There was no ceremony. Sometime in the fall of 1967, as Mickey Mantle scuffled to a .245 average, collecting more whiffs (113) than hits (108) for the only time in his career, he quietly ceded the crown as New York’s biggest star athlete to Joe Namath.
In ’67, Namath fulfilled the greatness long predicted for him, the first pro QB to throw for 4,000 yards, throwing for 28 TDs, appearing in roughly three out of every five advertisements broadcast on TV or printed in the pages of Life, Look and Sports Illustrated.
It’s inarguable that in terms of pure wattage, Namath was and is the biggest athletic superstar we’ve ever had around here, and his reign (1967 until ’72 or so) was unprecedented. He won a championship. He was MVP of the AFL and Super Bowl III. He was in movies with Ann-Margret and went to the Oscars with Raquel Welch and threw touchdown passes to Bobby Brady and did Noxema commercials with Farrah Fawcett.
But Namath’s time did pass, and so did the title of biggest sports star, player to player and team to team. Once Namath parted with the sash, no other Jet has ever again held the honorarium. Brett Favre had a shot, but in his one year here he wasn’t even the biggest star QB in town.
Aaron Rodgers can change that, of course.
As one of the other men on the list, Reggie Jackson, famously said: He doesn’t come to New York to be a star, he brings his star with him. That’s half the equation. The rest comes next fall, when he actually takes snaps for the Jets and we see if this grand experiment works.
If it does? If Rodgers defies 55 years of Jets calamity and delivers — gasp — a Super Bowl? Well, not only will he join Namath in the lonely pantheon of all-time Jets superstars, he’ll be the first Jet to rule the town since Namath last did over 50 years ago, and will be the latest to this, one man’s (highly subjective) list of the No. 1 New York superstars since Namath:
1968-72, Joe Namath: See above. The king of sporting kings.
1973-76, Tom Seaver: Won two Cy Youngs, became Mets’ “Franchise,” and briefly the highest-paid pitcher ever.
1977-81, Reggie Jackson: Powered the Yanks to their first title since ’62, a back-page stalwart; you take bitter with sweet at that level of — his word — superduperstardom.
1982-83, Mike Bossy: As the Islanders were polishing off four straight Cups and 19 straight postseason series wins, Bossy was the boss.
1984, Bernard King: His reign was brief but memorable; his tear through the ’84 playoffs lingers in the hearts of Knicks fans.
1985, Doc Gooden: His image filled the side of a Manhattan skyscraper. Enough said.
1986, Lawrence Taylor: The second defensive player to that point (Alan Page, 1971 was the other) to win consensus NFL MVP.
1987, Don Mattingly: Either 1 or 2 from 1984-88, but while he had better years, this was the end of a four-year stretch when his average season was .337/30 HRs/121 RBIs.
1988-91, Taylor: Only the ’87 strike could slow his roll.
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1992-94, Mark Messier: He brought immediate star power in ’92, was a coach-killer in ’93 and then delivered as big as anyone ever has in ’94, and he was out front for every second.
1995-97, Patrick Ewing: At a time when the Knicks were a source of annual fascination (and frustration), Ewing was the face of their eternal quest.
1998-2000, Derek Jeter: Probably could add 10 more years, but this was Peak Jeter.
2001: Mike Piazza: Sept. 21, 2001. Enough said.
2002-2003, Jason Kidd: Made the Nets relevant and almost made them champions.
2004-2007, Alex Rodriguez: Two MVPs, average season of .303/.403/.573, 43 HRs, 128 RBIs. As with Reggie: bitter with sweet.
2008, Eli Manning: Started the year guiding an impossible Super Bowl win, ended it with first Pro Bowl nod after a 12-4 follow-up.
2009, Mariano Rivera: 5-for-5 in playoff saves, 0.56 ERA.
2010-11, Manning: Super Bowl No. 2, and No. 10 was bigger than ever.
2012, Carmelo Anthony: You loved him or you hated him. But you had an opinion on him.
2013, Matt Harvey: Remember “Happy Harvey Day?”
2014, Henrik Lundqvist: Most definitely The King that spring.
2015-16, Yoenis Cespedes: It’s easy to forget because of how it ended, but there’s never been a cyclones quite like this one that blew through our town.
2017, Aaron Judge: Came out slugging and ended with 52 homers; should’ve been MVP.
2018-19, Jacob deGrom: Back-to-back Cy Youngs, an event every time he pitched.
2020-present, Judge: And until now, it hasn’t been close.
