A Short Tribute to the Greatest Undersized Athletes

With Dustin Pedroia winning the AL MVP award and Tim Linecum winning the NL Cy Young, it's been a remarkable year for undersized major leaguers. It's unusual for small athletes to dominate their sports, but not unheard of. There's a great, time honored tradition of diminutive ball players who have cast aside the doubts, the stereotypes, the anti-short guy prejudices and the Munchkin wisecracks and proven that there can be more to life for little guys than talking too much, making their wives wear flats in their wedding pictures and conquering Europe every hundred years or so. In that vein, here's a tribute to the great short athletes of all time. (Note: Space doesn't allow for jockeys or gymnasts. This list is for human beings, not elves and pixies. And it's just for North American athletes. No soccer players. For all any of us know or care those guys are all the size of Oompa Loompas.)

First I'll start with the Great Single Season Performances Ever by a Little Man:
Tim Linecum-Height 5' 11" , Weight 160 lb. 2008 NL Cy Young Award Winner.

Dustin Pedroia- Height 5' 9" , Weight 180 lbs. The 2008 AL MVP Award winner.

Bob Sanders- Height: 5' 8", Weight: 200 lbs. 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Martin St. Louis- Height: 5' 9", Weight: 177 lbs. 2003-04 winner of the NHL's Hart Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (points scored).

Next, the all time Great Small Guy Honorable Mentions:
Freddie Patek- Height 5' 5", Weight 148 lbs. Patek was the starting shortstop in four different League Championship Series, one with Pittsburgh and three with Kansas City. He was also a 3-time All Star whose career highlight was the 3-home run game he had vs. the Red Sox.

Sky Low Low- Height 3' 6", Weight: 86 lbs. Mr. Low Low (real name Marcel Gauthier) was the first truly great midget champ. And the one who brought dignity to Midget Wrestling that the sport so richly deserved.

Muggsy Bogues- Height: 5' 3", Weight: 136 lbs. For a guy who would've made you say "I got him" in a pick up game with your loser friends, Muggsy did OK for himself. If you consider a 16 year career and 5 times in the top 5 in the NBA in assists OK, which you should.

Wes Welker- Height: 5' 9", Weight: 190 lbs. At the risk of seeming to not celebrate diversity, it's fair to say that no one drawing up the perfect NFL wideout would draw up a 5-9 white guy as a prototype. But Welker has wasted no time setting records for both clubs he's played for. He's got the Miami records for kickoff and punt returns, and the Patriots record for catches in a season (112).

Spud Webb- Height: 5' 6", Weight: 133 lbs. In addition to surviving 14 NBA seasons, Webb makes this list solely for his victory in the 1986 All Star Dunk Competition, which served as an inspiration to anyone who ever hung a Nerf Hoop on his closet door.

Tiny Archibald- Height: 6' 1", Weight: 150 lbs. Even though the NBA is lousy with 6-footers, Archibald squeezes onto this list on the basis of his skinny frame, and (I won't lie to you) his nickname. He was a 6-time All Star, a borderline Hall of Famer, and his '72-'73 season when he led the NBA in scoring and assists ranks as one of the all time great individual seasons in any sport ever.

Rudy Ruettiger- Height: 5 foot nothin', Weight: A hundred and nothin'. The only player in NCAA DI history who had a QB sack in every down he ever played.

And all time Top Ten Best Undersized Athletes:
10. Scott Hamilton- Height 5' 4", Weight 140 lbs. Hamilton disproved the commonly held notion that figure skating is only for big, strong, muscular, tough guys when he won the gold in Sarajevo in 1984. He also won 4 World Championships, 4 US Championships and became the most successful touring performer in skating history.

9. Calvin Murphy- Height: 5' 9", Weight: 165 lbs. Despite his size, Cal was never one to do things small. From his NBA Hall of Fame career to his record free throw shooting to his 14 children by nine women, Murphy was all about getting it in the hole. And like Hamilton, he proved that Baton Twirling is not just a big man's game when he won the 1977 Texas men's championship.

8. Mike Tyson- Height 5' 10", Weight 216. The youngest heavyweight champ in history lost the Tale of the Tape to virtually everyone he ever fought.

7.Doug Flutie- Height: 5' 10", Weight: 180 lbs. Flutie will always be remembered for the Hail Mary, which is almost unfair to him. Because that one play has obscured the fact that when left college his 10,579 passing yards made him the most productive passer in NCAA history. As a pro, he QB'ed 8 different teams and had a winning record with each and led them all to the playoffs.

5. Henri Richard- Height: 5' 7", Weight: 160 lbs. Commonly reffered to as"The Pocket Rocket" when that was a term you could use in polite company, Richard was a 10-time NHL All Star, won a Bill Russellesque 11 Stanley Cups and was elected to the Hall of Fame.

5. Pedro Martinez- Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lbs. Those are Pedro's official height and weight figures. But anyone who's stood beside him will tell you he might reach those numbers in cowboy boots holding a sandbag. Still from 1997-2005, in the zenith of the Steroid Era, he put together arguably the greatest stretch of pitching in baseball history.

4. Ben Hogan- Height 5' 7", Weight 140 lbs. The Scottish golf press didn't call him "The Wee Ice Mon" because he ate yellow snow. It was because of his nerveless, taciturn demeanor in his Open Championship victory at Carnoustie in 1953. He won 9 more majors, but he only gets credit for 8 others because they don't count the US Open he won during WWII. But since the trophy he got for that looks exactly like his others, I give it to him.

3. Barry Sanders- Height: 5' 8", Weight: 203 lbs. Quite simply, Sanders was the best Running Back in NFL history among those players not named Jim Brown. In ten seasons he averaged 5.0 yards per carry. Nine times he had over 1300 yards. Five times over 1500. And once over 2000. The only player of whom you could honestly say "He was a threat to score every time he touched the ball." Except for maybe Mike Vrabel.

2. Rocky Marciano- Height 5' 10" , Weight 178 lbs. As much as he gets overlooked when you're talking about the great fighters of all time, or its said that he never beat anybody, he finished at 49-0. And you can't argue with perfection.

1. Eddie Gaedel- Height 3' 7" , Weight 65 lbs. Again, you can't argue with perfection. On August 19, 1951, the Cleveland Browns sent Eddie up to pinch hit. He walked on four pitches and was pinch ran for and he never played again. So his career numbers are: Games: 1. AB: O. BB: 1. Laugh if you want, but in a SABR-obsessed world, do have any idea what a guy with an OBP and OPS of 1.000 could make on the open market?