Athlete you thought was gonna be great...

[Guest]

He held out in Philly, not Pittsburgh.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe]

Drew Henson in...well, pick a sport.

 

The Mets' young pitching triumvirate of the late 90s were hailed as the next great rotation. I think they were Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson. All of them fit.

I was just about to mention the Mets' "Generation K" trio till I find it here at the end of the page.

 

Along the Mantle lines, I'd add Griffey Jr to the list. He was THE superstar in baseball for the entire decade of the 1990's and ever since coming to Cincy in 2000, has been an injured shell of his former self.

[Guest Brian]

I can't remember whether he held out after getting drafted to sign as a free agent or whether that was JD Drew, but they were drafted around the same time IIRC.

That was Drew, who held out from the Pirates for the team he wanted to play for, the Cardinals.

 

The first case doesn't ring a bell.

It might of been Drew for the whole thing, but I could have sworn there was someone coming out of college who just had this incredible buzz about him, and had already signed endorsements, doing a Nike deal. This guy was just a freak, doing all kinds of things.

[Ripper]

Dion Glover....Really?

 

 

Can't say I have ever been suprised by bust, cause most guys that are bust I thought they would be, like Bobby Hurley, Matten Cleaves etc. 

 

Corliss Williamson, I thought would be a bust and was alot better than I gave him credit for.  I thought Elton Brand would be a bust, and he turned out to be a great player in the nba.

Before I saw Dion Glover play I read an article in SLAM that had me watching out for him. Then I saw him play in the McDonald's All-American game and he did good...then I saw a few games at G-Tech. Yeah, I thought he'd be a good NBA player.

 

If Corliss Williamson had entered the draft after Arkansas' national title run, he would have been picked in the Top 3. That extra year I think exposed him and he dropped to 14 or so. Still, I thought he'd be a Barkley-type of player when I saw him.

See the thing is I always saw Corliss the same way I saw brand. They were KINDA big but were playing like they were HUGE because they were in college. I mean, Corliss would just own the paint, but at the end of the day, he was the size of a 3, and I didn't think he had the game to play the 3 in the NBA (and Sacramento tried to use him there for the first couple of years of his career and it didn't work to well). They both proved me wrong to a certain extent.

[brighty]

think back 11 years or so. 2 can't miss players who were pushed as THE future of the NBA, and its just not happened.

 

Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway.

 

oh, and there must have been no English people posting in here so far, otherwise they'd have surely mentioned - Paul Gascoigne.

[Ripper]

Grant Hill was a Allstar, Olympic Gold medalist, and MVP candidate. He had more productive and allstar years than he had hurt years (although it seemed like forever, he did only miss 3 years)

 

I know people don't like to think so, but I think he lived up to the hype. Penny on the other hand...I never understood people pretending he was one of the best guards in the league. In his best years he never was over, what, 7 assist and 21 points. Those are good numbers, but in his PRIME he never was a "this guy is going to run the league" type of player. just a very good one.

[Guest Redhawk]

Does anyone remember a Baltimore Orioles pitcher named Ben McDonald? I remember when I was little I had his rookie card, and at the time it cost something like $30. But I never heard of him actually doing anything in the majors.

[CanadianChris]

Does anyone remember a Baltimore Orioles pitcher named Ben McDonald? I remember when I was little I had his rookie card, and at the time it cost something like $30. But I never heard of him actually doing anything in the majors.

Yeah, I remember him. He was with Baltimore when they were challenging Toronto for the AL East in the early 90s.

 

I'd say he would qualify, given that he was the first overall pick in the draft the year he was taken.

[C Dubya 04]

Does anyone remember a Baltimore Orioles pitcher named Ben McDonald? I remember when I was little I had his rookie card, and at the time it cost something like $30. But I never heard of him actually doing anything in the majors.

Yeah, I remember him. He was with Baltimore when they were challenging Toronto for the AL East in the early 90s.

 

I'd say he would qualify, given that he was the first overall pick in the draft the year he was taken.

Yeah, I have about 30 of his rookie cards lying around. Bastard.

 

 

I think that Grif Jr. was a great player for many years. He's been getting hurt since he went to Cinci, but with Seattle he was one of the best players I've ever seen.

[Guest Redhawk]

Ken Griffey Jr. is going to the Hall of Fame no matter what happens/happened in Cincy, so I'd say he lived up to his hype.

[Steve J. Rogers]

Ken Griffey Jr. is going to the Hall of Fame no matter what happens/happened in Cincy, so I'd say he lived up to his hype.

Thats why you can hang a Mantle tag on him. One of the all-time greats, but never as great as people thought he might have been

 

Mantle's a Hall of Famer and an icon, but imagine if he had stayed healthy and lived cleaner

 

Thats the point

 

Steve

[LooseCannon25]

I'm gonna have to say "Generation K" for the Mets as well. The Big 3, Pulsipher, Wilson, Isringhausen. At least Izzy had a very good rookie year (9-2 2.81), but was disgusting the year after. He's turned out to be a strong closer though, but was supposed to be a dominant starter.

 

You could tell Pulsipher and Wilson were garbage as soon as they were both brough up to the Mets. Wilson, to his credit has become a mediocre starter at best, but nowhere near the hype. Pulsipher is out of baseball all together and never did a damn thing

[Darthtiki]

Bobby Hurley is one who comes to mind also Mateen Cleaves

[LooseCannon25]

NBA: Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner, Travis Best, Yinka Dare

 

NFL: Ron Dayne, Kyle Brady, Ryan Leaf

 

MLB: Brien Taylor, Alex Escobar (Mr. 5 tool), Kerry Wood

[Guest Brian]

I can't remember whether he held out after getting drafted to sign as a free agent or whether that was JD Drew, but they were drafted around the same time IIRC.

That was Drew, who held out from the Pirates for the team he wanted to play for, the Cardinals.

 

The first case doesn't ring a bell.

It might of been Drew for the whole thing, but I could have sworn there was someone coming out of college who just had this incredible buzz about him, and had already signed endorsements, doing a Nike deal. This guy was just a freak, doing all kinds of things.

It was Gabe Kapler. Realized it looking in another thread. He had commercials before he played a major league game.

 

As for Griffey, he was the best player in the game for a number of years. I don't see how that qualifies.

[Jericholic82]

Kapler got loads more hype wher eI live cuz hes from aroudn the area and went to college in my county. Havent heard any news from japan thoguh lol

[Guest Redhawk]

I watched a young Terry Norris just beat the shit out of Sugar Ray Leonard, and I thought Norris was easily headed for the Hall of Fame. He was good, but never lived up to those expectations.

[Guest P!NK.]

Raphiel Soriano

 

David Terrel

 

Johnathon Bender

You had so much faith in them that you couldn't even spell their names correctly. Staggering.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I watched a young Terry Norris just beat the shit out of Sugar Ray Leonard, and I thought Norris was easily headed for the Hall of Fame. He was good, but never lived up to those expectations.

I agree with this one. Terry Norris looked like a hell of a fighter, and he completely fell off the map in an instant.

[bob_barron]

This may tick alot of people off, but you kind of have to put this guy on the list:

 

Would this guy have had the kind of career he was hyped to have had he;

 

A) Stayed healthy. Perpetual knee problems would hamper him throughout his life. Still one of the fastest guys in the game, but would never be the same after tripping on that drangage divit in left field and

 

B) Lived alittle bit cleaner. He would always admit, right to his final days, that he could have been so much better had he not believed he only had 40 some years to be alive (his dad, brother and I think one of his sons all died very young by the same disease) and not been such the hard liver that he was and taken care of himself better

 

Who am I talking about?

 

Mickey Charles Mantle

Saying his full name really does emphaise your point more

[smh810]

Thats why you can hang a Mantle tag on him. One of the all-time greats, but never as great as people thought he might have been

 

Mantle's a Hall of Famer and an icon, but imagine if he had stayed healthy and lived cleaner

 

Thats the point

 

Steve

 

Okay this is the most inane statement I've ever read. Who the hell cares if Mick liked to party the guy was one of the three best players of his era. Saying he didnt live up to the hype in any way, shape, or form is asinine.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe]

Griffey was supposed to revitalize Cincy, in his coming home party, and completely and totally fizzled while still having several years ahead of him (How old was he, 30ish?) and as far as I remember there wasn't really any indication he wouldn't continue to dominate.

[Robert]

Tony Manadrich- A total SI hype machine. I mean, he was gonna go top 10, but he was a total roid machine and was horrible in Green Bay and Indy.

 

Brent Fullwood- "AH MAN, I DROPPED MY GLASS MAN!"* Drafted in the first round by Da Pack, he couldn't hold onto the ball. Just a complete and utter bust, and an embarassment to watch.

 

*Reference to Laser 103's All My Packers Show.

[Just John]

Kordell Stewart...

[Steve J. Rogers]

Thats why you can hang a Mantle tag on him. One of the all-time greats, but never as great as people thought he might have been

 

Mantle's a Hall of Famer and an icon, but imagine if he had stayed healthy and lived cleaner

 

Thats the point

 

Steve

 

Okay this is the most inane statement I've ever read. Who the hell cares if Mick liked to party the guy was one of the three best players of his era. Saying he didnt live up to the hype in any way, shape, or form is asinine.

I agree, but we are talking about athletes who were destined for greatness and never quite lived up

 

Mantle was destined for uber-greatness and wound up still being an absoulte icon that trancended pop culture in the 1950's and 1960's, the Elvis Presley of baseball, but never quite fullfilled being "Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio all rolled into one"

 

Just brought him up as an example, even he'd probably put himself on the list

 

Steve

[tominator89]

Kordell Stewart...

He makes for a decent backup in Madden.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Grant Hill was a Allstar, Olympic Gold medalist, and MVP candidate. He had more productive and allstar years than he had hurt years (although it seemed like forever, he did only miss 3 years)

 

I know people don't like to think so, but I think he lived up to the hype. Penny on the other hand...I never understood people pretending he was one of the best guards in the league. In his best years he never was over, what, 7 assist and 21 points. Those are good numbers, but in his PRIME he never was a "this guy is going to run the league" type of player. just a very good one.

I think Penny Hardaway was the only person who thought he could run the league. I remember him thinking he would lead the league in scoring once Shaq left because he would get more shots.

[Steve J. Rogers]

Grant Hill was a Allstar, Olympic Gold medalist, and MVP candidate.  He had more productive and allstar years than he had hurt years (although it seemed like forever, he did only miss 3 years)

 

I know people don't like to think so, but I think he lived up to the hype.  Penny on the other hand...I never understood people pretending he was one of the best guards in the league.  In his best years he never was over, what, 7 assist and 21 points.  Those are good numbers, but in his PRIME he never was a "this guy is going to run the league" type of player.  just a very good one.

I think Penny Hardaway was the only person who thought he could run the league. I remember him thinking he would lead the league in scoring once Shaq left because he would get more shots.

Dude, don't forget the whole advertizing campaign with L'il Penny (played by Chris Rock) You don't get that obnoxious of a campaign if you aren't thought of as being "The Next Big Thing"

[bob_barron]

Dude, don't forget the whole advertizing campaign with L'il Penny (played by Chris Rock) You don't get that obnoxious of a campaign if you aren't thought of as being "The Next Big Thing"

Anfernee Deon Hardaway

[Guest Redhawk]

Can we put Yao Ming here yet? Personally I thought he'd be a bust, but everyone else kept saying he'd be a cross between Bill Walton, Shaq and Kareem.