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Bigger every decade?
NFL offensive linemen gained 40 pounds in a generation, NBA centers three inches, and NHL goalies five. Baseball players are four inches taller than in the 1890s. Every player's listed height and weight in five sports, by the decade he debuted.
By Austin · October 17, 2026
Are athletes really bigger than they used to be? We took the listed height and weight of every player in five sports and grouped them by the decade they debuted. Some positions have barely changed in fifty years. Others are almost a different species.
| Sport | Then | Now | Changed most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | 5'10", 170 lb (1890s) | 6'2", 210 lb (2010s) | Weight: +40 lb |
| Basketball | 6'2", 190 lb (1940s) | 6'7", 215 lb (2010s) | Centers: +3 in |
| Football | 6'2", 233 lb (1990s) | 6'2", 230 lb (2020s) | Offensive line: +40 lb |
| Hockey | 5'11", 180 lb (1960s) | 6'1", 192 lb (2020s) | Goalies: +5 in |
| Soccer | 5'11.7" (2010s) | 6'0" (2020s) | Goalkeepers: +1 in |
Baseball
Baseball players have grown about four inches since the 1890s, and much heavier. The typical ballplayer of the dead-ball era was 5'10" and 170 pounds; the typical one who debuted in the 2010s is 6'2" and 210, a gain of 20 pounds since the 1990s alone. The tallest in our records is Jon Rauch, a 6'11" pitcher. The shortest is Eddie Gaedel, 3'7", whom the Browns' owner Bill Veeck sent up to bat once in 1951 as a stunt. He walked on four pitches.
The extremes
Tallest: Jon Rauch (6'11"), Randy Johnson (6'10"), Chris Young (6'10"), Andy Sisco (6'10"), Eric Hillman (6'10").
Shortest: Eddie Gaedel (3'7"), Cub Stricker (5'3"), Larry Corcoran (5'3"), Dickey Pearce (5'3"), Yale Murphy (5'3").
Heaviest: Walter Young (320 lb), Jumbo Diaz (315 lb), CC Sabathia (300 lb), Dmitri Young (295 lb), Jumbo Brown (295 lb).
Basketball
Basketball has always picked tall people, but the gap between positions has grown. Centers went from 6'8" in the league's first seasons to 6'11". Guards have grown too, but much less. Forwards got heavier through the 2000s, then lighter again as the game moved out to the three-point line. The tallest players ever, Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol, were 7'7" and 7'6"; the shortest, Muggsy Bogues, was 5'3".
By position
| Position | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centers | 6'11", 250 | 6'11", 255 | 6'11", 249 | 6'11", 240 |
| Forwards | 6'8", 228 | 6'8", 230 | 6'7", 221 | 6'7", 217 |
| Guards | 6'3", 190 | 6'3", 195 | 6'3", 195 | 6'4", 195 |
Height, then weight in pounds.
The extremes
Tallest: Gheorghe Muresan (7'7"), Yao Ming (7'6"), Shawn Bradley (7'6"), Manute Bol (7'6"), Tacko Fall (7'6").
Shortest: Muggsy Bogues (5'3"), Earl Boykins (5'5"), Spud Webb (5'6"), Mel Hirsch (5'6"), Greg Grant (5'7").
Heaviest: Sim Bhullar (360 lb), Thomas Hamilton (330 lb), Shaquille O'Neal (325 lb), Priest Lauderdale (325 lb), Oliver Miller (315 lb).
Football
The biggest change in any sport is football's offensive line. A lineman who debuted in the 1980s typically weighed 275 pounds; since the 1990s, the typical one has weighed 300 or more. Defensive linemen grew almost as fast. Running backs and defensive backs have barely changed, and the typical quarterback has been 6'3" for forty years.
By position
| Position | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defensive backs | 5'11", 191 | 5'11", 196 | 6'0", 197 | 6'0", 195 |
| Defensive line | 6'4", 280 | 6'3", 290 | 6'3", 292 | 6'3", 290 |
| Kickers and punters | – | 6'1", 210 | 6'1", 205 | 6'1", 201 |
| Linebackers | 6'2", 238 | 6'2", 239 | 6'2", 240 | 6'2", 235 |
| Offensive line | 6'4", 300 | 6'4", 310 | 6'5", 310 | 6'5", 315 |
| Quarterbacks | 6'3", 215 | 6'3", 222 | 6'3", 221 | 6'3", 216 |
| Receivers | 6'0", 188 | 6'1", 197 | 6'1", 200 | 6'1", 197 |
| Running backs | 5'11", 219 | 5'11", 220 | 5'11", 218 | 5'11", 212 |
| Tight ends | 6'4", 250 | 6'4", 254 | 6'4", 252 | 6'5", 250 |
Height, then weight in pounds.
The extremes
Tallest: Jack Wilson (6'11"), Nate Wozniak (6'10"), Mike Rockwood (6'10"), Alejandro Villanueva (6'9"), Demar Dotson (6'9").
Shortest: Trindon Holliday (5'5"), Darren Sproles (5'6"), Tarik Cohen (5'6"), Jim Breech (5'6"), Jacquizz Rodgers (5'6").
Heaviest: Michael Jasper (394 lb), Herman Johnson (382 lb), Aaron Gibson (380 lb), Daniel Faalele (380 lb), Marquan McCall (379 lb).
Hockey
Hockey players grew about two inches and 20 pounds from the late 1960s to the 1990s, then stopped, and the newest players are a little lighter. Goalies changed most: from 5'10" in the 1980s to 6'3" now, as teams decided a bigger body covers more net. Zdeno Chara, at 6'9", is the tallest player in NHL history.
By position
| Position | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defensemen | 6'2", 206 | 6'2", 207 | 6'2", 201 | 6'2", 195 |
| Forwards | 6'1", 197 | 6'1", 200 | 6'1", 196 | 6'0", 190 |
| Goalies | 6'0", 190 | 6'1", 196 | 6'2", 201 | 6'3", 194 |
Height, then weight in pounds.
The extremes
Tallest: Zdeno Chara (6'9"), Curtis Douglas (6'9"), Tyler Myers (6'8"), Steve McKenna (6'8"), John Scott (6'8").
Shortest: Nathan Gerbe (5'4"), Darren Pang (5'4"), Robbie Moore (5'4"), Bobby Lalonde (5'5"), Doug Palazzari (5'5").
Heaviest: Derek Boogaard (265 lb), Nikita Tryamkin (265 lb), Dustin Byfuglien (260 lb), John Scott (260 lb), Kyle Freadrich (260 lb).
Soccer
Soccer has the shortest players of the five sports and the smallest changes. Our height records only cover players from the 1990s on, so we can't go back further. In that time, goalkeepers have grown more than an inch, to 6'3". Midfielders and forwards average a little under 6 feet.
By position
| Position | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defenders | 6'0" | 6'0.4" | 6'0.4" | 6'0.8" |
| Forwards | 5'10.9" | 5'11.3" | 5'10.9" | 5'11.7" |
| Goalkeepers | 6'2" | 6'2.4" | 6'2.8" | 6'3.2" |
| Midfielders | 5'10.3" | 5'10.9" | 5'10.9" | 5'11.3" |
The extremes
Tallest: Isaak Touré (6'9.1"), Kjell Scherpen (6'9.1"), Lucas Bergström (6'8.7"), Carlos Miguel (6'8.3"), Costel Pantilimon (6'7.9").
Shortest: Alexis Araujo (5'2.6"), Albert Crusat (5'3"), Diego Buonanotte (5'3.4"), Frédéric Sammaritano (5'3.8"), José Alonso Lara (5'3.8").
Why the line grew
Football’s linemen grew because the game rewarded it: rules changes from the late 1970s let blockers use their hands and extend their arms, passing took over, and quarterbacks needed walls in front of them. Hockey’s goalies grew for a simpler reason. The butterfly style, dropping to the knees to cover the bottom of the net, works best for a big goalie, and teams started choosing for size. For how careers have changed over the same decades, see how careers have changed.
How we counted
Each player counts once, in the decade of his first regular-season game, with his listed height and weight, and the figure shown is the median. A decade appears once at least 80% of its players have a listed height (or weight). Listed weights are usually a player’s weight in the records’ last update, not at his debut, except in football, where we use the weight on his first roster. Heights outside 5’0″ to 7’8″ are typos in the records and are left out, with one real exception, Eddie Gaedel. Football careers that began before 1980 have too few heights on record to show.
About the data
Players come from the rosters behind Teammate Chain. Heights and weights from the Lahman Baseball Database (to 2022), the NBA’s player records, nflverse’s rosters, the NHL’s rosters, and Transfermarkt for soccer (heights only). Some basketball players have no listed height in the NBA’s records, among them Chris Mullin and Luc Longley, and Muggsy Bogues’s 5’3″ is added by hand. Baseball players who debuted after 2022 aren’t in our height records yet. Spot a mistake? Let us know.