The 15 Most Stylish On-Field Teams in Sports History

This is not a "best jerseys" list or a story about athletes-turned-style icons. Rather, this piece is about teams that were known to stunt at an irresponsible volume. It's about squads that intimidated by way of the ostentatious accessory and hit the field as a sartorial, athletically menacing work of art. If not for these teams, we wouldn't blitz throwback jerseys and vintage team hats with the fervor of a soccer mom on Black Friday. And that enduring style deserves a piece of the spotlight. From the '92 Dream Team to the '27 New York Yankees, these are The 15 Most Stylish On-Field Teams in Sports History.

Written by Sean Evans (@seanseaevans)

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Crispy players: Jim McMahon; Walter Payton; Coach Mike Ditka
Season results: Super Bowl champions

During the cocaine '80s, the Chicago Bears personified Zubaz, clothesline tackles, and Patrick Swayze roundhouse kicks to the face. Between Jim McMahon (AKA The Punky QB), lineman-turned-professional wrestler Steve McMichael, and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, this squad had more unhinged characters than a Fort Myers, Florida drunk tank. The team's coach battled through apparent strokes while chewing guys out on the sideline, and in a signature sweater vest to boot. Bottom line: The '85 Chicago Bears expressed the unadulterated confidence you'd expect from a team brazen enough to record "The Super Bowl Shuffle" in the middle of the season.

Crispy players: Ma’a Nonu; Jimmy Cowan; Piri Weepu
Season results: 2011 Rugby World Cup champions

The New Zealand All Blacks (club name, not a roster mandate) rugby team vaunts one of the few athletic kits that's club ready from the jump. If you're having a hard time getting over a breakup, roll up to a Tinder date in this exact ensemble and you'll be right back in the game. The uniforms are dope and chicks get mad turned on when you run afoul of the bar's "no cleats" policy. Trust.

Crispy players: Darryl Strawberry; Doc Gooden; Wally Backman
Season result: Won World Series (4-3) over Boston Red Sox

Like the '93 Philadelphia Phillies, the '86 New York Mets had a roster that was mostly disheveled dirtbags. And, when it comes to baseball, pairing a greasy wig with a mouthful of chewing tobacco is the style equivalent to a tailored sportcoat and monogrammed cuffs. Lenny Dykstra and the gang did more with bloodstained jerseys and pine tar-soaked bats than most guys do with wool blazers and Audemars Piguet watches.

Crispy players: Deion Sanders; Michael Irvin; Troy Aikman
Season results: Super Bowl champions

The '95 Dallas Cowboys had a roster that included Michael Irvin, mullet model/quarterback Troy Aikman, and one of the most stylish on-field athletes of all-time in Deion Sanders. This crew went hard while beating up on Jim Kelly and the swaggerless Buffalo Bills in '92 and '93, but the '95 team reached a level of self-actualization on the field.

Crispy players: Dave Parker; Willie Stargell; Kent Tukulve
Season results: Won World Series (4-3) over Baltimore Orioles

Many of these kinds of listicles peg the '79 Pittsburgh Pirates as having some of the worst uniforms in sports history, but the ostentatious weirdness of all mustard everything was a fitting look for this band of bold brothers. Like the late '70s Houston Astros, the "We Are Family" Pirates embodied the pencil thin mustache shadiness of the late '70s, early '80s to perfection.

Crispy players: Paul Breitner; Franz Beckenbauer; Coach Helmut Schön
Season results: 1974 World Cup champions

There should probably be more soccer teams on this list, but—quite frankly—the parts are bigger than the sum in futbol. Meaning: There are a lot of stylish soccer players, but not so many stylish teams, mostly because organizations emblazon ads on the uniforms. TF is that? Anyway, the World Cup champion West Germany team looks like a collection of bespoke hemophiliacs with a craving for human flesh. In sports, your look is as much about intimidation as it is sheathing an athlete's balls or whatever, and this picture pierces an onlookers soul with total fear. The Netherlands never had a chance.

Crispy players: Magic Johnson; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Kurt Rambis; Coach Pat Riley
Season results: Won NBA Finals (4-3) versus Detroit Pistons

A team does not develop the "Showtime" nickname by way of swaggerless bounce passes and standard issue uniform accessories. Between Kurt Rambis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the '80s era Lakers had two of the most prolific athletic goggles icons in the history of the game. Mix in a few no-look passes for Magic and the pronounced shoulder muscles of team afterthought Mike Smrek, and you have one stylish team.

Crispy players: Julius Erving; Larry Kenon; Wendell Ladner
Season results: Won ABA Finals (4-1) versus Utah Stars

Between the Virginia Squires and San Diego Sails, the ABA was in an exhibition in on-court style. But, with Julius Erving and Larry Kenon leading the way, the New York Nets were the league's pinnacle. Before Erving, stylish basketball players wore belts in their shorts and featured the bounce pass almost exclusively. Today, the game is a shameless demonstration of machismo, which has a lot to do with the high-flying dunks and sartorial self-expression of the '74 Nets.

Crispy players: Dave Schultz; Bernie Parent; Don Saleski
Season results: Won Stanley Cup Finals (4-2) versus Buffalo Sabres

The Broad Street Bullies played like a bunch of bloodthirsty hooligans and, rather horrifyingly, the roster looked like a ragtag collection of asylum escapees. Bernie Parent wore a menacing Jason mask in goal and Dave Schultz rocked blood splatter in his unruly moustache as though it were stiff pomade. Throw in the ostentatious suit jackets and sketchball frames of head coach Fred Shero and you have all the makings of DUI checkpoint on ice, which, of course, is next level stunting in the NHL.

Crispy players: Walt Frazier; Willis Reed; Dave DeBusschere
Season result: Won NBA Finals (4-3) versus Los Angeles Lakers

Walt Frazier used to pull up to Madison Square Garden in a Rolls Royce and knee-length trenchcoat, which tells you all you really need to know about the constitution of the 1969-'70 New York Knicks. Today, Madison Square Garden is a desolate warehouse for on-court fuckery. But, when Willis Reed limped his way through Game 7, the roster was chock-full of self-asserting kings with meticulously maintained facial hair.

Crispy players: Rickey Henderson; Dennis Eckersley; Jose Canseco; Coach Tony LaRussa
Season results: Lost World Series (4-0) to Cincinnati Reds

Between Dennis Eckersley, Jose Canseco, and Mark McGwire, the LaRussa era Oakland Athletics were loaded with cocksure, borderline psychotic savages. This team had more feathered mullets, barreled chests, and 22" biceps than WWF SummerSlam 1988. Look at this bunch of comic book heroes and imagine the violent chaos of a bench-clearing brawl. These guys stunt so hard, they should have to register their highlighter yellow jerseys as lethal weapons.

Crispy players: Michael Jordan; Scottie Pippen; Dennis Rodman; Coach Phil Jackson
Season results: Won NBA Finals (4-2) versus Utah Jazz

The homicidal steez of the mid-90s Chicago Bulls was enough to make Dr. Hannibal Lecter look like Dora the Explorer by comparison. The team had a bona fide icon in Michael Jordan, supportive stunting in the form of Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman—who looked like a barbarian from the future with a bath salts addition. When you combine the off-the-rack suit game of a mostly blasé Phil Jackson, you have a style smoothie that's equal parts roaring ego, tattoo ink, and Karl Malone's shattered championship expectations.

Crispy players: Chris Webber; Juwan Howard; Jalen Rose
Season results: 1992 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament runner-up

The swag of a college team can be measured by the number of wins the school's been forced to retroactively forfeit as the result of NCAA sanctions. Since Chris Webber—despite appearing in two NCAA Championship games—boasts as many official tournament wins as the Complex editorial staff, you know the Wolverines were flexing at an irresponsible volume. Famous for their baggy shorts and black socks, the '91 freshman class at Michigan had a style that reverberated through the playground to the NBA.

Crispy players: Babe Ruth; Lou Gehrig; Tony Lazzeri
Season results: 3x World Series champions (1927, 1928, and 1932)

Babe Ruth was the best because he'd knock in 150 runs per season with a smoldering cigar in his mouth and half drunk. Like, these '20s-era New York Yankees treated Major League Baseball as though it were a slow pitch beer league. And, the way these guys knocked balls out of the park, the league would've been wise to mandate a home run limitation. Anyway, the DGAF hubris of this squad was off the charts and the team's swag was similarly nonchalant. Act like you wouldn't camp out for one of the NY cardigans.

Crispy players: Michael Jordan; Magic Johnson; Charles Barkley; Patrick Ewing
Season results: Gold medal

The Dream Team smashed international opponents by more than 40 points per game, but the on-court dominance only tells half the story.

The greatest team ever assembled vaunts an infallible, enduring place in basketball lore, which has as much to do with burned out scoreboards as it does the roster's ability to stunt on another level. From the Champion jerseys to the Reebok warm-ups—as well as a kick game that included the Air Jordan Olympic VII, Nike Air Force 180, and Karl Malone's L.A. Gears—the team was a cot damn masterpiece.