The Most Loyal Athletes in Sports
An old saying holds that there is no honor among thieves, and a capitalist corollary of that would say there is precious little loyalty in professional sports.
Whereas loyalty represents the chief currency among pro sports fans, players face a different landscape pockmarked by agents, arbitration, free agency, collective bargaining, guaranteed money and shifting market value. Players as employees constantly seek a proportionate cut of the millions upon millions of dollars made by teams in the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL.
In the majority of cases, it boils down to this: Fans root for teams, and players act in their own best interests. That means athletes rarely display any loyalty to a professional franchise—and there are many reasons, millions even, to act in that manner—but there are certainly exceptions.
Some athletes accept less money in free agency to stay with a team—the so-called "hometown discount." Other athletes sign an extension to remain with a team instead of testing the top market value as a free agent. And then there are players who seem rooted to the spot, unwilling to depart from a franchise regardless of how many seasons of futility they must suffer through.
Yes, Tom Brady often restructures his contract to assist the New England Patriots in juggling around the salary cap, but, per MMQB, that has actually resulted in more money for "Tom Terrific," which is atypical.
You also have to stay healthy and durable enough that your team will want to stay loyal to you in return. For example, legendary goalie Martin Brodeur thought his abilities surpassed the New Jersey Devils' use for him, but he's been less than stellar so far in net for the St. Louis Blues.
These 10 athletes—in no particular order, as differences in salary caps make it difficult to compare pucks to pigskins and so forth—across the four major North American pro sports define loyalty, though they have done so in divergent manners.
Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Mariners
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Seattle Mariners fans call starting pitcher Felix Hernandez "King Felix" for a reason. Since making his debut in 2005, he has been the lone mainstay for the M's, compiling a trim 3.07 ERA in 303 career starts. He claimed the 2010 AL Cy Young, finished second in 2009 and 2014, made five All-Star teams and has never reached the postseason.
If only the Mariners could finally crack the playoffs, the world might see just how dominant Hernandez could be in a short series, but the team has not reached the postseason since 2001, back when Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner were still on the roster.
Either wooed by the beautiful coastline of the Puget Sound or the promises of an improving Seattle team, Hernandez inked a big contract extension in early 2013. While the seven-year deal worth $175 million made him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, it also replaced the two years that remained on his contract at the time, thereby keeping him from impending free agency.
Though the M's have only had three winning seasons during Hernandez's career, they are coming off an 87-75 campaign that placed them just one game out of the wild-card spot. With any luck, the King's loyalty will pay off soon in the form of a postseason berth, but success needs to come soon, as the 28-year-old ace isn't getting any younger.
Alex Gordon, LF, Kansas City Royals
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The tale of the Kansas City Royals and outfielder Alex Gordon is one of mutual loyalty. While he does not have the length of service of certain other players, Gordon's situation is unique.
He was drafted by KC second overall in the 2005 amateur draft and had a predictably rocky rookie season in '07, hitting .247 and striking out 137 times. While he showed some speed and pop in his bat, Gordon struggled with injuries during 2009 and 2010.
With arbitration looming, it was time for Gordon to put up or shut up in 2011, and he responded with a prodigious season. He hit .303, scored 101 runs, socked 23 home runs, drilled 45 doubles, put up a career-high 87 RBI and won a Gold Glove.
Considering the Royals hadn't made the playoffs since 1985 at that point, it might have been wise for Gordon to take his talents elsewhere. Instead, he reached an agreement to avoid arbitration and then signed a four-year deal worth just over $37 million.
The decision proved prudent, as Gordon, now 30, has continued to flourish in KC, and his team won the 2014 AL pennant with a stunning postseason run. He's so devoted to the Royals that he told the Kansas City Star's Andy McCullough that he plans to exercise his player option in 2016 and forgo a shot at free agency.
Asked whether his agent Casey Close would approve of that move, Gordon told McCullough, "Casey's not the boss of me. I'm sure he'll have things to say and whatnot. But when it comes down to it, it's my decision."
Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Dallas Mavericks
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The Dallas Mavericks landed Dirk Nowitzki from Wurzburg, Germany with a shrewd draft-day deal in 1998, part of a series of moves that also brought in point guard Steve Nash.
Dirk would go on to become one of the most prolific shooters in basketball history, showing unique ability to connect on three-pointers and converting free throws with near unprecedented efficiency for a 7-footer. His signature step-back jumper with the leg kick forms an iconic silhouette.
Much to the delight of excitable billionaire Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Nowitzki delivered a championship in 2011 with a stirring win over LeBron James and the Miami Heat, also claiming NBA Finals MVP.
After allowing the core of that team to disintegrate, Cuban has seemed intent on constructing another championship squad while the 36-year-old Nowitzki still has something left in the tank. And more importantly, Dirk has showed an incredible willingness to sacrifice his own bottom line so that the Mavs can stay under the salary cap and still put a quality rotation around their key veteran.
As Jim Pagels wrote on Forbes.com in July 2014:
"NBA stars’ salaries are already massively deflated due to the league’s maximum salary restriction—and Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki may have taken that discount to new levels Tuesday after signing a shockingly small $25 million, three-year contract to stay in Dallas for his 17th-19th NBA seasons. Nowitzki had max contract offers from the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers of $97 million over four years. ... Instead, the 12-time All-Star voluntarily took a 65 percent pay cut, leaving over $72 million on the table.
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If the Mavs can't earn another title, Cuban should just give Dirk $72 million in stock options.
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Tim Duncan, PF/C, San Antonio Spurs
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While pro athletes certainly deserve their fair share of cash, pursuit of the almighty dollar has diluted player loyalty practically into non-existence. But if your team happens to be the San Antonio Spurs, you're extremely lucky.
As dusk descended on the Hall of Fame career of David Robinson, the Spurs discovered another gem to fill the frontcourt: reserved wizard of the paint Tim Duncan, aka "The Big Fundamental."
After seven winning seasons in a row, the Spurs watched as their ex-Navy All-Star center David Robinson suffered a foot injury in 1996, which limited him to six games that season. Ostensibly, the Spurs tanked, got the top draft pick and selected Duncan.
What followed were five NBA championships and an impressive model for consistency. While Duncan has benefited from the assistance of head coach supreme Gregg Popovich as well as foreign-born stars Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the man in the middle has always steadied the squad and compiled a career warranting the title of "greatest all-time power forward."
And yet, Duncan, 38, doesn't seem to care about his bottom line. In 2012, he accepted a pay cut of $11.5 million, which helped the Spurs retain their free agents and stay out of the luxury tax.
Mike Monroe of the San Antonio Express-News broke it down: "After being the third-highest paid player in the league last season, behind only Lakers star Kobe Bryant ($25.24 million) and Boston's Kevin Garnett ($21.25 million), Duncan next season will be the fourth-highest paid Spur."
When Kobe Bryant was asked in Nov. 2014 to compare his two-year contract worth $48.5 million to Duncan's bargain deal, the Black Mamba tried to write it off by telling USA Today's Sam Amick: "It's a different market, man. San Antonio's not doing $2 billion TV deals."
With Kobe's LA Lakers struggling through a dreadful stretch of losses and the Spurs defending their fifth title, it certainly is a different market, man.
Anderson Varejao, C, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Through the good, bad and in between, your team is your team, like it or not. And that appears to be how 32-year-old Brazilian Anderson Varejao feels about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Few players have reveled in highs and suffered through lows with the same team as Varejao has with the Cavs. After the franchise drafted LeBron James first overall in 2003, the future looked bright.
Varejao was drafted early in the second round the next year by the Orlando Magic and subsequently traded to Cleveland. The Cavs posted a winning record in each of the six seasons that followed and reached the 2007 NBA Finals, getting swept by the Spurs.
With the Cavaliers increasingly seeming like "King James" alongside a squad of mediocre players, the MVP took his talents to South Beach. Meanwhile, Varejao stayed put. The team posted a 97-215 record over the next four seasons.
Known for his defense and rebounding, Varejao endured those dreadful LeBron-less seasons, and he has been rewarded by James' return. In announcing his decision to come back to Cleveland, via SI.com, James specifically mentioned the big-haired big man: "And I can’t wait to reunite with Anderson Varejao, one of my favorite teammates."
Moreover, the Brazilian has retained his spot in the starting lineup in part due to his bond with James. And in re-signing Varejao, Cleveland general manager David Griffin sang the praises of the team's ardent center, via NBA.com: "Anderson represents how this franchise wants to approach the game of basketball, both on the court and off...Andy is, and has been, a tireless worker, an incredible teammate and a great competitor that plays with a rare combination of energy and intensity that makes him truly special."
In a city spurned by their native son, Cavs fans are especially grateful that the big Brazilian stayed in town.
Patrick Marleau, C, San Jose Sharks
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San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau has been with the team since 1997 when he was drafted second overall. Bill Clinton was still the U.S. president.
That year's musical hits included R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly," the Spice Girls' infectious "Wannabe," "MMMBop" by Hanson (but definitely not by the Hanson brothers) and Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" tribute to Princess Diana, who perished in a car wreck that year.
You know, those were different times.
The Sharks are a creation of the '90s as well, established in 1991. They have made the postseason in 15 out of Marleau's 16 seasons there, but they have never reached a Stanley Cup Final.
No one would blame the 35-year-old if he sought greener pastures and a better shot at a title, but he seems intent on staying put. He said via Yahoo Sports' Nicholas Cotsonika: "I want to play in San Jose. I want to win there."
And the team sounds equally committed to its mainstay from Saskatchewan.
Coach Todd McLellan told NHL.com's Dan Rosen in August:
"We want to reset the hierarchy and culture in the organization, and that’s really where the term 'rebuild' came from. ... The term or the word used like that can be confusing at times. I think a lot of people, especially in the media, immediately went to, ‘Well, they’re going to trade Thornton and Marleau.’ That’s not the case. We believe that those two are part of the solution, not part of the problem. That got a lot of play media-wise. That’s not what we were about.
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Even if it does not seem prudent for a veteran like Marleau to remain with the team and suffer through a rebuilding process, old habits are hard to shake, kind of like that catchy Spice Girls song from '97.
Shane Doan, RW, Arizona Coyotes
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Hockey in Arizona? Well, it makes sense to Shane Doan. After playing for the Winnipeg Jets as a rookie, Doan, now the team's 38-year-old captain, made the move with the franchise to Phoenix in 1996.
He's been in the league so long, the NHL created an entirely new team called the Winnipeg Jets, after moving the Atlanta Thrashers franchise in 1999 and reviving the old team name.
For Doan, the deep commitment to an employer has been ingrained in him since he was a kid. As he told the Arizona Republic's Dan Bickley in 2012, via USA Today: "My dad always said, 'If you enjoy working hard, every day is a holiday.' That was his thing."
Despite a team in tumult, Doan remained resolute in his standing with the Coyotes. As his father Bernie assessed it, "I'm not surprised because I know what this means to Shane. He wants to be loyal. He wants to be respectful to other people."
With the team struggling to start the 2014-15 campaign, rumblings began about whether Doan might finally seek a trade to greener pastures where he'd have a better shot at winning a Stanley Cup. Apparently, he won't. Ever.
Doan told Sarah McLellan of AZCentral.com in Dec. 2014: "It hasn't even crossed my mind. It's not even something I'm thinking about. I don't foresee me ever making that decision." With two more losses since that statement, the Coyotes have just 26 points from 33 games—worse than all but two teams in the league.
With the exception of a stunning run to the conference final in 2012, which ended in five games against the LA Kings, the Coyotes have never made it out of the first round of the playoffs. But hardware can't compare to loyalty in Doan's mind.
Sebastian Janikowski, K, Oakland Raiders
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Since the turn of the millennium, whenever the Oakland Raiders need a field goal, they call upon Sebastian Janikowski. The 36-year-old kicker from Walbrzych, Poland was drafted No. 17 in 2000, and he has booted through well over 300 field goals since then.
While he only has a career percentage of slightly over 80 percent on his kicks, that's largely because his powerful leg has prompted the Raiders to try so many lengthy attempts of 50 or more yards.
Occasionally, at the end of a half, the team trots him out to attempt a ludicrously long field. He once missed a 76-yarder. Another time, in 2007, he tried a 64-yarder, which at the time would have set a new record. It had plenty of distance but clanged off the upright.
Janikowski has two field goals of over 60 yards in his career and eight attempts of longer than 60 yards. In other words, he's the perfect kicker for the Raiders.
Of course, the Raiders' repeated willingness to offer him contract extensions and the status of highest-paid place-kicker in the league helps make it an easy decision to stay with the team.
Then again, staying with the Raiders is never easy. Since losing Super Bowl XXXVII to close the 2002 season, the Raiders have not made the playoffs or even posted a winning record.
Antonio Gates, TE, San Diego Chargers
9 of 10
Antonio Gates has been the San Diego Chargers' tight end since 2003, and he will head directly to the Hall of Fame in Canton once he's eligible, but he wasn't even drafted into the league. There's a good reason for that inauspicious start to his NFL career: He never played college football.
Gates played in college for the Kent State Golden Flashes—the basketball team, that is. His incredible success story proves the unique blend of athleticism required to play forward on the hardwood applies to running seam routes down the middle of a football field.
Without Gates, the crop of basketballers turned tight ends—which includes Jimmy Graham, Julius Thomas and Jordan Cameron—would be a much smaller phenomenon.
Gates has mostly enjoyed winning seasons with the Chargers, but they always seem to stub their toe in the postseason. That's what got head coach Marty Schottenheimer fired after a 14-2 regular season in 2006. While San Diego is a beautiful city to call home, it's also a city without a Super Bowl championship.
And yet, Gates happily inked a five-year extension in 2010 worth over $36 million with $20 million in guarantees, per ESPN. At 34 years old, his time on the field is waning, but he remains committed to the cause, and he willingly restructured his contract for equal money to create more cap space for the 2014 season.
Reggie Wayne, WR, Indianapolis Colts
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Some argue that in a player-driven world with unique access afforded by traditional media and social media, fans can simply root for their favorite players instead of rooting for "laundry," but sports fandom consists precisely in rooting for that specific laundry, insofar as it represents a favorite team above any specific player.
Just ask any Indianapolis Colts fan. Sure, Peyton Manning was great, but they no longer root for Peyton as he chucks the ball around to his Denver Broncos teammates. It helps that young QB Andrew Luck has rocketed to stardom of his own, but Manning is little more than a fond memory in Indy.
One man who remains, however, is Manning's old favorite target, Reggie Wayne. Drafted late in the first round of the 2001 NFL draft, Wayne, 36, has now cracked the top 10 on the all-time lists for both receptions and yards.
With Manning sidelined for the 2011 season by a neck injury, the Colts went 2-14 and moved on to Luck under center. Wayne could easily have decided to try and follow his familiar QB or opted to be a veteran pass-catcher for another contending team.
Instead, Wayne accepted the challenge to stay.
Coach Chuck Pagano told Nate Davis from USA Today, "When I got this job, Reggie wasn't under contract. I asked Reggie to take a leap of faith because everybody was gone. This whole organization was blown up—rookie quarterback, rookie GM, rookie head coach. But he's so loyal to the [team] and to this community and this city."
However, another Colts receiver provided an example of a completely different approach from Wayne's, as Michael Hurley of CBS Boston wrote in 2012 about Wes Welker's free agency:
"Pierre Garcon got more than $20 million guaranteed and $42.5 million over five years. ... After some of the wideout hysteria had calmed down a bit, there was perhaps the most shocking signing of the day: Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis. Three years, $17.5 million, $7.5 million guaranteed.
Working together in the same offense for the past three seasons, Wayne outproduced Garcon by 102 catches, 1,083 yards and four touchdowns. Yet, it is Garcon (because he’s younger) raking in the millions and Wayne accepting the more modest salary to keep the horseshoe on his helmet. Wayne would not have been able to haul in a four-year, $40 million deal, but he no doubt passed up at least $8 million in guaranteed money that he could have made somewhere else.
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Moving is always a headache, but staying put is never worth $8 million. Wayne showed his loyalty to Indy, and unfortunately, the team has not rewarded him by bolstering a shaky defense since then.
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