15 Biggest One-Man Shows In Sports History

By Jerry Landry

When you’re a violin virtuoso, you do not need a second fiddle. If you view sports as a beautiful philharmonic, you’ll notice that these 15 superstars didn’t just seem to be instrumental to their teams, but seemed to metaphorically play every instrument at once.

15 Biggest One-Man Shows In Sports History

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15. Shabazz Napier — Did you see the 2014 NCAA tournament? And did you see how Napier carried the No. 7 seed UConn Huskies to one shining moment with one shining performance after another?

14. Kobe Bryant — The Black Mamba went from venomous to lethal after the departure of Shaquille O’Neal in 2004. Just the second season post-Shaq, Bryant put up 35.4 points per game, earning the first of two scoring titles.

13. Wilt Chamberlain — Who is this? Wilt Chamberlain? Figuratively and literally, there was no bigger one-man show than Wilt the Stilt. There was the 100-point game in 1962, the 78-point game in ’61, the pair of 73-point games in ’62 and that other lackluster performance in the same year where Wilt put up only 72 points.

12. Travis Trice — Shabazz Napier 2.0! Shabazz Napier 2.0! At the time of this entry, Travis Trice has led the Michigan State Spartans to the 2015 Final Four and has already been dubbed the tournament’s most outstanding player by Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.

11. Randy Johnson — The Big Unit was a big nightmare for major league hitters and unfortunate birds alike from 1990-2009. 20 years of dominance from the 6-foot-10 pitcher was best distilled in the 2001 World Series when Johnson notched three big wins, ending the New York Yankees’ millennial dynasty.

10. Pedro Martinez — Pedro struck out four straight steroid-era starters during the 1999 All-Star game. Are you kidding me? Of course Martinez is on this list.

9. Sandy Koufax — Known as “The Left Arm of God,” Koufax laid smite to the National League from 1955-66. Koufax won three Cy Young awards, finished second in MVP voting in his final two years and won the MVP in 1963. While Don Draper was out smoking Lucky Strikes, Koufax was out smoking batters with a career 9.3 strikeout-per-nine ratio.

8. Kerry Wood — Finishing out this block of baseball, I can’t go forward without mentioning Kerry Wood and his iconic performance against the Houston Astros. The nastiness from Wood’s live fastball should always be remembered.

7. Tiger Woods — In Tiger’s prime, Woods took shots Jack Nicklaus wouldn’t attempt. Sorry for those of you who loathe this surly golfer, but it’s true. When Tiger was on, the ratings were up and the field was down on their luck.

6. LeBron James — An all-time one-man show, LeBron James put together one of the best and most precocious performances in NBA history. In the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron laid waste to a defensive-minded Detroit Pistons team. Want another file to add to the case? How about Cleveland’s 42-game drop in win total in their first year without LeBron.

5. Isiah Thomas — Speaking of great quarters, Thomas’ performance against the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter of the 1988 NBA Finals where ‘Zeke scored a record 25 points on a bum ankle is written in the stone of lore. This singular performance merits entry into the countdown.

4. Barry Sanders — Barry Sanders was the reason you watched Detroit Lions football from 1989-98. Although remarkably humble, Sanders was remarkably untouchable. If the NFL played by flag football rules during Sanders’ tenure, the Roaring 20 would still have rushed for over 10,000 yards.

3. Bo Jackson — What didn’t Bo know? Jackson excelled at professional baseball and professional football, simultaneously! This one-man show was a two-trick pony.

2. Wayne Gretzky — It’s the “Great One,” not the “Great Helper-Outer.” Wayne Gretzky was the best one-man show the NHL may ever see. Also, fun fact, did you know Gretzky scored 378 goals as a 10-year-old in a Pee Wee (11 and 12-year-olds) hockey league season?

1. Michael Jordan — By hell or high water, Michael Jordan was going to win when it mattered. Jordan may be the fiercest competitor to ever live and that we’ll ever see. Even if he dished out assists from time to time, so many games were influenced by Jordan’s willpower, that the show was always centered around the Jumpman.

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