The Greatest Athletes Whose Careers Were Cut Short Due to Injury

This is almost an exception. Almost. "The Kid" is considered one of the most talented baseball players of all time, and possessed the silkiest, smoothest swing in baseball history. I say he's almost an exception because he ended his career with 630 homeruns... 630 homeruns! "How can he be on this list, he played 22 years and hit 630 homeruns???" Well, out of those 22 seasons, he only played more than 120 games in a season 11 times, for the most part with the Seattle Mariners. He rarely played a full season and still hit 630 HRs. Imagine how many he would have hit had injuries not hampered him? On average, he hit a homerun every 4.3 full games. Let's say he missed just 43 games during the seasons he played less than 120 games. That's 10 more homeruns/season, and since that happened 11 seasons, that would have been 110 more homeruns. He could have been in the running for title of "Home Run King." But alas, he'll always be known as "The Kid."

Bo knows football. Bo knows baseball. Heck, Bo could have even known soccer or basketball or whatever else he could have chosen to play professionally. He is often considered the greatest athlete who has ever lived, but we often forget that his professional career was cut short because of a freak hip injury. Jackson played only four seasons in the NFL, but was able to squeak out eight years in the MLB before his injury got the best of him. We all know when Bo got hurt (1991 NFL Playoffs, L.A. Raiders vs. Cincinnati Bengals), and that one freak injury prevented the greatest athlete of all time of fulfilling a full, successful career in the NFL. He was one of, if not the best, power hitters in the MLB from 1986-1994. Would he have been a legend in baseball lore? Probably not. But Jackson will always be known as the greatest athlete ever, but no Halls of Fame will ever recognize him.

Koufax was known as "The Man With the Golden Left Arm" for a reason. Arguably (although his stats back this up as "fact") the best left handed pitcher of all time, Koufax suffered from arthritis in his left elbow, and it just continued to get worse after each day. He won 165 games during his career with 87 losses (how in the world he lost 87 games is beyond me), but had a menacing ERA of 2.76. As his career progressed, so did the arthritis. His stats gradually got worse over time, and he was eventually driven to retirement at the age of 30. If his elbow had stayed healthy, I'm sure there would be a "Sandy Koufax" award now.

In the shadow of the recently retired Michael Jordan and the up and coming superstar of Kobe Bryant, we often forget about the great crop of players in the NBA during the late 90's and early 2000's. One of those players was Tracy McGrady. McGrady was one of the best individual players in the game during his time, and while he had a pretty full career, it isn't Hall of Fame worthy because of a nagging back injury that stuck with him during the late 2000's. Like Derrick Rose, there wasn't anyone in the NBA who could guard him. He was too quick for most post and wing players, and was way too big and physical for the point guards and shooting guards who tried to guard him. While he may still get voted into the Hall of Fame eventually, his superstar career was cut short as soon as he reached his peak. He produced 2000+ points in a season three times, a feat that, at the time, was in the same company as LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas, and Vince Carter.

I had to add in "Pistol" because he was an absolute magician on the court. Sure, he dominated college basketball while at LSU, averaging a mind-numbing 44.2 ppg during his four years in Baton Rouge, and his NBA numbers were silly as well, but he only played ten seasons in the pros before he had to call it quits. In 1978, he injured both of his knees and had to retire just two years later. He was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987, but had he not been injured, his already gaudy stats would have been simply ridiculous and downright unbelievable.