We continue now with our #1 city/decade on our list of the top 10 cities and decades of the past 110 years. For an overview/explanation of the rankings, and the system used to get them, click here.
The list so far:
#10: Boston, 1970s
#9: Boston, 1980s
#8: Detroit, 1940s
#7: Detroit, 1950s
#6: Boston, 2000s
#5: New York, 1920s
#4: Boston, 1960s
#3: Pittsburgh, 1970s
#2: New York, 1930s
Well, here we are folks--two weeks after post number one, we're finally at the top of the heap for all the cities and decades American professional sports has seen--okay, so it's only been about 110 years, but there's still been an unbelievable amount of talent throughout this list. Think of cities like Boston of the past decade, how everybody was jealous of them--and there were still 5 cities better than them in our study. Now we're coming up to number one, the easy choice whether it was by formula or just by the eye test. There are certain people in sports we can reference with one name only--Pele, Tiger, Babe--but this place had multiple one-namers at the SAME time! Dominance is only once click away...
#6: Boston, 2000s
#5: New York, 1920s
#4: Boston, 1960s
#3: Pittsburgh, 1970s
#2: New York, 1930s
Well, here we are folks--two weeks after post number one, we're finally at the top of the heap for all the cities and decades American professional sports has seen--okay, so it's only been about 110 years, but there's still been an unbelievable amount of talent throughout this list. Think of cities like Boston of the past decade, how everybody was jealous of them--and there were still 5 cities better than them in our study. Now we're coming up to number one, the easy choice whether it was by formula or just by the eye test. There are certain people in sports we can reference with one name only--Pele, Tiger, Babe--but this place had multiple one-namers at the SAME time! Dominance is only once click away...
1) New York, 1950s (Score: 333.11)—12 MVPs/9 Titles/20 Finals/28 Playoffs/56.7 W%
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| The Mick himself: 8 All-Stars and 2 MVPs in the 50s alone |
How could it be anyplace by New York in the 1950s? They averaged an MVP, a championship, and two teams in the finals every year for a DECADE. So what that they had 6 different teams playing at once? Those kind of averages haven’t been done in any city before or since, no matter how many teams play for them. Not to mention the names who paraded through town: Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Willie Mays, Roy Campanella. The Yankees won 6 of the 9 titles, sure, but the Dodgers and both Giants teams won a title too. And, other than the Rangers, every other team finished .529 or higher, even the Knicks in their first full decade of existence. Finally combining all four sports, New York still managed to find itself with easily the best score in our system. If you wanted big names and constant winning, New York in the 1950s was the place to be.
How could the list end any other way than in the biggest sports town in the world? It's easy to hate on New York, sure, but from the way these results ended up, is there really any argument that NYC has seen the best sports America has had to offer (at least, in terms of continued dominance). Yes, that's tough as a Philadelphian to admit, but I'm not saying New York is in any way a "better" sports town, certainly not based on the most recent decades' performance. Looking back in time, however, try and tell me there wasn't a better place to be than Manhattan during what could be labeled the most exciting decade in American sports history.
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