IntroductionThere are few more instantly recognizable images in the world than the visages carved into Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota. Intended to symbolize the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the United States, the carved faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln have become as iconic a part of our national culture as the Statue of Liberty or the Lincoln Memorial. The group of faces have been portrayed in everything from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic
North by Northwest to the Rushmore Four who run the Presidents Race at every home game for baseball’s
Washington Nationals.
An unintended consequence of the selection of four faces to represent the nation has been a resulting tendency to use that number to choose the best in class of almost any category imaginable. Long before the Beatles were the Fab Four, people were debating the “Mount Rushmore” of everything from left-handed pitchers to virtuoso pianists. There is no other obvious reason to select the number four for such a designation; in a vacuum it seems as though either three or five would be more sensible and satisfying. But, in our culture today, right this minute, I guarantee there are a bunch of young people on a college campus debating who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of rock guitarists. Or rappers. Or quarterbacks. Not the top three, or the top five, but the four faces that represent the genre.
Nowhere does this conceit work more effectively than in sports. Over the three decades I have been hosting sports talk shows, it is likely I have concocted more than a thousand Mount Rushmores. So, when trying to come up with the concept for a book about the greatest legends in every team’s history, Hembo and I knew there was only one way to do it. Thus, what follows could easily be described as the “Mount Rushmores of every team in the four major North American Sports Leagues.” The fab four of every team, the faces of the franchises, chosen for their historical relevance, their competitive greatness, and their overall contributions to their teams.
Further, the order in which the franchises are listed is very much intentional, beginning at the apex and descending to the nadir, from the sublime to the ridiculous, beginning with the most successful and relevant franchises in American sports and finishing with the laughingstocks who deserve as much commentary from late night comedy hosts as they do anchors on
SportsCenter. To be clear and fair to a lot of great individuals: What is being ranked is not the greatness of the franchise legends, but rather of the franchises themselves.
So, here come the legends and the franchises they made, in all their glory. I’m sure they will engender unanimous agreement, but in the unlikely event of any debate, I look forward to those discussions on the airwaves and internet more than I can put into words. Thank you, as always, for your support. Hembo and I sincerely hope you enjoy this one the most of all.
Copyright © 2025 by Mike Greenberg. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
