My wife's responses
 

OK... just thought that I would do the same with my wife... for a different point of view (like the Chinese newspaper perspective) as she is Mexican and in her 40's and lived in the USA for less than 10 years.

I asked another question... who are 5 most important athletes of all time (no pre-established criteria)... Here are the responses:

Ali
Pele
Diego Maradona
Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth

A bit interesting for me that there were 2 baseball players, although Jackie is probably more important for the social impact. I kindof expected 2 soccer players (and these two specifically) and Ali.

She thought that pretty much all of the good baseball players played for the Yankees.

Her knowledge of Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige are probably due to my collecting focus as well, I would not assume that most wives know these guys!

Also my wife asked if we can open a "support group" for the wives of collectors!

Here are the results on the broader list:

Babe Ruth Yes
Muhammad Ali Yes
Jackie Robinson Yes
Pele Yes
Lou Gehrig No
Mickey Mantle Yes - player for the Red Sox
Joe Frazier No
Roberto Clemente Yes - player for Yankees
Joe DiMaggio Yes - player for the Yankees
Ty Cobb Yes - Player for the Yankees
Shoeless Joe Jackson No
Wilt Chamberlain - No
Bill Russell - No (heard the name)
Jack Dempsey - No
Joe Louis - No
Rocky Marciano - Yes
Jim Thorpe - No
Jack Johnson - No
A.J. Foyt - No
Richard Petty - No
Honus Wagner - Yes - not sure who he played for
Satchel Paige - Yes
George Mikan - No
Rogers Hornsby - No
Christy Mathewson - No
Walter Johnson - Yes - pitcher - not sure of team
Bobby Jones - No
Bronko Nagurski - No
Josh Gibson - Yes
Georges Vezina - No

I love that she had Mantle with the Red Sox.

I know that DiMaggio's name recognition is bolstered today among living fans by the Mr. Coffee ads. I also wonder how many people today know him for being married to Marilyn Monroe.

Mantle Red Sox
 

me too!

but hated that she placed pretty much everybody else on the Yankees

I would say almost no one. If you know who DiMaggio is I would think your point of reference is the Yankees or baseball or one of the songs he's featured in (Joltin' Joe/ Mrs. Robinson). I would think Monroe as your only point of reference is pretty rare.

I agree....if that, in fact. I would bet that less than 25% of current Americans know who Lou Gehrig was....and many of those would reply something like "you mean the disease?"

He was also the face on ads for a bank in New York City in the 1980's. I recall seeing it, but was from out of town so the bank name does not come to mind.

These 99% recognition figures are crazy. I think the likely number for Ruth and Robinson nationwide are under 90%. There are over 1% of the people in this country who wouldn't recognize their own name.

I would only recognize my name if it were printed in reverse on a name badge pinned to my shirt and I was looking in a mirror.

nairB (I tried checking with a mirror, and I still don't have a clue know who I am)

I'm sure that is true. Probably 90% of Americans know who Donald Trump is, but surely it's less than 99%. For starters, I have both a son (2) and a grandmother (89) who don't know who he is.

Count them as lucky

A political joke!!!! Pure hilarity!!!!! Are you a professional comedian?? You must be! How did you come up with that amazingly insightful and oh so intelligent quip all on your own???

Just took my wife through the same exercise. She has been victim to me + 2 sons and lots and lots of ballgames on television over the years plus our collecting gene. She said I wouldn't know 90% of these names if it wasn't for you. I was actually surprised how many yes's she had

Babe Ruth 99% Y
Muhammad Ali 99% Y
Jackie Robinson 99% Y
Pele 99% Y
Lou Gehrig 95% Y
Mickey Mantle 95% Y
Joe Frazier 80% N
Roberto Clemente 80% Y
Joe DiMaggio 75% Y
Ty Cobb 75% Y
Shoeless Joe Jackson 60% N
Wilt Chamberlain 50% Y
Bill Russell 50% N
Jack Dempsey 30% Y (this one was a big surprise - she said that she recognized the name)
Joe Louis 30% Y
Rocky Marciano 30% N
Jim Thorpe 30% Y
Jack Johnson 25% N
A.J. Foyt 25% Y
Richard Petty 25% Y
Honus Wagner 15% Y
Satchel Paige 15% Y
George Mikan 10% N
Rogers Hornsby 3% N
Christy Mathewson 3% N
Walter Johnson 3% N
Bobby Jones 2% N
Bronko Nagurski 2% N
Josh Gibson 2% N
Georges Vezina 1% N

Hockey esp older hockey stars going to be very small percentage. Gordie Howe would be a good one in midwest Mr Hockey is pretty well known in Hockey Town. But rest of US? Miken again Mr. Basketball in land of 1000 lakes greatest laker is well known but outside Minnesota?

Funny timing on this -- the NHLPA just did a survey of current players to find their opinions of the best among their ranks
and the best of all-time in various categories. As fans of hockey, as well as baseball and football (and former
beer-league players in the first two sports, in our much younger days), we engaged in some cordial argument
as to how disappointing or surprising (or not) was the players' knowledge or ignorance of their forerunners and
their game's history. This is the game to which they've devoted their lives, you'd expect them to know better, said one,
but almost all of these guys are under 30, they don't sit around reading about the game's history, countered another,
and a quarter of the players are Russian or European, you can't expect them to know NHL history, added the third.
Anyway, except for the obvious (and, ironically, correct) selection of Orr as best-ever defenceman, every other other guy
among the Top 5 on the All-Time lists (including the also correct choice of Gretzky as best forward, and excepting Dryden
among goalers) played well into the 1990s. Not even icons like Howe, Richard, Hull, or Esposito get a perceptible nod
among the list of forwards, for example, or Plante or Bower among goalers, let alone any guys at all from the pre-expansion era.
Clearly the NHL and the hockey media do a shamefully horrendous job (no surprise at all) of keeping the game's history
(even its relatively recent history) alive.
The few other hockey fans here can observe and argue: http://www.NHLPA.com/player-poll/2017-18

So as we were gathered at one guy's home for another session of dice baseball, and between innings
discussing the NHL Poll and this Net54 thread, we decided to ask the resident Missus how many names she recognized
on Stampsfan Bob's list -- recognition biased by the fact that she knew in advance that this was a list of athletes,
not famous people from any field of endeavour, but recognition affirmed by whether she could name their sport.
It should be noted all parties involved are, um, let's just say well past 60, that the Missus was not a sports fan
of any real stripe until she was married, but that she's had to watch sports with her husband, in person and on TV,
and listen to him rattle on about baseball, hockey, football, and his sports memorabilia for over thirty years.
And now, the results of that trial:
Yes, and the sport they played, to every name on the list except for Bill Russell, AJ Foyt, George Mikan, and Bobby Jones.
Yes, but unsure of the sport ("football?") for Josh Gibson.
Based on posts subsequent to the OP and a few additions of our own, she was also asked about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
Lew Alcindor, Larry Bird, Usain Bolt, Jim Brown, Juius Erving, George Foreman, George Halas, John Heisman,
Gordie Howe, Bruce Jenner, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis, Diego Maradona, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Orr, Jesse Owens,
Arnold Palmer, Jerry Rice, Cal Ripken, Sugar Ray Robinson, Ronda Rousey, Wanderlei Silva, Mark Spitz, Lawrence Taylor,
Mike Tyson, Tiger Woods, and Cy Young.
She nailed every one of 'em except for Silva (none of us had ever before heard the name either) and Halas,
except that she didn't know Jenner's sport ("diving? swimming?"), and didn't recognize Heisman's or Maradona's names
but immediately guessed their sport (we couldn'a told ya what Heisman was famous for besides the trophy, either,
although we coulda told ya all about Pop Warner and Knute Rockne). She was also able to provide a vague thumbnail history
of the Black Sox scandal, although she thought it was from the early 1930s.

Conclusion from this corner: she is every bit as smart as her hubby always says, she actually does listen to him
contrary to what he always says, and aside from that, pretty much no one under 40 knows or cares the least little damn thing
about anyone or anything whatsoever that happened more than a few months ago, dadgummit, by cracky.

Be careful. Political comments are a no-no on the board. I am sure Leon will chime in on this. My thought is as to both comments, not just yours.

John, I'd have to disagree with the bolded portion of your quote. All my guy friends, save for one, are football fans, and I think most all of them at least know some of the more famous names of the pre-Super Bowl era.

I pulled up a list of the greatest players of the pre-Super Bowl era I found on Bleacher Report, listed by decade, and I know a majority of them. The ones I've bolded, I've at least heard of.

The 1920s

1. Red Grange
2. Jim Thorpe
3. Ernie Nevers
4. Paddy Driscoll
5. George Trafton
6. Mike Michalske
7. Cal Hubbard
8. Pete Henry
9. Joe Guyon
10. Link Lyman

The 1930s

1. Don Hutson
2. Bronko Nagurski
3. Mel Hein
4. Dutch Clark
5. Clarke Hinkle
6. Arnie Herber
7. Johnny "Blood" McNally
8. Dan Fortmann
9. Joe Stydahar
10. Cliff Battles

The 1940s

1. Sammy Baugh
2. Steve Van Buren
3. Sid Luckman
4. Bulldog Turner
5. Bill Dudley
6. George McAfee
7. Tony Canadeo
8. Charley Trippi
9. Marion Motley
10. Bob Waterfield

The 1950s
4 OF 10
1. Otto Graham
2. Dick "Night Train" Lane
3. Chuck Bednarik
4. Gino Marchetti
5. Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch
6. Johnny Unitas
7. Jim Brown
8. Emlen Tunnell
9. Sam Huff
10. Norm Van Brocklin


The 1960s

1. Jim Brown
2. Johnny Unitas
3. Dick Butkus
4. David "Deacon" Jones
5. Gale Sayers
6. Bart Starr
7. Forrest Gregg
8. Ray Nitschke
9. Bob Lilly
10. Merlin Olsen

Have to admit I am one of those who only knows Vezina from an avatar also.

I knew everyone else fairly well, but I am also leaning toward the majority of folks having no idea. I would think many have heard of Babe Ruth, however if I just showed a photo and asked who it was, I would think the correct answer may be less than half of respondents on a really good day.

I think the Mikan thing may just be not as much interest in early NBA, much like my Vezina knowledge. My 17 year-old son has a 52' Mikan Wheaties card and a framed auto in his card display and can bet he could list off at least 5 minutes of facts and stats for him to anyone who asked.

It's just what folks deem important to themselves. I would assume my vintage sports knowledge is fairly down the list of importance to most people. I can't identify a soul if I pick up checkout magazine of rumors, however my wife can tell you every last one and their dating history. :rolleyes:

Here are my wife's answers. Sports except for 49er football, was not very prevalent growing up in her household.

Babe Ruth 99% - yes
Muhammad Ali 99% - yes
Jackie Robinson 99% - yes
Pele 99% - yes
Lou Gehrig 95% - yes
Mickey Mantle 95% - yes
Joe Frazier 80% - yes
Roberto Clemente 80% - yes
Joe DiMaggio 75% - yes
Ty Cobb 75% - yes
Shoeless Joe Jackson 60% - yes
Wilt Chamberlain 50% - yes
Bill Russell 50% - no
Jack Dempsey 30% - no
Joe Louis 30% - yes
Rocky Marciano 30% - yes
Jim Thorpe 30% - yes
Jack Johnson 25% - no
A.J. Foyt 25% - no
Richard Petty 25% - no
Honus Wagner 15% - yes
Satchel Paige 15% - yes
George Mikan 10% - no
Rogers Hornsby 3% - no
Christy Mathewson 3% - yes
Walter Johnson 3% - no
Bobby Jones 2% - no
Bronko Nagurski 2% - no
Josh Gibson 2% - no
Georges Vezina 1% - no

I’m going to run through this with my fiancé tomorrow. She told me that she doesn’t think she will do well, but I disagree. She does like sports and listens to the things I talk about. I believe she’s far past the average person.

Ironically, Cal Hubbard is in the baseball HOF as an umpire.

My 43 year old wife knew every name until Jack Johnson. Then missed only the last five. She even knew Pele, Richard Petty, and Jack Dempsey. She's a keeper.

Does my wife get credit for asking "Bobby Jones - do you mean the golfer or the UNC basketball player?"

I read the list to my girlfriend and she missed Babe Ruth...but later said, "Oh you meant George, right? Of course I know who that is." :)

Brother, you found a gem in that one!

Does anyone remember the movie Diner where the bride-to-be had to pass a trivia test on Baltimore Colts history in order for the wedding to take place?

I believe that here are way, way overestimating how similar the rest of the country is to them.

There are religious (and other) groups in this country that don’t get any sort of media. There are large groups that don’t speak English. A decent percentage (as mentioned) are illiterate.

The info from wives points in that direction and these are people living together with (for th most part of you are on these boards) huge sports fans.

This.

I agree, I think some of these numbers are way too high. 99% is 297,000,000 people out of 300,000,000 knowing these names...sorry, but even our beloved Ruth & Robinson wouldn't achieve that percentage.