The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History

Robert W. Cohen

Who comprised the most productive pairs in the history of professional team sports? Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers? Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls? What about the prolific hockey tandem of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier? And that all-time great New York Yankees twosome of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig certainly can't be excluded.

Using various selection criteria—including longevity, level of statistical compilation, impact on one’s team, and overall place in history—The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History attempts to ascertain which twosome truly established themselves as the most dominant tandem in the history of the four major professional team sports: baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. Arranged and ranked by sport, this work takes an in-depth look at the careers of these men, including statistics, quotes from opposing players and former teammates, and career highlights. Finally, all 50 duos are placed in an overall ranking.

Covering every decade since the 1890s, this book will find widespread appeal among sports fans of all generations. And with photographs of many of the tandems, The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History is a wonderful addition to any sports historian’s collection.

Taylor Trade Publishing

Pages: 370 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-63076-049-6 • Paperback • January 2015 • $18.95 • (£14.99)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General, Sports & Recreation / Basketball, Sports & Recreation / Football, Sports & Recreation / Hockey

The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History

Paperback

Summary

Who comprised the most productive pairs in the history of professional team sports? Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers? Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls? What about the prolific hockey tandem of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier? And that all-time great New York Yankees twosome of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig certainly can't be excluded.

Using various selection criteria—including longevity, level of statistical compilation, impact on one’s team, and overall place in history—The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History attempts to ascertain which twosome truly established themselves as the most dominant tandem in the history of the four major professional team sports: baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. Arranged and ranked by sport, this work takes an in-depth look at the careers of these men, including statistics, quotes from opposing players and former teammates, and career highlights. Finally, all 50 duos are placed in an overall ranking.

Covering every decade since the 1890s, this book will find widespread appeal among sports fans of all generations. And with photographs of many of the tandems, The 50 Most Dynamic Duos in Sports History is a wonderful addition to any sports historian’s collection.

Details

Taylor Trade Publishing

Pages: 370 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-63076-049-6 • Paperback • January 2015 • $18.95 • (£14.99)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / History, Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General, Sports & Recreation / Basketball, Sports & Recreation / Football, Sports & Recreation / Hockey

Author

Robert W. Cohen is the author of several historical sports books, including The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History (Scarecrow, 2012), The 50 Greatest Players in St. Louis Cardinals History (2013), Pro Basketball’s All-Time All-Stars: Across the Eras (2013), and The 50 Greatest Players in New York Giants Football History (2014). Cohen currently writes for the website TheBaseballPage.com. He lives in northern New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Inspiration for This Book…And Definition of “Dynamic Duo”
Selection Criteria Used To Determine Rankings

PART ONE: DYNAMIC BASEBALL DUOS
1 Babe Ruth / Lou Gehrig
2 Jimmie Foxx / Al Simmons
3 Hank Aaron / Eddie Mathews
4 Willie Mays / Willie McCovey
5 Mickey Mantle / Roger Maris
6 Ken Griffey Jr. / Alex Rodriguez
7 Ty Cobb / Sam Crawford
8 Hank Greenberg / Charlie Gehringer
9 Pete Rose / Joe Morgan
10 Greg Maddux / Tom Glavine
11 Sam Thompson / Billy Hamilton
12 Sandy Koufax / Don Drysdale
13 Ted Williams / Bobby Doerr
14 Roberto Clemente / Willie Stargell
15 Johnny Bench / Tony Perez
16 Jeff Bagwell / Craig Biggio
17 Randy Johnson / Curt Schilling
18 Warren Spahn / Johnny Sain
19 Bill Terry / Mel Ott
20 Derek Jeter / Bernie Williams
21 Duke Snider / Roy Campanella
22 Ron Santo / Billy Williams

PART TWO: DYNAMIC FOOTBALL DUOS
1 Joe Montana / Jerry Rice
2 Peyton Manning / Marvin Harrison
3 Steve Young / Jerry Rice
4 Merlin Olsen / Deacon Jones
5 Gale Sayers / Dick Butkus
6 Johnny Unitas / Raymond Berry
7 Troy Aikman / Emmitt Smith / Michael Irvin
8 Lawrence Taylor / Harry Carson
9 Jack Lambert / Jack Ham
10 Jim Taylor / Paul Hornung
11 Lynn Swann / John Stallworth

PART THREE: DYNAMIC BASKETBALL DUOS
1 Michael Jordan / Scottie Pippen
2 Kareem AbdulJabbar / Magic Johnson
3 Bill Russell / Bob Cousy
4 Elgin Baylor / Jerry West
5 Karl Malone / John Stockton
6 Shaquille O’Neal / Kobe Bryant
7 LeBron James / Dwayne Wade
7 Oscar Robertson / Jerry Lucas
8 Larry Bird / Kevin McHale
9 Julius Erving / Moses Malone
10 Walt Frazier / Earl Monroe
11 Isiah Thomas / Joe Dumars

PART FOUR: DYNAMIC HOCKEY DUOS
1 Wayne Gretzky / Mark Messier
2 Bobby Orr / Phil Esposito
3 Bobby Hull / Stan Mikita
4 Bryan Trottier / Mike Bossy
5 Mario Lemieux / JaromirJagr

PART FIVE: OVERALL RANKINGS AND CURRENT DYNAMIC DUOS
Final Overall Rankings
Current Dynamic Duos To Watch

Reviews

Excellent book! I love books like this. I really enjoyed reading your book because you get a mixture in here. You get everyone and I’m happy that you put hockey in here too because a lot of times people will talk about all time team mates and they’ll mention three of the four professional major sports, but they’ll rarely talk about hockey, so I’m glad you put that in there.
— BlogTalkRadio: The Root and Roots Show

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