Championships do NOT matter; Unless you are a Quarterback or NBA Superstar
Championships only matter to the legacy of NFL Quarterbacks and NBA Superstars. Let me explain...
Who is the best Hockey Player of all time? Wayne Gretzky. Why is he great? because he dominated the league and was a 9x league MVP. Because if he scored zero goals in his career he still has more assist than any other player has points. How many championships did he have??? don't worry most non-hockey enthusiast have no clue. His name transcends the sport, but how many championships did he win (4)? If he won less would it move him down the list of greatness? If he had more would he be more of a legend?
Who is the best Baseball Player of all time? Babe Ruth. Why is he great? because he changed the game. He was ahead of his time. He was a folk hero. Because he called a home run shot in 1932. Because he hit 3 home runs in a world series game (do you actually know if he won or lost that game?) Because he shattered the most exciting record in sports. Because he made more money than the president of the US (before it was ever thought possible). Because he started the longest most painful curse in sports. But how many championships did he have? don't worry most non-baseball enthusiast know many Babe Ruth stats and legends but have no clue how many championships he had (7)
Who is the best NFL Wide Receiver of all time? Jerry Rice. Why? because he holds almost every single NFL record for receiving. How many championships did he have? don't worry most NFL fans don't know (3). NOW...Who is the best Quarterback of all time? Joe Montana. How many championships did he have. That's easy. he is 4 for 4 in Superbowls. Does he have the best stats? Nope! (See Marino and Manning).
Who is the best NBA basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan. How many championships did he have? That's easy. He is 6 of 6 in NBA Finals. Does it really matter to Robert Horry's legacy if he had 7 (which he did) or if he had zero? He is remembered for big important shots, but the championships are not on his legacy.
In Baseball...
How many HR's did Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth hit? 762, 755, 714. How many wins did Cy Young have? 511. How many consecutive games did Cal Ripken and Lou Gehrig play in? 2632, and 2130. What is DiMaggio and Pete Rose's hit streaks? 56, 44. How many no-Hitters does Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax have? 7 and 4. How many strikeouts did Nolan Ryan have? 5714. How many hits did Pete Rose and Ty Cobb have? 4256, and 4189. What was Ty Cobb's career batting average? 0.366. Who was the last player to hit 0.400? Ted Williams. Who is the last player to win the Triple Crown? Miguel Cabrera. How many stolen bases does Rickey Henderson have? 1406. Who were 3 players to hit 3 Home Runs in one game in a World Series? Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, Albert Pujols. Who is the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in a World Series? Don Larsen (did Yankees even win that series? you're probably guessing with your answer). Who is the only player to hit a World Series game 7 walk off Home Run? Bill Mazeroski. "The Shot Heard Round the World"? Bobby Thompson in National League Pennant (did Giants win the World Series that year?). "Fisk waves the ball fair" American League Pennant. Willie Mays "The Catch". We know Buckner and Bartman. We know a lot about baseball. We remember iconic moments and iconic numbers. We debate on who is the best. There are stats dating back to the 1800's. Advanced analytics was started and continued in baseball. Moneyball was invented by baseball. But do championships matter? They can't hurt, but they don't matter. Greatest hitter of all time? Ted Williams (ZERO Championships) / Ty Cobb (ZERO Championships). Greatest Home Run hitter of all time (steroids allegations not withstanding)? Barry Bonds (ZERO championships). Does not matter. Their places on Rushmore are not affected.
Now...Who is the all time leader in World Series wins? Yogi Berra with 10 World Series Rings (and he is not even usually considered the best catcher of all time (Johnny Bench)), followed by Joe DiMaggio (9) and many other Yankees. In fact of the 31 players with 5 or more World Series rings, non won all 5+ on a non-Yankee team (Add up all the championships of all the players to win 5 or more, you get 181 championships...only 10 of those were not with the NY Yankees). How many World Series do Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and Barry Bonds have? 7, 1, 1, 0, and 0. Nobody knows and nobody cares. Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Stan Musial? 6, 0, 3. Again nobody cares. Nobody ever argues greatness in baseball based on World Series Rings.
In Hockey...
Hockey playoffs are great. The Stanley Cup is a legendary trophy. But who has the most Stanley Cups? Gretzky? Messier? Lemieux? Orr? Howe? 4, 6, 2, 2, 4. No. Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadians (11). Similar to the Yankees. Of the 26 players with 6+ Stanley Cups, only 5 of them did not play on a Montreal Canadian championship. If you add together all the championships by those 26 players you get 180. Only 40 were on non-Montreal teams. We know Gretzky holds all the records and has 9 Hart Trophies (MVP). We know that Gretzky has more assists than any player has points. We know Gordie Howe (6 Hart Trophies (MVP)) was the God Father of the game. We know the Stanley Cup is the most legendary trophy. We love hockey playoffs. But how many of the below players with 6+ Stanley Cups are on any All-Time list? maybe 3-4? Beliveau, Richard, Messier?
In Football...
How many Superbowls does Jerry Rice have? 3. Lawrence Taylor? 2. Dick Butkus? 0. Reggie White? 1. Walter Payton? 1. Nobody knows, and nobody cares. These players greatness was cemented on the field. What player has the most Superbowl rings? Charles Haley (5). Doesn't make him better than Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Deacon Jones, etc, etc.
Now how many Championships does Joe Montana have. Easy. He was 4 for 4 in Superbowls. John Elway? 2 of 5. Dan Marino? 0 of 1. Terry Bradshaw? 4 of 4. Tom Brady? 4 of 6. Peyton Manning? 2 of 5. Eli Manning? 2 of 2. Yes... we even know how many Eli Manning has. That's how important championships are to a Quarterback's legacy. Marino's stats where revolutionary. His team not so much. But he is still dinged on his All-Time Ranking. Any doubt that if Marino has 4 for 4 and Montana was 0 for 1, that Marino would be on Mount Rushmore and that Montana would be left off?
In Basketball....
Boston Celtics not included (won 11 of 13 years), who has the most Championships? Robert Horry (7). What about Scottie Pippen? Does his 6 rings match Jordan's? No because Pippen is not an All-Timer. Jordan is. It matters for Jordan. Not for Pippen. Sam Jones (10), Tom Heinsohn (8), K.C Jones (8), Tom Sanders (8), John Havlicek (8), Jim Loscutoff (7), Frank Ramsey (7) are all Hall Of Famers. But their championships are meaningless to legacies. Jabbar's 6 matters. Magic's 5 matters. Bird's 3 matters. Ron Harper's 5 does not. There is an upper echelon of players that compete for the GOAT conversation. They are the only ones that matter regarding championships. Russell (11), Wilt (2), Jabbar (6), Oscar (1), West (1), Magic (5), Bird (3), Lebron (2), Kobe (5), Shaq (4), Olajuwon (2), Duncan (5), Pettit (2), Stockton/Malone (0), Elgin Baylor (0). Sorry for the rest but we really don't care how many championships you have. It just does not matter. Barkley's legacy is drastically affected by his zero championships. Ewing also. Steve Nash. Wilt and Lebron are dinged even though they have "only" 2 (because we expected more). If Dominique Wilkins had 3 rings, he'd be much higher on everyone's list.
Championships just don't matter unless you are an NFL Quarterback or an NBA All Timer. Ofcourse they matter for the Fans of their cities. Ofcourse they matter to each and every player that plays the game. But to athlete legacies in team sports, only 2 are affected. NFL Quarterback and NBA All Timers. If J.J Watt never wins a Superbowl? If Mike Trout never wins a World Series? If Ovechkin never wins a Stanley Cup? If Paul George never wins a NBA Championship? So what. J.J Watt will still go down as a GOAT (barring injuries). Mike Trout may actually be the GOAT (barring injuries). Ovechkin will be an all timer (barring injuries). Paul George will be a 15x All Star and HOFer (barring injuries). But what if Andrew Luck never wins a Superbowl? What if Kevin Durant never wins a championship? They will be banned from the GOAT discussions. Its just the way it is!!!
