The 25 Most Badass Athletes of the '90s

Today is Ken Griffey Jr.'s birthday. He's 44, and that should make us all feel terrible. He joins many of the other stars of our youth who are now pot-bellied and, many of them, retired to a lifetime of golf far away from Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman hosted Sportscenter highlights. If ever there was a star associated with the '90s it was Junior. Then 2000 came and he slowly deteriorated like he sold his soul to the devil but didn't plan for the ironic twist. For one day we focus back on his glory days for a decade we view with rose-tinted goggles.

The '90s are over. True NBA centers are an endangered species. Boxing is too. Quarterbacks get "roughed" by getting pushed down. Sports are lengthened by instant replay. There's no more Third Eye Blind on the radio. And as far as we know (or care) Jonathan Taylor Thomas has fallen off the face of the earth. Some of this sucks but most of this is progress. For example, finally doing something to fix the NFL concussion epidemic. You may not want to hear it, but a team doctor issuing a mandatory benching to prevent life as a vegetable for your QB takes precendent over a Fantasy win.

Still it emphasizes the fact that we've see a generational shift in sports over the past twenty years. The evolution of our favorite athletics is something we gradually accept to avoid the appalling fact that we really don't have much to talk about beyond sports. It's an awkward social trait that we picked up in our childhoods passed down from parents and grandparents who parked us in front of our TVs way back in, you guessed it, the '90s. Today in honor of Griffey we flash you back to those days along with some of the biggest and baddest names of the bygone decade. Here are The 25 Most Badass Athletes of the '90s.*

*Sure to cause a debate.

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Teams played for: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles
'90s accolades: 5x All-Star, 5x Silver Slugger Winner, 1x AL Home Run Champ, 3x AL RBI Champ

Albert Belle was as intimidating a hitter as there was in the most intimidating decade in baseball history. His surly attitude was tailor-made for today's 24-hour coverage. He refused to talk to reporters, threw a baseball into the stands in 1991, corked his bat in 1994, blew up Fernando Vina, twice, in 1996, and also hit a Halloween vandal with his car (something anybody who's swept up a smashed pumpkin has wanted to do).

According to Buster Olney, Belle was "widely considered to be nuts." He was annually fined 10 grand by the Cleveland Indians for clubhouse damages (both home and away), and was constantly hyperactive due to massive dosages of coffee. He wrecked team buffets, much to the delight of his teammates. He busted Kenny Lofton's boombox because he had a bad at-bat. He threw plates into team showers, and preferred the temperature between 50 and 60 degrees. When a teammate turned it up, he went back, re-adjusted the thermostat, and then shattered the damn thing with a bat. Because he was the best player on the team, everyone put up with his shit. Believe it or not, he was, not only, an Eagle Scout but also a member of the National Honor Society and vice president of the local Future Business Leaders of America.

Teams played for: New York Knicks
'90s accolades: 8x All-Star, 4x All-NBA Second Team, 1x All-Defensive Second Team,

One of the greats to never wear a ring (besides a useless wedding one). Ewing will still be remembered as one of the pillars of the '90s, though his championship opportunities were handicapped by the Jordan-Era in which he played. Ewing and Co. seized their rare opportunities in a Jordan-less league in both 1994 and 1999. Of course, you already know how that turned out since we forgot to put spoiler alert as our first sentence. Either way, he was warrior on the floor and played his heart out every night.

Teams played for: Oakland A's, St. Louis Cardinals
'90s accolades: 8x All-Star, 1x Gold Glove Winner, 3x Silver Slugger Award Winner

At the time you couldn't have known, because the SI For Kids you read was more interested in whether he preferred chocolate or vanilla ice cream. That's fine for children but the adult press was pampering him in the same way, with equally hard hitting questions. Some of you may be upset that a disgraced cheater like McGwire makes our list while Cal Ripken has to settle for the respect and admiration of America. Life isn't fair. But, let's make this clear. We hate cheaters. But we also saw the silver lining in watching subatomic monsters instantly evolve and smash bombs 550 feet.

In a way we miss it (and we hate ourselves for that). McGwire's winning of the home run race of 1998 was as compelling at the time as it was posthumously fradulent. It probably should've been eyebrow raising that he shattered the record with almost a month left in the season. But those who covered the game let it slide, and for a brief throwback moment baseball was, again, king of American sports. He was the toast of the town of the '90s and one of the many shamed faces of cheating of the 2000s. But, hey, what decade are we talking about here?

Teams played for: Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns
Accolades: Consensus All-American First Team, NBA All-Rookie Team, 4x All-Star, 2x All-NBA First Team, 1x All-NBA Third Team

Sometimes a player shoots onto the scene and then seemingly disappeers, lingering around and when that player retires people express shock that he's still alive, let alone still in the league. The perfect example of that would be Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway who was quietly playing up until 2007. Penny's decade was the '90s where he paired up with Shaq to form a powerful duo that looked to be contending for years to come.

The youth plan peaked in '95 when they made it to the Finals only to be eliminated by an experienced 6-seed from Houston. In just his second year in the league Penny was an NBA-All First teamer (an accomplishment he repeated in year three whilst finishing third in the MVP voting). Injuries got Hardaway and we can only imagine that on cold, dark nights he retires to a secret closet where Lil' Penny resides. Picks it up. Looks into it's eyes. And sheds a single silent tear.

Teams played for: San Francisco 49ers
'90s accolades: 8x Pro Bowler, 6x AP All-NFL First Team, 1x AP All-NFL Second Team, 2x Super Bowl Champ, '90s All-Decade Team

At 35 he was still making Pro-Bowls at wideout. Probably because his conditioning was insane. Think about Jerry Rice this way. We now live in an era where everyone chucks. Passing yards are up, passing touchdowns are up and, most importantly, passing attempts are up. In a two-year span, three guys broke Dan Marino's 27-year-old passing record. Rice also played in an era with more lax defensive rules. Defensive holding wasn't called with an iron fist.

And yet, nobody is even approaching any of Rice's career records. Randy Moss looked like a 6'4" high schooler playing in pee-wee ball and still finished 7,000 yards short. Sure Randy broke his single season TD record. And Megatron snatched his single season yards record in a 4-12 season. But bookmark this page and tell us where all young receiving threats are when their careers have concluded. We'll make sure to check.

Teams played for: Chicago White Sox
'90s accolades: 5x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger Winner, 2x AL MVP, 1x Batting Champ,

First we mentioned Mark. Now we'll mention a guy who was "badass" for competing the right way.

"The Big Hurt," Frank Thomas was a '90s version of Big Papi except that he was a lot better and didn't have to resort to cheating. He had the most non-artificially intimidating physique, possibly, in baseball history. He looked much more akin to NFL defensive ends than Major League Baseball players. The most terrifying thing about Frank wasn't that he was 6'5" or 270 lbs. It was that he swung a piece of rebar in the on-deck circle instead of a donut weighed-down bat. It was enough to ruin the underwear of pitchers nationwide.

Teams played for: Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers
'90s Accolades: 2x Consensus All-American, AP/UPI College Player of the Year, Adolph Rupp Award Winner, NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie Team, 6x NBA All-Star, 1x Scoring Champ, 1x All-NBA First Team, 2x All-NBA Second Team, 3x All-NBA Third Team,

The first overall pick of the '92 Draft was a GM's wet dream. He was an enormous body that was athletic instead of awkward and stilted. In his rookie year he averaged 23.4 PPG to go with 13.9 RPG and 3.5 BPG. He was a dominant prescence that comes once an era, so be thankful you saw it. If he had played in Wilt's time the single game scoring record would be 255. In his third season in the league he led the NBA in scoring and took his young Orlando squad to the title, only to get schooled by a guy who could've easily made this list, Hakeem Olajuwon.

After his four obligatory years in retirement country he bolted for the promise of super-stardom in LA where he'd clash with a boisterous young fella named Kobe. Like just about every other eventual champ they struggled in their first few playoff seasons with the duo. When Phil Jackson joined the team it proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, that story goes into the '00s. And unless you remember the ending there's no other way to find out. He was a platinum-selling rapper and also starred in a few flicks.

Teams played for: Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers
'90s accolades: 4x NBA Champion, 2x Defensive Player of the Year, 2x All-NBA Third Team, 6x All-Defensive First Team, 7x NBA Rebounding Champion

Just don't fuck with Dennis Rodman. His Google image search will return a wide array of disturbing images/Halloween costume ideas. The enforcer during Jordan's last three-peat, Rodman remains one of the fiercest and mentally unstable NBA players ever.

Teams played for: N/A
'90s accolades: 3x Heavyweight Champion, WBA, WBC & IBF Titles

If the '80s were the decade of Tyson, then the '90s were Evander Holyfield's time. After all he cleaned Tyson's clock twice.

Holyfield made his impact early by besting Buster Douglas, who monumentally upset Tyson (understatement), in the first year of the decade. It coincided with a unification of the titles. He wanted a match with Tyson, but Tyson ducked him, and then went to jail for rape. Over this "incarceration" period Holyfield was the undisputed champ. By the time Iron Mike got out, Holyfield was no longer unified and Tyson, for some reason, held the WBA Heavyweight title. Holyfield buried him for good in the 11th Round with a TKO. It was deemed "Upset of the Year" by The Ring Magazine. This resulted in a rematch that Holyfield entered with two ears, and left with about one and two-thirds.

At the end of the decade, Evander lost his belt to Lennox Lewis. We still propped up Evander as the most badass of the sport because he reigned dominant throughout all 10 years. If this were a literal list Holyfield would be No. 1, as if we put them all in a big bowl and made them fight Holyfield would be the last man standing, and probably the only one still alive. But he'll settle for a spot within the Top 5 and has our respect as the baddest dude in the baddest sport of the '90s.

Teams played for: Denver Broncos
'90s accolades: 6x Pro Bowler, 2x All-Pro Second Team, 1x Offensive Player of the Year, 2x Super Bowl Champion, 1x Super Bowl MVP, NFL All-Decade Team

John Elway gets the nod over Dan Marino because he went out with two consecutive titles. Plain and simple. He also did it as a 37-year-old man by helicoptering to beat the heavily favored Brett Favre-led Packers. The old man, who couldn't do it his whole career, finally tamed the championship beast. Then after being the favorite, and icing the Atlanta Falcons he walked away, into the sunset. And perhaps, by resisiting the allure of screaming fans and millions in the bank, he may be able to remember his kids' and grandkids' names during actual seniority.

Teams played for: Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants
'90s accolades: 2x Super Bowl Champion, 8x Pro Bowler, 8x All-Pro, 1994 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 2x NFC Defensive Player of the Year

Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson, depending on who you ask, may have more memorable two-sport careers, but Deion Sanders was the only man to have sustained success in both. Without turning the calendar, he won Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL, hit .283 and also stole 38 bases for the Braves and Reds. "Prime Time" remains the only athlete to hit a Major League home run and score an NFL touchdown in the same week, and to play in both a World Series and Super Bowl. He rapped too.

Teams played for: Seattle Mariners
'90s accolades: 10x All-Star, 7x Silver Slugger Award Winner, 10x Gold Glove Winner, 1x AL MVP, 4x AL HR Champ, 1x AL RBI Leader

If ever there was a drop-off from one decade to the next it was Ken Griffey Jr. In the '90s Griffey looked like a GOAT in training, and then somebody flicked one of those Buffalo Wild Wings switches and he tore his hamstring and also had to get knee surgery.

The '90s was his time though. He made the All-Star team and won a Gold Glove every year of the decade. Every single one. He was a five-tool player with flair. He took HR Derby cuts with a backwards hat and looked effortlessly unfazed in a sport where people scream at the umps over a quarter-inch difference in pitch placement. He also had the sweetest stroke ever. All without PEDs. If you were a baseball fan in the '90s you had a Ken Griffey Jr. jersey because you wanted to root for the best.

Teams played for: Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox minor league teams
'90s accolades: 6x NBA Champion, 6x Finals MVP, 4x MVP, 7x All-Star, 2x All-Star Game MVP, 7x Scoring Champion, 7x All-NBA First Team, 7x All-Defensive First Team

Who did you expect? Off the top, his eyes closed free throw, this layup in the Finals, and the Last Shot all come to mind as badass Jordan moments, and we haven't even scratched the surface. What Michael Jordan the brand, the player, and the international cultural icon added up to was an astonishing force for sport, popular culture, and the NBA. The '90s belong to Jordan, and every decade since has been happening in its shadow.