As part of Sportsnet magazine’s upcoming sports movie package we’re seeking to determine the greatest fictional athlete in film history. And we need your help to do it.
“Greatness” is open to interpretation. Some of the names appearing in the bracket overcame extreme adversity, others single-handedly took their team from laughing-stock to champion, while a select few were flat-out dominant in their respective sports.
Each day this week on Sportsnet.ca we’ll be asking you to cast your vote, with the final results appearing in the next issue of Sportsnet. But with a seemingly endless list of worthy candidates and a rule that only one athlete from a movie can be represented in the bracket, first we’ll need your help to whittle the list down.
Still time to vote on the following matchups: Amanda Whurlitzer vs. Kelly Leak; Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed; Joe Cooper vs. Doug Remer
Which brings us to our next play-in game:
Willie Mays Hayes, CF, Cleveland Indians
You know what scouts say: You can’t coach speed. The only flaw in Hayes’s game is his inability to hit the ball in the air—and in both Major League films he appears in, eventually manages to accept that and stop trying to get under it.
With that psychological hurdle cleared, Hayes is all of a sudden an unstoppable WAR machine and perhaps the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. He gets on base at an exceptional rate (because he can’t be thrown out on a ground ball), and once he’s on base, it’s a guaranteed triple. Put him at the top of any lineup and watch the runs roll in. Oh: And he’s also amazing with the glove in centre field.
Stats:.291*/.361/.378, 115 Runs, 7 HR, 55 RBI (rookie season)
Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn, P, Cleveland Indians
After making the single greatest entrance in the history of fictional or actual sports, Vaughn—in unfamiliar territory as a reliever—had two problems.
At the plate was a man who’d knocked him around all year; to his right, playing third base, was a teammate whose wife had seduced the young fireballer the previous night when he was sullen and vulnerable because another pitcher was tabbed to start the one-game playoff versus the New York Yankees. But having received assurances from Roger Dorn that all that really mattered was the K, ‘Wild Thing’ reached back and blew three straight pitches past Clu Haywood to end the Yankees threat in the ninth. In the bottom half, Hayes scored from second on a bunt by Vaughn’s batterymate, Jake Taylor. The only hit Vaughn endured was a hard right-hand from Dorn after the game. Then they all got super-wasted.
Stats: 189 games (103 starts), 733 IP, 613 Ks, 46-40 W/L, 3.78 ERA (career)