What makes the great ones so great?

With Alex Ovechkin recently breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record (in amazingly just one fewer game), we decided to nerd out and look at some stats and marketing implications that may elevate one’s perceived greatness over the field. To do this, we looked at the “most” of a category (not the best all-around player.) (This is post 1 of 4-part series.)

NHL:

Goals (and games played)

-Ovechkin: 895 (1,487)

-Gretzky: 894 (1,487)

Avg. Goals Per Season (82 games)

-Ovechkin: 49 (highest one-year goal total was 65)

-Gretzky: 49 (highest one-year goal total was 92)

Led the league in goals:

-Ovechkin: 9

-Gretzky: 5

Shooting Percentage

-Ovechkin: Career: 13.1% (ranks outside the top 250); Age 39 season: 18.7%

-Gretzky: Career: 17.6% (ranks 44th all time): Age 38 season (Gretzky’s last year): 6.8%

Those all seem like stats that would point towards a healthy debate…Now, the other stats are what separates Gretzky (aka “The Great One”) from anyone in the NHL: if you took away his goals, he would still be the NHL’s all-time leader in points (goals and assists).

He won 8 straight scoring titles and MVPs. He won his 10 scoring titles by an average of 49 points! There is only one other player (Lemieux) in NHL history to win a scoring race by more than 30 points. Meaning Gretzky showed up on the stat sheets and highlight reels daily because of his goal-scoring and passing ability. A fresh reminder of his greatness every single day. (The closest comparison to that in any sport is Babe Ruth when between 1926 to 1932 he hit more home runs than entire teams.) You can find online about 10 other absurd stats about Gretzky that not only made his stats far and above better than his contemporaries, but better than his peers in almost any sport. Gretzky’s popularity was catapulted by the fact that he played on multiple dominant Stanley Cup winning teams, played in major markets such as LA and NY, and earned about $50M in endorsements from Nike, McDonalds, and others. It probably helped that in a game of guys missing teeth, Gretzky’s long blonde hair (yellow, along with red, are the most attractive colors to the eyes) had the appearance of a Canadian God.

Next, we’ll be looking at the NBAs all-time 3-point leader, Steph Curry, followed by the home run kings in MLB, and most TD passes in the NFL. Little known fact, Steph’s brother, Seth, actually shoots 3s at a higher percentage than Steph…