Gibson played all 17 MLB Seasons for the red birds.

One of the fiercest competitors in Major League Baseball history, pitcher Bob Gibson wasn’t intimidated by anyone. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1935, Gibson overcame childhood illnesses to not only play youth sports, but excel in it.

Bob Gibson was one of very few players to spend his entire career with one team. He played 17 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s best known for his scowl on the mound, hardly ever smiling. He wouldn’t hesitate to throw brushback pitches to let the batter know that he was in charge. Despite the intimidation, Gibson had plenty of control. He hit only 102 batters in his career (an average of six batters per season).

Gibson retired in 1975 with 3,117 career strikeouts, two Cy Young Awards and two World Series titles. He was a nine-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner and won the National League MVP award in 1968 – a rare feat for pitchers. He still holds Major League records in strikeouts during a World Series (35), strikeouts in a World Series game (17) and lowest earn run average in a season (1.12 in 1968).

Known for his ability to play in multiple sports, Gibson briefly played professional basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters, overlapping his time with the Cardinals for a short while.

The Cubs legend is one of CC's all time favorite players.

Known as “Mr. Cub,” Ernie Banks played his entire 19-year Major League career with the Chicago Cubs. Despite the Cubs never making the playoffs during his career, Banks remained consistent. He finished his career with 512 home runs, 2,583 hits and 1,636 RBIs. Consequently, he also holds the record for most games played without a postseason appearance (2,528).

Did You Know:

Though it was not ruled official, Banks was technically Major League Baseball’s first black manager. As an assistant coach under then-manager Whitey Lockman, Banks stepped in as manager in a May 8, 1973 game against the San Diego Padres after Lockman was ejected. Frank Robinson officially became baseball’s first black manager when the Cleveland Indians hired him in 1975.

To learn more about the rich tradition of African American players in baseball please visit here. To learn more about what Major League Baseball is doing to revive baseball in inner cities, please visit here.

Sanders on the way to a "pick 6" as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

One of the most charismatic and flamboyant figures in sports history, Deion Sanders brought personality to the game. His undeniable speed was used as a weapon in both football and baseball.

Born in Fort Myers, Florida in 1967, Sanders lettered in football, baseball and basketball and was All-Florida honoree in all three sports. He was one of 33 players named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team.

At Florida State, Sanders continued to play multiple sports, but his play on the football field was head-and-shoulders above anything else he could do in other sports. As a defensive back, Sanders was a two time consensus All-American in 1986 and 1987. He intercepted a total of 14 passes in his college career, including three in bowl games.

In 1988, he was drafted in the 30^th round by the New York Yankees, but it was in football where he was highly touted by NFL scouts. In 1989, he was a first-round draft pick (fifth overall) by the Atlanta Falcons.

Sanders had a respectable baseball career by most standards. In nine seasons, he was a career .263 hitter with 39 home runs, 168 RBIs and 186 stolen bases with four different teams.

His football career proved to be much more successful. In his first five years as a pro (with the Falcons), Sanders had 24 interceptions (including a career high seven in 1993). He scored 10 touchdowns in four different ways (three defensive, three kick returns, two punt returns, and two receptions). A two-sport star at the time, Sanders attempted to play two professional sports in the same day. On October 11, 1992, he played a Falcons game against the Miami Dolphins, then flew to Pittsburgh to suit up for the Atlanta Braves’ National League Championship game against the Pirates. Sanders, however, did not play in the baseball game.

In 1994, Sanders played just one season with the San Francisco 49ers. It was arguably his best season, picking up NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors after intercepting six passes and returning three of them for touchdowns. He also won his first Super Bowl.

Already establishing himself on defense and as a return specialist, Sanders signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 in hopes of getting more playing time on offense. In fact, Sanders wound up being a starter on both sides of the ball in 1996 due to receiver Michael Irvin serving a suspension. He was just the second player to ever start on both offense and defense. He also won a second his second Super Bowl ring with the Cowboys.

Sanders wound up playing five seasons in Dallas and had one stint with the Washington Redskins before retiring in 2000. He returned to football in 2004 and played two more seasons with the Baltimore Ravens on a more limited role.

In his 14-year NFL career, Sanders had 53 interceptions for 1,331 yards, averaging 25.1 yards per return. On offense, he caught a total of 60 passes for 784 yards and three touchdowns. All together, Sanders racked up 7,838 all-purpose yards and scored 22 touchdowns, 19 of them on defense, setting an NFL record.

He is an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and All-Pro selection and was named to the NFL’s 1990s All-Decade Team. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. His weakness may have been in tackling, but he revolutionized the way defense should be played, being one of the first players to try and strip the ball from the ball carrier.

Earning the nicknames “Prime Time” and “Neon Deion,” Sanders is also a high figure in pop culture. He held several endorsement deals, appeared as a guest on TV sitcoms, was part of music videos and even cut his own album in 1994.

Today, Sanders is still involved in the game he loves. He is an analyst for the NFL Network.

4 to 1 against CC:

Deion has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated 4 times to CC’s 1!

On Sunday July 12th 2011, Amber Sabathia spear-headed a very special fundraising event for the Therapeutic Nursery at the JCC on the Palisades.  This amazing event featured fine food and wine, exclusive shopping opportunities, live and silent auction, and more all at the amazing Stone Mansion in Apline NJ.

The event helped raise over $300,000.00 for the program!

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#32's field vision was amazing!

Marcus Allen may have been considered one of the best goalline/short-yard runners I NFL history, but his 12,243 rushing yards is good enough for 12^th on the all-time list.

Allen played 16 seasons with the Los Angeles Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, carving a resume that would get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Having played quarterback and safety at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Diego, he was recruited as a defensive back by the University of Southern California. Once he arrived at USC, he was converted to running back, where his career (and his life) would forever change. In 1980, his first year as a starter, he rushed for 1,563 yards (third most in the nation). He followed that with a historic 2,342-yard campaign in 1981. Allen had become the first NCAA player to ever rush for 2,000 yards in one season. He went on to win Pac-10 Player of the Year honors, the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and the Heisman Trophy.

In 1982, Allen’s rookie year with the Raiders, he rushed for 697 yards and a team-leading 11 touchdowns despite playing in only nine games in a strike-shortened season. He won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and led the Raiders to the playoffs. The following season, Allen picked up his first 1,000-yard season as a pro. More importantly, he led the Raiders to the Super Bowl, where he rushed for 191 yards, caught two passes for 18 yards, and scored two touchdowns in a convincing 38-9 win over Washington. One of Allen’s scores was a 74-yard run in the third quarter, setting a Super Bowl record for longest TD run. His 74-yard run, along with his 191 yards for the game, were Super Bowl records at the time.

In 1985, Allen had his best season of his career. He rushed for 1,759 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. He was awarded the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award at the end of the season. He’d go on to play seven more seasons with the Raiders before moving on to Kansas City in 1993. Former San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana also joined Kansas City in 1993 and, together with Allen, led the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game. Allen, who scored a career-high12 touchdowns in his first season in Kansas City, was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year at age 33.

Allen played four more seasons in Kansas City, all in which the Chiefs made the playoffs, before finally retiring at the end of the 1997 season. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time All-Pro selection and was the first player to ever rush for 10,000 yards and receive for 5,000 in one season. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Allen stayed in football after his playing days ended, serving as an analyst and maintaining a blog, answering fan questions on a weekly basis.

He is a USC legend – and a Raiders legend.

Frazier and Ali in one of there classic battles!

In any era other than his own, “Smokin’ Joe” Frazier would have been the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. But at his prime, he had the misfortune of competing the same time Muhammad Ali was around.

Frazier fought Ali three times, only beating him once. The second bout with Ali was titled “The Fight of the Century” and the third called “The Thilla in Manila”. His rivalry with Ali is considered one of the best in boxing history.

Frazier grew up in South Carolina. His family had nearly 10 acres of farmland and it provided a decent living. His father also made money by making and selling  bootleg corn liquor.

During Frazier’s amateur career, he won Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championships in 1962, 1963 and 1964. Also in 1964, he won the Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the only boxer to capture gold for Team USA.

Frazier knew how to get to his opponents’ head. He would stalk opponents around the ring, slowly and methodically. When he trapped the boxer, every punch Frazier threw was just a set-up for his hard left hook.

Frazier was 32-4 with one draw in his career. Of his 32 victories, 27  were by knockout.  Though he was known for losing two of his three bouts against Ali, Frazier also recorded memorable victories throughout his career. He started his career winning his first 29 fights, including a 1968 victory over Buster Mathis to win the vacant NYSAC heavyweight title. In 1970, he defeated Jimmy Ellis to win the WBC and WBA heavyweight titles, making him the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world, a title he would hold for nearly three years. Frazier earned “Fight of the Year” honors by Ring Magazine four times.

After his career was over, Frazier stayed involved in boxing, training young up-and-coming fighters in a boxing gym he owned in Philadelphia. He also had a knack for music. In the 1970s, he created a funk group called “Joe Frazier and the Knockouts” and continued to sing songs after his boxing career ended.

In September 2011, Frazier was diagnosed with liver cancer and was admitted to hospice care. He died less than two months later at the age of 67. Upon hearing of Frazier’s death, Ali, Frazier’s greatest rival, said, “The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration.”

Ali also attended Frazier’s funeral.

Arthur Ashe enroute to the 1968 US Open title.

Tennis legend Arthur Ashe manufactured a resume filled with firsts.

In 1960, at the age of 17, Sports Illustrated wrote this about Ashe. “Arthur Ashe, 17-year-old honor student from St. Louis and sixth seeded in the tournament, outsteadied top-ranked Frank Froechling 6-4, 16-14, 9-11, 3-6, 6-1 in four-hour match to become the first Negro winner of the National Junior Indoor Tennis title.” Ashe was raised in Virginia, but moved to St. Louis to work with a tennis coach.

In 1963, Ashe became the first African American player to win the U.S. Men’s Hard-Court championships.

In 1965, he won the NCAA men’s singles and doubles championship, and helped his UCLA Bruins win the team title. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Ashe served in the army for two years and became an officer before being honorably discharged.

In 1968,he helped create the USTA National Junior Tennis League, a program designed to develop inner-city tennis players.

During his life, you might say Ashe was the Jackie Robinson of amateur and professional tennis. Ashe became the first black man to win a Grand Slam tennis event, the U.S. Open in New York in 1968. Earlier in the year Ashe won the amateur championship at the same venue, making him the only person to have won the amateur and the professional titles in the same year. He was also the first black man to be selected to the U.S. Davis Cup team and the first black man to captain the team. (1981-1983)

Ashe was professional and political. He was part of the black athlete’s protests at the 1968 Olympic Games, and later that year was denied a visa to play in South Africa.

Five years later, he reached the finals of the South African Open and won the doubles title with Tom Okker, the man Ashe defeated for the U.S. Open title back in 1968.

You might also say Ashe was also the Curt Flood of professional tennis. Flood retired from baseball rather than accept a trade, and is credited with spawning free agency in team sports. Ashe supported the formation of the Association of Tennis Professionals. The group forced tournaments to pay players in a fashion commensurate with the sport’s growing popularity.

By February 1970, Ashe won two of the four Grand Slam events, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

Ashe’s greatest victory may have been the biggest upset in Wimbledon history. In 1975, Ashe defeated heavily favored Jimmy Connors in four sets to win tennis’ most coveted championship. Intense personal and professional drama was the backdrop to the match. Connors was the only top U.S. professional who refused to join Ashe’s Association of Tennis Professionals.

Ashe had won three of the four Grand Slam singles events, but like most great American men tennis players (John McEnroe, Connors and Pete Sampras), Ashe never won the French Open.

Unlike most other professional athletes, Ashe was a humanitarian. Ashe helped develop the ABC Cities program, combining tennis and academics; the Safe Passage Foundation for poor children, which includes tennis training; the Athletes Career Connection; the Black Tennis & Sports Foundation, to assist minority athletes and 15-Love, a substance abuse program.

And in South Africa where Ashe was once denied entry into the country, the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center and Library, founded in 1974, was rededicated five years ago in Soweto, South Africa.

Arthur Ashe didn’t live to see his 50^th birthday. A hereditary heart condition led to bypass surgery in 1979. Ashe, like thousands who needed blood to survive that kind of surgery, also received blood carrying the virus that causes AIDS. Proper screening techniques had not been developed and Ashe died from AIDS-related complications in 1993.

Wilt's historic night in Hershey Pennsylvania.

Wilt Chamberlain became a household name in the 1960s and 70s for putting up big numbers throughout his career, but he is the only player to ever rack up 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks.

The 100-point game, considered a record many people believe will never be broken, was accomplished exactly 50 years ago on March 2. It parallels that of  Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak in Major League Baseball. In order for either of those records to be broken, one has to be really good, lucky and have all the stars aligned.

Wilt  was 36-for-63 from the field , shot 28-for-32 from the free throw line and scored an NBA record 59 points in the second half. That season, Wilt averaged more than 50 points and 25 rebounds a game!

It almost never happened.

Chamberlain was frail as a child and nearly died of pneumonia when he was nine. But that’s not why we almost never got to see “Wilt the Stilt.”  Chamberlain initially didn’t like basketball. He thought it was a game for “sissies.” The popularity of the sport growing up in Philadelphia eventually won him over and he began playing and dominating the sport in high school. When it was time to go to college, every major school had heard about Chamberlains’s ability and put all kinds of offers on the table. One college promised  Chamberlain’s high school coach a staff position. He had a chance encounter with Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics. Those days, the NBA permitted regional draft picks. If a player went to college in the same regional as an NBA basketball team, then that team could get exclusive draft rights. Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a school in New England.

But Chamberlain wanted out of the entire northeast region.

After declining a chance to go south because of segregation, Chamberlain settled on Kansas. He soon found out that the Jayhawk state had its own form of separate but equal accommodations. Chamberlain actually ended up pioneering or relaxing attitudes of the written or unwritten laws of Kansas regarding separate facilities. He simply went where ever he wanted to eat or buy clothes and no one ever said anything. In fact, because of his presence, other blacks followed his lead and were given the same kind of treatment.

In Chamberlain’s first college game in 1956, he score 52 points and pulled down 31 rebounds.

He played just two years at Kansas. He started to lose interest in the game for three reasons: 1) Because there was no shot clock at the time,some teams would just hold the ball while on offense. 2)Any time Kansas played a southern team, the racist taunting was enough to break a normal man. 3)  The issue of money.

Chamberlain left following the 1957-58 season. Look magazine paid him $10,000 for his story;the average NBA salary was $9,000.

Prior to arriving in the NBA, Chamberlain signed with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1958.  At the time, the NBA had a rule preventing players who hadn’t finished their last year of study. But the Globetrotters offered Chamberlain a lucrative $50,000 contract that year.

By the time he reached the NBA in 1959,Chamberlain, who was also known as Goliath, tore up the basketball court. He would eventually become the NBA’s all-time leading rebounder with 23,924, and it’s not likely that record will be broken soon. The 12 players behind him are all retired and the next active player trailing him (Kevin Garnett) is more than 13,000 rebounds behind. 10,000 rebounds alone is considered a career for most players.

Chamberlain also has the record for most games with 50-plus points (118), most consecutive games with 40-plus points (14), most consecutive games with 30-plus points (65), most consecutive games with 20-plus points (126), and highest field goal percentage in a season (.727).

In the 1972-1973 season, heWilt hit more than  seven of every 10 shots he took!

One of the things his teammates always remembered about Chamberlain was his boundless energy. Following a year coaching an ABA team in San Diego, Chamberlain ran a volleyball league, played tennis, ran marathons and even played polo.

In 1978, in his first year of eligibility Wilt was elected to the NBA Hall of Fame.

He died 21 years later at the age of 63.

The legacy of #42 stretches way beyond the baseball field.

You can’t do a Greatest African-American Sports Heroes tribute without Jackie Robinson. In fact, some might say  Robinsonis the reason there are tributes to African-American athletes during Black History Month.

Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, becoming  the first African-American to play MLB since Fleet Walker in the late 1800s. Robinson was signed by Branch Rickey, the president of the the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Rickey signed Robinson not solely because he could play baseball.

At the time the Dodgers signed Robinson, he was not the best player in the Negro Leagues. But he was the best player who could also take the hurricane of insults and physical attacks Robinson would soon receive playing MLB. Robinson heard countless taunts from crowds while catchers spit on his cleats when he was at the plate, and black cats were thrown onto the field.

How Robinson managed to hit .297 with 12 home runs and lead the league with 29 stolen bases without losing his cool, only he knows.

At least two teams were organizing boycotts of Robinson. Players on the  St. Louis Cardinals and the Dodgers themselves! Members of Robinson’s own team threatened to strike, but Rickey gave them an ultimatum; play with him or never play Major League Baseball again. There was no boycott.

Robinson only got better after that first season. Still, as a 28 year-old rookie he was already entering his prime and if Robinson was to leave a legacy of stellar play and not just skin color, he would have to excel in a hurry.

In 1949 – two years after he won Rookie of the Year honors – , Robinson had a breakout year. He hit .349 and won the batting title. He also smacked 16 home runs and stole 37 bases, which also led the league. The Dodgers won the NL pennant, but lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series just like they had in two of the three previous years.

For the next five years Robinson would continue to hit over .300, but with declining numbers.  Finally in 1955, his averaged dipped to a career low .256, but the Dodgers finally beat the dreaded Yankees in seven games in the World Series. Not only that, Robinson stole home during the series. The video of the steal is still widely available on YouTube, and so is Yankees catcher Yogi Berra’s insistence that Robinson was out.

The Dodgers would fare far better with World Series championships in Los Angeles, but Robinson wouldn’t be part of those teams. Following the 1957 season the Dodgers traded Robinson to their uptown rivals and National League competitors, the New York Giants.

Many people have speculated the Robinson declined to be traded because he despised playing for the rival Giants. But Robinson is quoted as saying that he was retiring because he had to think about the future and his family.

“At my age, a man doesn’t have much future in baseball and very little security. After you’ve reached your peak, there’s no sentiment in baseball. You start slipping and pretty soon they’re moving you around like a used car. You have no control over what happens to you. I don’t want that.”

It was later revealed that Robinson didn’t stop the trade because he had signed an exclusive deal with Look magazine and had accepted a position with the Chock-Full-O’Nuts coffee company as a vice president.

Following his career, Robinson wasn’t just a businessman, he became involved in politics.  Robinson campaigned for Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential campaign. Later Robinson felt burned. Nixon refused to commit to naming a black person to his cabinet and refused to campaign in Harlem.

Robinson died of a heart attack in 1972. At the time he suffered from a number of ailments, including diabetes. But his legacy and his place in history are secure. As a tribute to his accomplishments, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig had the number 42, Jackie Robinson’s number during his career, retired from all Major League Franchises.

Every year, teams pay tribute to Robinson by having each and every player wear No. 42 during games on Jackie Robinson Day.

On grass and on turf - Sanders was one of the best running backs ever!

Barry Sanders is often compared to another great running back – Jim Brown. Both left pro football earlier than expected, but for different reasons.

Sanders says he left the game because he didn’t see a light at the end of the Detroit Lions’ tunnel. Brown quit to become a businessman and work in politics and his community.

Like Brown, who announced his retirement while filming a movie, the way Sanders retired was also a little unorthodox.

He faxed his intentions in a letter to the Wichita Eagle, his hometown newspaper.

Unlike Brown who quit while his  Cleveland Browns were competitive, Sanders admitted years later he was frustrated with the “culture” of losing with the Lions. The team had made the playoffs the year before Sanders’ retirement, but the former Oklahoma State running back wanted to win a Super Bowl and Sanders said he did not see that happening in Detroit in the near future.

Only 31 years old at the time, Sanders had a career most running backs and others would envy.

Starting with his time as a Cowboy at OSU, Barry was just being Barry. He holds 34 NCAA records, including the single-season rushing record with 2,628 yards in 1988. Sanders also won the Heisman trophy that year.

As incredible as this may sound, Sanders didn’t even start until his senior year. Another future Hall of Famer – guy named Thurman Thomas – started ahead of Sanders.

And the hits kept on coming.

Not only was Sanders selected No. 1 overall in the 1989 NFL draft, he won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He holds the record for most seasons with 1,500 rushing yards or more (5) and most consecutive seasons with that many yards or more(4).

In 1997, Sanders rushed for more than 100 yards in 14 straight games. Twenty-five times Sanders rushed for more than 150 yards. He has a record 15 touchdown runs of 50 yards or more.

Sanders is No. 3 on the NFL all-time rushing list at 15,269 yards. He is behind Emmitt Smith (18,355) and Walter Payton (16.726). But observers believe Sanders is better than both; Sanders produced his yards in 10 years, while Smith played 14 seasons and Payton  12.

As great a player as Sanders proved to be, he won the NFL MVP just once (1997) and had to share it with Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

Just five foot, eight inches tall, Sanders had the combination of power and speed. He would take a handoff from the quarterback and the defense had to spend a couple of seconds trying to find him behind 6-foot-6 offensive linemen.

Once Sanders emerged, the defense had to catch up and then bring down the elusive power runner. Sanders was said to have a low center or gravity, and a stronger lower body. That helped him break tackles in traffic and out on perimeter.

His small sized belied his leaping ability. Although he was four inches shy of six feet, Sanders could dunk a basketball standing flat footed under the rim.

He was been out of football for 14 years, but we can expect to see more of him in the near future. Sanders continues to be active in the NFL and his son, Barry Jr., is entering Stanford University this fall to play football.