0Casey Stengel
3rd October 20001900-49
21st January 1999No. 50 -- Chris Evert
22nd January 1999No. 49 -- O.J. Simpson
29th January 1999No. 48 -- Pete Sampras
5th February 1999No. 47 -- Edwin Moses
12th February 1999No. 46 -- Eric Heiden
19th February 1999No. 45 -- Bill Tilden
26th February 1999SportsCenter of the Decade: 1950s
9th March 1999No. 44 -- Bobby Jones
12th March 1999No. 43 -- Julius Erving
19th March 1999No. 42 -- Sandy Koufax
2nd April 1999No. 41 -- Wilma Rudolph
9th April 1999No. 40 -- Lawrence Taylor
16th April 1999No. 39 -- Walter Payton
23rd April 1999No. 38 -- Ben Hogan
30th April 1999No. 37 -- Mickey Mantle
7th May 1999SportsCenter of the Decade: 1960s
21st May 1999No. 36 -- Oscar Robertson
14th May 1999The Greatest Coaches of the Century
22nd May 1999No. 35 -- Secretariat
21st May 1999Most Influential People in Sports
23rd May 1999Greatest Dynasties
30th May 1999No. 34 -- Lou Gehrig
28th May 1999No. 33 -- Mark Spitz
4th June 1999Greatest Games
5th June 1999No. 32 -- Johnny Unitas
11th June 1999No. 31 -- Bobby Orr
18th June 1999No. 30 -- Larry Bird
25th June 1999SportsCenter of the Decade: 1970s
9th July 1999No. 29 -- Arnold Palmer
2nd July 1999No. 28 -- Red Grange
9th July 1999No. 27 -- Jerry Rice
16th July 1999No. 26 -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
23rd July 1999No. 25 -- Joe Montana
30th July 1999No. 24 -- Sugar Ray Robinson
30th July 1999No. 23 -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee
6th August 1999No. 22 -- Joe DiMaggio
20th August 1999SportsCenter of the Decade: 1980s
17th September 1999No. 21 -- Gordie Howe
3rd September 1999No. 20 -- Ty Cobb
17th September 1999No. 19 -- Martina Navratilova
24th September 1999No. 18 -- Bill Russell
1st October 1999No. 17 -- Magic Johnson
8th October 1999No. 16 -- Ted Williams
8th October 1999No. 15 -- Jackie Robinson
15th October 1999No. 14 -- Hank Aaron
29th October 1999No. 13 -- Wilt Chamberlain
29th October 1999No. 12 -- Carl Lewis
5th November 1999No. 11 -- Joe Louis
19th November 1999No. 10 -- Babe Didrikson
3rd December 1999No. 9 -- Jack Nicklaus
3rd December 1999No. 8 -- Willie Mays
10th December 1999No. 7 -- Jim Thorpe
10th December 1999No. 6 -- Jesse Owens
17th December 1999No. 5 -- Wayne Gretzky
17th December 1999No. 4 -- Jim Brown
24th December 1999No. 3 -- Muhammad Ali
24th December 1999No. 2 -- Babe Ruth
26th December 1999No. 1 -- Michael Jordan
26th December 1999SportsCenter of the Decade: 1990s
26th March 2000Yogi Berra
13th October 2003Derek Jeter
17th October 2003Brian Piccolo
2nd November 2001Brian Piccolo
2nd November 2001No. 50 - Chris Evert
22nd January 1999Joe DiMaggio
10th July 2000Willie Mays
25th July 2000Billy Martin
7th August 2000Don Larsen
23rd October 2000SportsCentury is an ESPN biography program that reviews the people and athletic events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers, premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51-100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs. After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51-#100. Ultimately, the series featured nearly every athlete from #51-#100, and numerous other personalities, especially those who were recently deceased, or notable for more recent accomplishments.
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