The Deserving Dozen: Ranking Philly’s Top 12 Pro Athletes

So, who would you choose as Philadelphia‘s Top 12 pro athletes? Who is your No. 1?

Indeed, how does one choose the best of the best who represent this sports-crazed town on our fields, rinks and courts? It is not an exact science, but I mostly considered the following three factors:

1) Current performance level

2) Overall contribution here

3) Popularity and/or buzz generated

After mulling it over, I decided on what I will call The Deserving Dozen—12 athletes who combine enough of the above criteria to compete for the title as Philly’s best.

In so doing, I was careful to have at least one representative of each of the four teams. Philadelphia Union fans, please accept my apologies.

As this is not an exact science, I have not shown the “scores” I tabulated for each.

So, feel free to similarly agree or disagree at its conclusion, even if you don’t show your work.

Let us begin.

One note: The pitcher (pictured) above made the list, but how high does Cliff Lee rank?

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