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What we’ve found digging through a century and a half of rosters and career stats. Most cover every sport. Jump straight to yours.
Article of the daySo close: the near-missesLou Gehrig's 493 home runs, Glenn Anderson's 498 goals, John Stockton's 19,711 points: the players who finished just short of the big milestones, and who's chasing them now.Read it
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- From the first season to todayEvery player in a sport's history is connected by teammates. Baseball gets from 1871 to this year's rookies in nine links, through Nolan Ryan, Pudge Rodriguez and Justin Verlander. The shortest chain through history in every sport.
- The center of every sportWhich player sits closest to everyone who ever played? We measured every teammate chain in five sports. It's never the biggest star: baseball's center is Tommy John.
- The players with the most teammatesNobody shared a clubhouse with more people than the journeymen. The top ten in every sport, and why they're the best links in Teammate Chain.
- The longest partnerships in sportsJeter and Rivera, Stockton and Malone, Crosby, Malkin and Letang: the teammates who stayed together the longest, counted from every roster in five sports.
- The longest one-club careersBrooks Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Hanson, Steve Yzerman: the players who spent the most seasons without ever changing teams.
- The most-traveled playersEdwin Jackson's 14 teams, Ish Smith's 13, Mike Sillinger's 12: the players who suited up for the most franchises, and every stop along the way.
- When do careers peak?The age of a player's best season, stat by stat, from hundreds of finished careers in five sports. Running backs peak young, and some home run hitters peak in their late 30s.
- So close: the near-missesLou Gehrig's 493 home runs, Glenn Anderson's 498 goals, John Stockton's 19,711 points: the players who finished just short of the big milestones, and who's chasing them now.
- The specialistsOtis Nixon's 620 stolen bases and 11 home runs. Rob Ray's 3,207 penalty minutes and 41 goals. Careers built on one thing, and almost none of another.
- The exchange rate between sportsOnly 28 players have hit 500 home runs. The 28th-best scorer in NBA history has 24,815 points; in the NHL, the 28th-most goals is 561. Every sport's big milestones, converted into every other sport's.
- Statistical twinsHakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal. Steve Yzerman and Sidney Crosby. Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez. The careers whose numbers match almost exactly, sport by sport.
- The most stacked rosters everThe 1931 Yankees had nine Hall of Famers and didn't win the World Series. The 2021-22 Lakers had four of the NBA's 75 greatest and missed the playoffs. The most talent ever on one roster.
- The two-sport clubBo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Danny Ainge, Dave DeBusschere: the 22 players in our data who made it to two major leagues, and who they played with in each.
- The busiest pipelines in sports187 players went straight between the Reds and the Cardinals. The pairs of franchises that have swapped the most players, from every roster in five sports.
- The greatest rookie classesJordan, Olajuwon, Barkley and Stockton all arrived in 1984. Marino and Elway in 1983. Gretzky and Messier in 1979. The first seasons that produced the most legends, sport by sport.
- Ghost teamsThe Louisville Colonels, the Cleveland Spiders, the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Arizona Coyotes: franchises that no longer play, who played for them, and the last of their players to retire.
- Who had the best teammates?Burleigh Grimes played with 35 Hall of Famers. Barry Sanders played with none. The best supporting casts in five sports, and the greats who did it on their own.
- The MVP hangoverBarry Bonds got better after his 2003 MVP. Roy Campanella hit .207 after his 1953 one. What every MVP in four sports did the next season, who won it again, and why most come back a little worse.
- The face of every franchiseDerek Jeter's 20 seasons with the Yankees, Gordie Howe's 25 in Detroit, Paolo Maldini's 25 at Milan: the longest-serving player for every team playing today, and the one closest to him now.
- Same name, different playerTwo Bob Millers on the 1962 Mets, two Elias Petterssons in Vancouver, nine Mike Williamses in the NFL: the players who share a name, the ones who shared a roster, and the names found in almost every league.
- The widest age gaps on one rosterSatchel Paige pitched for the 1965 A's at 59, beside an 18-year-old. Gordie Howe played for the Whalers at 51 with his sons. The teams whose oldest and youngest players were furthest apart, sport by sport, and how the gap has changed.
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