Lipschultz,interesting list. Please consider a few things when ranking players.

Cherry picking & using context dependent stats to describe the skills of a player are misleading at best. W-L record, RBIs, runs, how many post seasons a player gets to: are incredibly dependent upon factors a player cannot control. Things like era (offense or defense), park, line up/team strength, etc...And something like BA is not only a small part of the story, it tells little about one of the 2 main things a player can do at bat: OBP & slugging.

You can inadvertently deeply twist the truth by this kind of focus that does not account for true production even in the limited aspects of what you choose to focus on! For example, what if i said that mantle, though his teams won the World Series the majority of the times they appeared in them, 12 of his 18 seasons, somehow only had 4 seasons with 100 RBIs? And focused on his strikeout rate, or how he often damaged himself (besides injuries) by showing up hung over for games. Thus was very overrated.

That would be an absurd statement. he still had a massive 172 OPS +, good in other aspects of the game, & had a peak higher than most anyone, Mantle & Mays included.

Nettles: he is at least a borderline HOF man, with 61.6 WAR on the tougher B-R.com scale. A great fielding 3rd baseman, some Yankees like Roy White have been overshadowed. And you quibble with him having "decent pop? Huh? He was 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th & 9th in HRs, not hitting in HR parks overall-in NY only the extreme RF corner was close.

By the way, structural changes in how players are used makes something like Cy Young's 749 complete games exponentially less likely to be broken than Ripken's record.Thank you for listening. michaelmfelber@aol.comMr.

Not sure how you have Romo so high on this list, but you're reasoning suggests you know nothing about sports or football. Romo threw for over 4,000 yards, 31 TD's and only 10 interceptions, that's a heck of a season. The season before the injury last year, he threw for over 30 TD's and only nine interceptions in leading the Cowboys to their second division title in three years. So fantasy football or real football, Romo is a very good quarterback that's made three Pro Bowls. You need to watch more sports or stop writing about it!

Mr. Lipschultz, actually half of my familiy is Lipschultz. I'm a Reynolds,
but anyhow, calling Mike Singletary underrated is really unfair. Yes is
not the greatest coach. But Mike did not get the stats because he had
3 hall of fame defensive lineman in front of him. If the back did get past
the front line, Mike punished them. Review some clips or Mike and see
how he leveled players, and to dispute your point about interceptions,
the 80's Bears focused on sacking the QB and forcing fumbles. He
was a 10 time pro bowl player, and to think that is overrated that is insane.

I can't figure out what is a bigger joke; Your quasi-writing ability or your ridiculously biased "Top 100 overrated athletes" article. . . I just say you in general.

And correction I see that you have one LA athlete up at 94 and arguably 2 with Erstad at 99, yet you have Nolan Ryan in the top 25, he threw 7 no-hitters and the stat you chose to focus on was W/L. Thats probably the most deceptive stat when it comes to pitching.

And check your list of playoff triple doubles for active players in the NBA. Nothing overrated about those.

your overrated athletes list was twisted, Look at Papelbons numbers in save opportunities vs non save opportunities and you will see a huge disparity. Hes still young and has a world series under his belt. Calling out Dwight Howard too, he almost single handedly won a title and hes the best defensive and offensive big man in the game. On to Tim Tebow, hes still a baby in the NFL and dominated college football, not overrated. Not a single LA athlete was on here, you just proved to be the biggest homer. That article made the BR look overrated.

Ross, you're a good man, and thanks for the update.

Ok... that's not what a writer for the Arizona Republic thinks, or what anyone who writes for the Houston Chronicle wrote when the trade went down, but I guess when June rolls around we'll find out.

Thanks for your response.

Hey Ross,

I don't seem to be able to post a comment on a blog by logging into BleacherReport, but I do seem to be able to do it here, so here goes. On your NBA mock draft slide show, you have Phoenix picking 23rd, I believe, (from Orlando). Well, Houston owns the Sun's first round pick, from the Brooks trade, and it's lottery protected. It's not looking like there's any chance that Phoenix is going to overtake Memphis for that last playoff spot (remaining home/road schedule, number of back to backs, etc.), which would mean Houston would get that Orlando pick. Assuming that's the case, who do you see Houston going after at that spot?

If you can, would you respond on the slide show... easier for me to find there, even though my question is posted here.

Nice job on the mock draft, by the way. I don't agree with everything you posted, but obviously if it were my slide show you wouldn't agree with everything I posted. But I think you did a thoughtful, credible job.

Thanks, Gary