, I would have to say Tiger.

Feller deserves consideration. By age 21, he had serious numbers.

which 'feller is that you talk about?

I'll provide a few more baseball (ancient) history names:

Ty Cobb was an outstanding hitter by age 21. He led the Tigers to the World Series for the second of three consecutive years (all resulting in losses), and he led the league in lots of the categories that Dead Ball players wanted to excel in.

Babe Ruth was a very good pitcher the year he was 21 (1916), though not a great hitter, playing in a horrible park for left-handed hitters (Fenway Park, before the right-field seats were put in).

Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx, who both came up at age 17, were great players by age 21. Especially Foxx, though he had to wait until he was 24 years old, and Ruth was 37 years old, to surpass Ruth as a player. Foxx had an outstanding season that year, hitting 58 HR's and otherwise hitting the hell out of the ball. But he was real good at 21, too; just not Babe Ruth good.

Mickey Mantle was not as good at age 21 as supposed. Of the four 500 HR Club members born in 1931 (Mays, Mantle, Banks and Mathews), the one who was best at age 21 was Eddie Mathews. He had a hellacious season. Mays, by contrast, was in the military for the second half of the season he was 21... and all of the next season.

Just as one must wonder what Ruth would have done, had he not lost 5+ seasons (!) to the dead ball, and 4+ of those seasons to Fenway Park minus the seats, one also must wonder what Mays' career stats would have looked like, had he been allowed to play those 1.5 more seasons, at ages 21 and 22, in the Polo Grounds, with its absurdly shallow foul lines.

BHN

Wow, Bob Feller definitely had some great numbers by the age of 21. He had gone 82-41 by that point in his career! He posted Adjusted ERAs of 154 and 161 in 1939 and 1940.

All in all, though, I don't think any of those baseball guys can be compared to what Gretzky and Tyson had done by that time.

Oh, I forgot to list Steffi Graf as well, who by the age of 21 had already won nine Grand Slam titles and had taken all four titles AND the Olympic gold medal in 1988 (the "Golden Slam").

Yeah, Steffi may be worth consideration above Tyson, but I think he'd kick the crap outta her...