Mark Twain once said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." Greg in "Scary Movie" said, "It's not the size of the hammer, it's the nail you're throwing it at!" While Greg may have been a tad less poetic, the point that both men were trying to make should be clear: Little guys can still get the job done. And nobody has come up bigger in the history of sports than these little guys.
To see more victors that come in small packages, check out "BattleBots" Sunday at 9|8c on ABC!
10. Muggsy Bogues
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At 5'3" short, Bogues was the shortest man to ever play in the NBA, and he is the shortest athlete on our list. Well, until you get to the very bottom (wink).
While most remember him as the point guard for the Charlotte Hornets teams of the '90s that didn't suck, Muggsy's NBA career spanned 14 years and also included stints with Washington, Golden State and Toronto. According to
Wikipedia, Bogues is still the Hornets' career leader in minutes played (19,768), assists (5,557), steals (1,067), turnovers (1,118), and assists per 48 minutes (13.5) today. (Photo credit:
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
9. Darren Sproles
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Some of the best running backs in NFL history were shorter guys, but just like my ex-girlfriends, most of them -- like Emmitt Smith, for example -- tipped the scales on the plus-side of 200 pounds. Sproles lacks both height (he's 5'6") and weight (190 pounds), but his opponents will tell you that that is what makes him such a bitch to bring down. Well, that and the fact that he is lighting quick.
Over the last four years in New Orleans and Philadelphia, Sproles has averaged 941 total yards and just shy of seven touchdowns per season. Throw in the fact that he's found the end zone
seven times on punt and kick returns, and it's not a stretch to say that he's probably the most complete player in the game right now. (Photo credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
8. Spud Webb
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At 5'7" short, Spud Webb is the shortest player to ever compete in and win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. The former Atlanta Hawks point guard created a media frenzy when he entered the 1986 event in Dallas, in part because nobody -- including his teammate Dominique Wilkins -- knew he could dunk.
As it turned out, Webb could do much more than that, scoring 8,072 points and dishing out 4,342 assists during his 12-year career. And since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976, only two players shorter than Webb (Bogues and Earl Boykins) have played in an NBA game. (Photo credit:
Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)
7. Marcel Dionne
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When you give a man the nickname "The Little Beaver," four out of five times that guy is going to murder your family. But Marcel Dionne did pretty much the exact opposite of that, scoring 731 goals and 1,771 points during an 18-year NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.
To this day, only three players have scored more goals and only five players have scored more points than Dionne, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992. (
Photo credit: Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
6. Wes Welker
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At 69 (haha) inches short, it doesn't get much smaller than Wes Welker when it comes to NFL
players much less wide receivers. But when it comes to performance on the field, it doesn't get much bigger than Welker's.
Since 2005, no NFL player has caught more passes than Welker (890) and only seven players have accumulated more receiving yards. Welker is also just 178 receiving yards away from the 10,000 mark, something he should have no problem eclipsing this year. Well, once he finds a team to play for. (Photo credit: Harry How/Getty Images)
To see more victors that come in small packages, check out "BattleBots" Sunday at 9|8c on ABC!
5. Dustin Pedroia
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At 5'8" and 165 pounds, Dustin Pedroia has spent his entire life trying to convince people that he's a Major League Baseball player. Even after he made the big leagues, a security guard near the players' entrance at Coors Field didn't believe him, to which Pedroia famously replied, "Ask f***ing (Jeff) Francis who I am. I'm the guy who hit a bomb off him."
Pedroia's naysayers have provided plenty of inspiration for the Boston Red Sox second baseman, and he is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. He is a four-time All-Star and Gold Glove award winner, and was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 2007 and the AL MVP in 2011. And of course, the good people of Boston have no problem reminding you that he is also a two-time World Series champion. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
4. Warrick Dunn
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Warrick Dunn was one of two running backs in NFL history who rushed for more than 10,000 yards despite weighing less than 200 pounds, and at 180 pounds, he came in 12 pounds lighter than Tony Dorsett.
Most NFL scouts said there was no way Dunn's abilities would translate to the pro game, but they were obviously almost as wrong as drinking a Mountain Dew that doesn't have caffeine in it. Dunn eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark five times during his 12-year career with Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
The little guy has also come up big off the field, as Dunn has raised more than $2.5 million in cash, food and other supplies for single-parent families. (Photo credit: Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
3. Calvin Murphy
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Calvin Murphy is the shortest NBA player ever inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and he's also the shortest player to ever play in an NBA All-Star Game. Nobody dished out more assists in Houston Rockets history than Murphy, and only Hakeem Olajuwon has more points, field goals and steals than Murphy.
In addition, although he probably fell far short of Wilt Chamberlain's achievements in the bedroom, Murphy was no slouch himself, and he can prove it thanks to the 14 kids he fathered with nine different women. (Photo credit:
Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)
2. Henri Richard
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Despite being 5'7" and just 160 pounds, Henri Richard is lucky he wasn't killed playing professional hockey. As it turns out, the only things that were killed when Richard took the ice were his opponents' dreams.
No other player in NHL history won the Stanley Cup more times than Richard, who captured 11 titles during his 20-year career with the Montreal Canadiens. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979, and "The Hockey News" named him the 29th-greatest player of all time. (Photo credit:
Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images)
1. Yogi Berra
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It's only fitting that we end the list with the guy who coined the phrase "It ain't over 'til it's over." Although, we're
technically not done yet.
Yogi Berra was regarded by many as the greatest catcher to ever play the game. Despite his 5'7", 185-pound frame, Berra hit 358 home runs and drove in 1,430 runs during his 19-year career with the Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and three-time MVP. In fact, he is still the only catcher to ever win back-to-back MVP awards.
To this day, no baseball player has appeared in more World Series (14) or won more championships (10), and that's as big as it gets, baby. (Photo credit:
NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Honorable Mention - Eddie Gaedel
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Many average sports fans are unaware that a midget once played Major League Baseball, and by once, I mean Eddie Gaedel literally played once. In fact, he only had
one at-bat for the St. Louis Browns, and even that wasn't official because he walked.
Measuring 3'7" short, "tipping" the scales at 65 pounds and wearing the number "1/8" on his jersey, Gaedel stepped into the batter's box with a toy bat as a pinch-hitter for the
leadoff hitter during the second game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on August 19, 1951. He walked on four pitches, was replaced by a pinch-runner and never played in the big leagues again.
According to
Wikipedia, because of its scarcity, Gaedel's autograph now fetches more cash than Babe Ruth's signature, which again goes to show that even the littlest guy can take down the biggest. (Photo credit:
Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
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