Wikipedia:
Lionel Pretoria Conacher, nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts. He was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team that won the International League championship in 1926. In hockey, he won a Memorial Cup in 1920, and the Stanley Cup twice: with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1934 and the Montreal Maroons in 1935. Additionally, he won wrestling, boxing and lacrosse championships during his playing career. He and Carl Voss are the only players to have their names engraved on both the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup.
Conacher was a prolific athlete, excelling in numerous sports at the same time. He played with 14 different teams, winning 11 championships. He was 16 years old when he won the Ontario lightweight wrestling championship, and at 20 won the Canadian amateur light-heavyweight boxing championship. In 1921, he fought, and was knocked out by heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey in an exhibition match.
Numerous organizations have honored Conacher's career. In addition to being named Canada's athlete of the half-century, he was named the country's top football player over the same period. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1964, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965, the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. The Canadian Press gives the Lionel Conacher Award to its male athlete of the year.
Wayne Gretzky, who was voted Canada's top athlete for the second half of the 20th Century, has won the Lionel Conacher award six times.
Conacher's younger brothers, Charlie Conacher, and Roy Conacher, were also Hall of Fame hockey players. His namesake, Lionel Jr., was a first round draft pick in 1960 and played a season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. Brian Conacher, a second son, was a member of The Toronto Maple Leafs 1967 Stanley Cup championship team. This was the last year that the Maple Leafs won the title.
Cory Conacher was born with a rare condition in which his bladder was outside his body. As a result, he underwent a ten-hour surgical procedure at only five days old in which doctors reconstructed his pelvis in order to place his bladder back into his body. The situation was so severe that doctors informed his parents that he might never walk properly. Conacher is a distant relative of Hockey Hall of Famers Charlie, Roy, and Lionel Conacher. Cory graduated from Canisius College and plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Greatest American Athlete of the 20th century, according to the SportsCentury program on ESPN, is basketballer Michael Jordan, apparently in a close call with baseball player Babe Ruth.
Not only did Ruth belt 714 home runs in addition to 2,214 Runs Batted In, he also pitched, winning 94 games while losing 46 with a lifetime ERA of 2.28. He won all three of his World Series starts before becoming a full-time outfielder with the New York Yankees following his trade from the Boston Red Sox.
In 1994, Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons, a Double-A minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, batting .202 with three home runs, 51 runs batted in, 114 strikeouts, 51 base on balls, 30 stolen bases and 11 errors. Jordan struck out 26.1% of his plate appearances. New York Yankees great outfielder Joe DiMaggio struck out only 5.4% in his at bats, never more than 39 times in any of his 13 seasons.
Try as he might, Michael Jordan has found baseball beyond his grasp. That might be an understatement.
Paul Murphy
Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy
