Was Ken Griffey Jr the closest athlete....

[Methodical]

He was up there, maybe top 5 in popularity

Griffey Jr, Bonds, Agassi, Sampras, Tiger, Shaq, Penny, Iverson, LJ, Barkley, MJ, Gretzky, Dieon, Rice, Barry Sanders are the ones who stand out to me

fixed

 

[prophecypro]

LJ?I hope you mean Lebron

Cats were rocking those Larry Johnson Charlotte Hornets jerseys hard out in the early to mid 90s

 

[prophecypro]

fixed

Yeah, and I should add Grant Hill there as well.

 

[Absolut da poet ®]

its true. the backwards baseball cap, the shoes, the swing. I loved baseball in the 90's too. hell, I even tried to learn to bat lefty cuz of this cat.

I used to imitate that stance and overall approach at the plate

Damn shame he didnt stay healthy or in seattle

 

[Whitty Hutton]

LOL @ people calling Tyson "popular" when dude was hated by large percentage of white people (who btw made up an even bigger share of the population back then). He had notoriety, but to call him wildly popular is comical (especially after the rape case). Dude became a sideshow after coming back clearly diminished as a boxer and people were more interested about his antics and possible blowups, like a wild animal. That was not affection or popularity.
Nobody was even close to MJ in terms of popularity back then... He was like Michael Jackson in the 1980s

this post is wrong

 

[Big Boss]

 

[Big Boss]

Boxing was able to go from free to pay per view because it was so big. The 90's was the first time in history that the most popular basketball player was bigger than the most popular boxer. Greatest boxer always outranked greatest basketball player by a mile until then. Man if Tyson had stayed undefeated and hadn't gone to jail that nikka would have OWNED the 90's. I think you are truly underestimating how big this guy was.

Tyson is the only boxer that could have rival Ali popularity

 

[Thegospel]

Music, movies, sports, shoes

This guy was quite popular as well.

Shoes?

 

[Thegospel]

fukk no. Really no football player should be on this list. Back then nobody even knew what these fools even looked like

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

fukk no. Really no football player should be on this list. Back then nobody even knew what these fools even looked like

Bruh Neon was a big ass deal back in the day. He played two sports, had commercials and music videos, shyt it was thought that if your defense got him you would have a very good shot at making the Superbowl (crazy I know), as overrated as I think he is, I can't ignore how popular he was.

 

[JLova]

To Jordan level of popularity in the 90's?? Me and my homie was talking about this the other day. I remember everybody imitated his stance and swing. Griff was the best baseball player at the same time Jordan was the best basketball player. Both had major sponsors deals. Hell, Griff had his own video game but then Jordan had his own movie.

Everyone wanted to have a swing like him.

 

[big bun]

No. Griffey Jr. was popular, but not to that level.

 

[mamba]

That HR at 4:30.



Griffey was special, brehs.

After MJ retired, he was poised to take the throne.

But, he left Seattle, got injured and was looked over once McGwire, Sosa and Bonds got their hands on Roids.

 

[#1 pick]

I was mainly a Baseball fan. So he was my favorite

 

[soulfuljah]

That HR at 4:30.



Griffey was special, brehs.

After MJ retired, he was poised to take the throne.

But, he left Seattle, got injured and was looked over once McGwire, Sosa and Bonds got their hands on Roids.

Junior had next man.
Those Cincinnati years were crazy and he still finished his career with 630
Those Air Griffey Max 2