Some love for the Little Man in Sports

American society favors men who are tall – height improves your chances with the ladies, enhances your prospects of promotion to the top rung of the business ladder (the average height of male CEO’s is 6 feet – two and a half inches taller than the average 5′ 9.5 male) and is somehow an important criteria for becoming Leader of the Free World (no President in the last 40 years has been under 5′ 11.5). But when it comes to professional sports, height is revered like no other quality, unless your sport happens to be golf, bowling or racing thoroughbreds.

There’s no doubt that size can be of some benefit in most sports, but its importance has been exaggerated and disproportionately favored. It takes a lot more than height or brut strength to be an elite athlete – hand-eye coordination, speed, endurance, coachability, instincts and, most importantly, having the heart of a champion. And yet many gifted athletes who likely were good enough to play and succeed at the highest level have been denied a serious (or any) opportunity solely because of their size.

Perhaps this is because tall people stand out and are hard not to notice whereas shorter folks are more easily (and literally) swept under the rug. Perhaps the scouts whose jobs depend on not screwing up believe they are less likely to be chastised for a bad selection if the athlete happens to be an impressive physical specimen (though I doubt that the scouts in San Diego who selected Ryan Leaf as the #2 pick in the 1998 NFL draft were exonerated because he stood at 6′ 5 and weighed 235 pounds). Or perhaps it’s because the men who coach and scout the future players of a sport are almost always ex-pro players who tend to be taller (because they too received preferential treatment over smaller athletes), and people tend to favor folks who look like themselves.

In any case, height bias in sports is real. And yet every so often a much smaller male athlete comes along and gets an opportunity and proves to be so outstanding that his bosses, coaches and teammates can’t help but notice (and actually play him). So here is a tribute to the little men who have not only defied the odds by “making it” in the height-biased world of professional sports, but who have greatly excelled despite their “handicap.”

Diego Schwartzman

Diego is a professional tennis star from Argentina despite reaching only 67 inches( 5′ 7) on his tippy toes. Fortunately, unlike in pro team sports, making it on the tennis tour is determined solely by your performance and outcome and not by the decisions of others. While tennis is a sport where hand-eye coordination, agility and conditioning predominate, there’s no doubt that height can also be of significant benefit when it comes to serving, hitting overheads and reaching passing shots at the net. Indeed, the men’s tennis tour has gotten a lot taller since the days of Connors (5′ 10), McEnroe (5 ’11) and Borg (5′ 11). Many of the top players today are human skyscrapers: Tsistipas and Kyrgios 6′ 4, Berdych and Roanic 6′ 5, Zverev, Medvodev, Cilic and Del Potro all 6′ 6, Kevin Anderson 6′ 8, John Isner 6′ 10 and the two twin towers, Reilly Opelka (pictured above) and Ivo Karlovic both at 6′ 11!

Interestingly, the top three players in the world (and the three greatest men to ever hold a tennis racket) are taller than the average man, but not giants. (Federev and Nadal are 6′ 1 and Djokovic is 6′ 2. ) Perhaps being taller than most, but not too tall, hits the sweet spot between power and mobility in this sport. In any case, the Big 3 and all other men who play tennis for a living tower over little Diego. And yet, Schwartzman has been able to hold his own with other top professional tennis players, having been ranked as high as # 8 in the world and owning wins over such tennis rock stars as Dominic Thiem and Nadal. Not since 5′ 7 Australian Ken Rosewall roamed the courts in the 1950’s-1970’s has there been a more accomplished player at this height competing effectively with the big boys.

Diego is able to achieve with speed, stamina, wits and perseverance what others gifted with height are not. Perhaps his ability to overcome his physical disadvantage comes from the DNA and fighting spirit of his great grandfather who was stuck on a train from his native Germany to a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. When a coupling connecting two railcars broke, he seized the opportunity and made a daring escape, culminating in a long boat ride to Argentina.

Jose Altuve

In baseball, I give a big shout out to little Altuve – the shortest player in the game at a mere 5 foot 6 inches. Baseball is a sport where height is arguably of the least benefit, provided that you’re not a pitcher (only a small handful of today’s MLB pitchers are under 6 feet). Historically, many of the games’ greatest players were under 6 feet: Mays, Clemente, Rose, Henderson, Morgan, Brock and Ozzie Smith to name a few.

But that was before the growing presumption that height means greater power, fielding range and “upside potential” in the eyes of scouts who often decide whether a young baseball prospect even gets an opportunity to show off his wares. Accordingly, it is becoming far more common these days to see behemoths like the Yankees pair of Judge (6′ 7) and Stanton (6′ 6) than a player under 5′ 10, which makes the comparatively microscopic second baseman with the Houston Astros all the more impressive. Yet despite being a foot shorter than many of his comrades, Altuve is not merely able to compete with the big boys, he’s better than almost all of them.

In his nine seasons before the Covid-shortened 2020 season, Altuve amassed over 1500 hits – more than any other player during that span. In an era where making regular contact with the ball has greatly declined and batting averages have plummeted, Altuve has maintained a career batting average of .311. At the same time, and despite his smaller stature, he has demonstrated that he can hit home runs with men much larger than he – in one year he clubbed 31 of them and he has 18 postseason home runs to his credit. He is a six time All Star who has led the league in at bats, hits, batting average and stolen bases, and has won the coveted Most Valuable Player award.

Granted his MVP award occurred in 2017 and it’s hard for me to praise anything associated with the Astros since their sign-stealing scandal helped them win the 2017 World Series (the worst black eye on baseball since the 1919 White Sox threw the World Series). But it’s hard not to appreciate the immense talents of the little man from Venezuela who was banging hits all over the place long before his teammates were banging trash cans to tell players that a curve ball was on the way.

Julian Edelman

Turning to football, it’s hard to find a more impressive “little man” than the recently retired receiver for the New England Patriots. Perhaps no sport favors size more than the one with the mammoth men who play the violent sport of football. The average NFL player is 6′ 2 and weighs 245 pounds. While there are a sprinkling of smaller players in the game because of their lightning speed, they are few and far between among the mostly ferocious beasts that occupy the gridiron. It doesn’t help the small receiver that the mission of those on defense, aside from preventing him from catching the ball and tackling him when he does, is to punish and intimidate- to discourage him from comfortably coming across the middle of the field to make a catch for fear of a career-ending confrontation. And yet, that is precisely what Julian Edelman did time and time again for Tom Brady and the often-maligned Patriots, and usually at the most important times. Everyone knew on third or fourth down that the ball was likely coming to him and they still couldn’t stop him. He would always get open, make the catch, take the hit and get up and do it again.

The career of an NFL player is not long for even the biggest players – only about 3.5 years on average. And yet, Julian Edelman at a mere 5′ 10 survived and excelled for 10 years. During that time he caught over 700 passes, returned punts and kicks, rushed the ball over 70 times (for a 7.1 average) and even threw 6 passes in his NFL regular season career- completing all 6! He is second all time in post-season receptions and yards and was the Super Bowl MVP in 2018. On a team with the GOAT at QB and the best tight end in NFL history, Edelman was the under-appreciated essential cog in that offensive engine that led the Patriots to domination and three Super Bowls.

Martin St.Louis

When it comes to the great sport of hockey I have to give kudos to the former NHL star St.Louis – and not just because he has a great last name. At 5′ 8 he was a visual gnat among the much larger men who play in the NHL. There was a time when height was not considered important for a hockey player – indeed, it would be rare in the 1970’s to find a player over 6 feet tall (The Canadians’ Pete Mahovlich at 6’5 stood out as a freak on skates at the time).

But that has certainly changed as larger hockey players have become more agile and gifted skaters (much like the 6 ‘9 power forwards in the NBA who now routinely shoot 3’s). As a result, size is sought after in hockey like in the other major pro sports. Indeed, there are now more than 35 players in the NHL who are at least 6′ 4, including the ageless Zdeno Chara at 6’ 9. While there are also a handful of “short men” in the NHL (Brad Marchand, Johnny Gaudreau, Alex DeBrincat and Viktor Arvidsson come to mind) there is still a significant bias against them – and perhaps no one in hockey experienced that more than the talented Martin St.Louis.

As a star in junior hockey in his native Canada, St.Louis scored 87 points in just 31 games but couldn’t interest an NHL team in his services. So he went off to college at the University of Vermont where he proved himself to be among the best college players in the country, scoring a remarkable 85 points in 35 games in his junior year and leading the Catamounts to the NCAA semi-finals. He was a two time Hobey Baker Finalist as the very best player in college hockey. And yet again, not a single NHL team drafted him- no doubt because of his size. The “expert” scouts, coaches and GMs assessed that he wouldn’t be able to maneuver around the bigger players in the NHL or win the all-important puck battles, and that he would be easily knocked off the puck and intimidated. Moreover, even if he was successful for a brief time, the rigors of the sport and having larger men pounding on him on a nightly basis would mean a short and injury-prone career.

So St.Louis signed a contract with the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey league where he continued to shine and waited for an opportunity. He eventually secured an NHL contract with Calgary but that quickly flamed out as he was rarely played and then left exposed in the 2000 Expansion draft. Finally, Tampa Bay expressed some meaningful interest and gave him chance to show what he could do. Tampa struck lightning when St.Louis somehow managed to do what he had always done before at every level – score a lot of points and win a lot of games, while being very durable. Indeed, in a brilliant 16 year career with the Bolts, St.Louis registered 953 points, was a frequent All-Star and even the MVP of the entire league in 2004 when he led the entire NHL in scoring and his team to the Stanley Cup.

A great case of a little man achieving big things in the face of large skeptics.

Steph Curry

Last, but certainly not least, is the great Wardell Stephen “Steph” Curry II. I know it’s hard to consider someone who is 6′ 3 and 190 pounds “small” but this is the NBA where players often approach 7 feet tall, the average height of players is 6′ 7 (shooting guards 6′ 5) and the average weight is between 215-220 pounds. And back in high school Steph was a mere 6 feet and 160 pounds. He was nevertheless a star in the making as an all-State player, leading Charlotte Christian High School to three conference championships, including one undefeated season.

However, true to the bias against smaller athletes, Curry couldn’t get a major Division 1 school to offer him a scholarship – even at Virginia Tech where his Dad starred before playing in the NBA! So Steph took his basketball to little-regarded Davidson where he simply set the record for three pointers, scored more points than any other college player his junior year and led his undersized team his sophomore year to NCAA Tournament wins over powerhouse programs full of taller players from Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin, before ultimately succumbing by only two points to eventual National Champion Kansas.

But that was still wasn’t enough for some teams and scouts. Once again the large men who run basketball expressed concern about Steph’s ability to compete as a pro against bigger and more physical folks. Accordingly, six players were taken in the 2009 draft before Golden State altered its NBA legacy forever by seizing the incomparable Curry.

Who were these folks selected before Steph? In order: (1) 6’10 Blake Griffin – a solid player but clearly no Steph Curry; (2) 7′ 3 Hasheem Thabeet, a player undoubtedly taken precisely because of his extreme height and who managed a mere 2.2 points per game in his very short NBA career; (3) James Harden, a 6′ 5 shooting guard and the only superstar among the group; (4) Tyreke Evans, a 6′ 6 guard who has had a good but not spectacular career; (5) Ricky Rubio, a 6’3 point guard from Spain who has had a long career averaging about 11 points per game and (6) Johnny Flynn, a point guard whose time in the NBA lasted all of three years.

Today, a dozen years later, Steph Curry is not only the greatest shooter in the entire NBA; he is the greatest shooter to EVER play the sport of basketball. What about his size and small frame and that “scrappy” appearance that some said would prove to be an obstacle to his obvious shooting skill? Turns out that he was clearly able to use his other considerable talents- quickness, elusiveness, basketball savvy and smarts – to get open and get off shots over people taller and stronger than he. Five GMs and their array of scouts (especially those who ran the Minnesota Timberwolves’ draft and glossed over Steph Curry TWICE) must go to bed every night questioning how they could have passed on the person who would become the most dynamic player in NBA history. How much of that was due to his size? I suspect every single bit of it.

And as great as Curry has been over his storied career, averaging 24 points per game, winning 2 MVP’s (one unanimously) and leading his teams to 3 Championships, this year just may be his most impressive of all. After all, he is now 33 years old in a young man’s sport. And this is not by any stretch the Golden State of 2015 though 2018. There is no Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson around to share the scoring load and to keep defenses honest. He has had to do it largely on his own. Every night the opposition knows that the way to beat the Warriors is to deny Steph the ball, harass him at every turn, get in his face, double team him, move him further and further away from the basket and his beloved three point line; in short do everything possible to prevent him from getting the ball and shooting it and when he does, making it extremely difficult for him. And yet the undersized man leads the league in scoring and has managed to go off on perhaps the greatest scoring streak in NBA history – 11 straight games of scoring more than 30 points. More impressively, he has given his team – a marginal one at best – a legitimate chance to make the playoffs.

So hail to all of the great little men in sports who thrive in the face of continual doubt and bias.