As Michael Jordan takes his proper place in the Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 11, TIME looks back at the moments that made him one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century
Athletes
Caster Semenya’s Triumph and Trials
Controversy over her gender has distracted from her world championship win in the 800 meters
Top 10 Sports Comebacks
Michael Vick went from playing quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons to serving time on dogfighting charges. But now that Vick’s out of jail, the Philadelphia Eagles are offering him a second chance
Top 10 Worst MLB All-Stars
Clueless fans are to blame for the All-Star Game selection of some of these B-teamers, while others benefited from baseball’s requirement that each club supply a warm body. Here are the players who prove that to make baseball’s …
Top 10 Sporting Moments
Sports weren’t so different twenty years ago: we still marveled at great plays, awesome players and the plain spoken truth that games bring us closer together, irrespective of victory or defeat.
Top 10 Athlete Drug Busts
Just months after earning Olympic glory in Beijing, Michael Phelps is apologizing for a photo that appears to show him smoking marijuana. He’s only the latest athlete for whom fame, fortune and free time have led to trouble with drugs.
Top 10 Heisman Trophy Winners
Mark Ingram became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner Saturday night, Dec. 12, snagging one of sport’s most coveted pieces of hardware — the first for the school’s storied football program. Ingram, who hails from Flint, …
Top 10 Female Sports Pioneers
When Japanese knuckleballer Eri Yoshida became the first woman drafted by a professional baseball team on Nov. 17, she joined an elite club of female athletes who have broken sport’s gender barrier
Top 10 World Series Moments
From flawless pitching performances to titanic home runs (and a misplayed ground ball), TIME has your bases covered on this tour of October’s greatest moments
Rafael Nadal On and Off the Court
A look at the life of a sensational Spaniard
The Evolution of Barry Bonds
How much has Barry Bonds appearance changed through the years?