Was Lemieux's sports comeback in 2000 among the best in history?

[Big Phil]

Honestly, so I got thinking about it the other day. We don't have a lot of great sports comebacks in history where a player retired only to come back and play well afterwards. I am talking at least a season, even multiple ones. Not something like Brett Favre or Tom Brady who retired for two minutes before deciding they were coming back. I mean a player whose career was finished and it didn't seem like he would ever come back, only to come back and do very well.

Mario's comeback in 2000 was pretty good. He was among the best in the game immediately. He put up a three point night on his return after three and a half years out of the game. He won an Olympic gold and a 2004 World Cup. He had good years of 2001 and 2003 when he wasn't injured.

I am not sure what to make of Muhammad Ali. He was stripped of his boxing titles and didn't fight for almost 4 years in his prime and he barely stayed out of prison, all for just not going to Vietnam. If his case counts, then he is #1 here. But I am looking more for a guy who retired on his own. Not a guy treated unfairly in his prime.

If that is the case then Michael Jordan applies here. Not the 2nd retirement, because his somewhat sloppy comeback from 2001-'03 was just needless. I am talking about his ill-fated Baseball career in between his two three peats. To retire in 1993 after his father was murdered (and let's face it, it did not look like he was coming back after that) and then returning only to orchestrate another three peat is pretty special. Jordan was younger of course but it still counts. Also in boxing George Foreman had a pretty good comeback.

In baseball there really isn't anyone who did anything significant. Lots of guys had a season or two, but nothing special or noteworthy.

In the NFL you've got Gronk playing a couple of seasons and winning a Super Bowl after his retirement the first time. Randall Cunningham carved out a couple of really good years in Minnesota (the 1998 Vikings who can forget?).

Other guys in the NHL that come to mind are Jacques Plante who had a nice string of seasons from 1968 onwards. Actually leading the NHL in GAA in 1971. And of course the obvious one is Gordie Howe. Two years out of the game and he returned for the 1973-'74 season in the WHA and cracked 100 points and then played until 1980.

Who am I missing here? Or is Mario right there among the top two or three?

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[Pominville Knows]

Personally i think Foreman might got this. He was gone like forever and i believe returned to win some although somewhat less prominent pro world championship before being outmanouvered(Because he could not be knocked out by Tyson even) by Tommy Gun Morrison. Or that is how i remember it anyways.

 

[MadLuke]

Speaking of Tyson... what about Fury "comeback" ? Almost 3 years break filled with challenge and big issues, undefeated since the return including the Wilder trilogy.

Because of the very unregular schedule of modern boxing, stop and comeback are less clearcut in that sport

 

[jigglysquishy]

In MMA, GSP returning after 4 years to win the title in the weight class above him takes the cake. Conversely, Nick Diaz returning after 6 years looking out of shape and retiring mid fight was hard to watch.

There's lots of less than nice comebacks in hockey. I was really excited for Forsberg returning, and he played for 2 games and was done. Lafleur came back after 4 years and was you know. Orr briefly came back in 78-79.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

George Foreman and Tiger Woods

 

[Dr John Carlson]

It's Tiger.

 

[GMR]

Mario's is the most impressive I've seen. He was in his mid 30's and didn't even have a training camp. Basically joined the team mid-season. Hadn't played in over 3 years. It was astonishing.

Yes, other guys came back to win one fight, or in Tiger's case a major tournament. However, those were temporary. Lemieux was still arguably the game's best scorer.

I'll never forget that game against the Leafs as long as I live. It was magical.

 

[Fire Sweeney]

Not even close

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Not even closeView attachment 638467

To pre-empt the steroids posts. Every one in cycling is on roids and enhancers, so Armstrong was a level playing field as a roided up guy beating a bunch of other roided up guys.

 

[Salsa Shark]

Ben Hogan's comeback from driving a 49 Cadillac into a greyhound bus and winning 3 majors a few years later in 1953 is up there as well.

 

[MadLuke]

He, Amstrong never tested positive to any dopping test, it is all allegation .

 

[rfournier103]

I'll go with Mario Lemieux over George Foreman. Foreman might have been old, but he was healthy and never had chemotherapy. And I'm a big George Foreman fan.

 

[JackSlater]

Loses some points because he chose to retire and wasn't really forced to in any sense, but the degree of difficulty of his return was still extremely high given the necessities of hockey and Lemieux's health history. Among the best, yes. His return was noteworthy enough that Jordan apparently contacted Lemieux before his comeback with Washington.

 

[norrisnick]

Loses some points because he chose to retire and wasn't really forced to in any sense, but the degree of difficulty of his return was still extremely high given the necessities of hockey and Lemieux's health history. Among the best, yes. His return was noteworthy enough that Jordan apparently contacted Lemieux before his comeback with Washington.

Weren't those both situations where the returning player was a part-owner? Figuring out those logistics probably played a role there.

 

[JackSlater]

Weren't those both situations where the returning player was a part-owner? Figuring out those logistics probably played a role there.

I'm sure, and they also were somewhat golf buddies as far as I remember.

 

[MadLuke]

Some break period
Jordan 1994 NBA breaks was of 636 days,
Lemieux 97-2000 was 1340 days.

 

[zombie kopitar]

In MMA, GSP returning after 4 years to win the title in the weight class above him takes the cake. Conversely, Nick Diaz returning after 6 years looking out of shape and retiring mid fight was hard to watch.

eh, GSP was a good story, but it was Michael Bisping, he was ducking everyone who was an actual threat and he knew GSP was his best money fight, but also chance at retaining. He knew he was a paper champ


Haven't heard Michael Vick in this thread; say what you want but he paid his debt to society and balled out at a Pro Bowl level

 

[MadLuke]

The one and done and the fact it was Bisping make it a bit meh or maybe it was so well known that he was always in fighting shape during all of his retirement.

 

[McGarnagle]

Edge retired with a debilitating neck injury with a risk of paralysis and came back ten years later to win the Royal Rumble

 

[crobro]

Mike Tyson came back after 5 years in prison

 

[Michael Farkas]

I imagine that training/practice for boxing in and out of jail are fairly similar...Mario wasn't stickhandling during chemo probably...

 

[jigglysquishy]

Some break period
Jordan 1994 NBA breaks was of 636 days,
Lemieux 97-2000 was 1340 days.

This raises an interesting question. What is the longest time between professional games in a team sport?

Plante? Lemieux?

Bronko Nagurski?

 

[JackSlater]

Mike Tyson came back after 5 years in prison

He was not actually in prison for five years. Just under three years.

I don't know enough about boxing to really be confident in this, but it seems that it's a relatively easy sport to make a comeback in or hang on into "old age" in. Experience seems very important, strength is easier to maintain than many other athletic traits, and I would guess that when you are old or rusty it is easier to train for one night than for an 8 month grind of a season.

 

[Staniowski]

Monica Seles came back after the stabbing....she was off for between 2 and 3 years. I can't remember, though, what the expectations were re: her return.

At the time of the stabbing, she was dominating tennis, having won 7 of the previous 8 majors in which she played.

She returned playing at the Canadian Open - i remember watching it, and won. In the next 2 majors, she lost in the finals of the U.S. and then won the Australian. That was it, though. She never regained her previous dominance.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Some people think Jordan's first retirement was actually a punishment for gambling that was never publicly disclosed.