There was no ceremony. Sometime in the fall of 1967, when Mickey Mantle had batted to a . 245 average and collected the most whiffs (113) in strikeouts (108) for the only time in his career, he quietly ceded the crown as New York’s biggest sports star to Joe Namath. .
In ’67, Namath achieved the greatness he had long predicted, being the first professional QB to throw for 4,000 yards, throw 28 TDs, and appear in nearly three out of every five ads broadcast on television or printed in the pages of Life, Look and Sports Cameraman.
It’s indisputable that in terms of net wattage, Namath was and remains the biggest sports star we’ve seen here, and his reign (from 1967 through ’72 or so) is unprecedented. won a championship. He was the NFL MVP and Super Bowl III. He’s been in movies with Ann-Margret, gone to the Academy Awards with Raquel Welch, thrown touchdown passes to Bobby Brady, and done ads for Noxzema with Farrah Fawcett.
But Namath’s time has passed, and so has the title of sports’ biggest star, player to player, and team to team. Once Namath parted with the mantle, no other aircraft held the honor again. Brett Favre got a chance, but in his only 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 is coming next fall, when we’ll take pictures of the planes and see if this great experiment works out.
if it happened? If Rodgers defied 55 years of the Jets debacle and delivered—gasp—the Super Bowl? Well, not only will he join Namath in the Jets’ only all-star group, he’ll be the first jet-setter to rule the city since Namath last did it over 50 years ago, and he’ll be the latest on this, one-man (very subjective) list of #1 stars in New York since Namath:
1968-1972, Joe Namath: See above. The king of sports kings.
1973-1976, Tom Seaver: He won two Cy Youngs Awards, became the Mets’ “privilege” and, briefly, the highest-paid pitcher of all time.
1977-81, Reggie Jackson: He helped the Yanks capture their first title since ’62, and is a stalwart in the backpage; You’re bittersweet with sweet at this level of – his word – superduperstardom.
1982-83 Mike Bossy: As the Islanders were polishing off four consecutive cups and 19 straight postseason series wins, Posey was the boss.
1984, Bernard King: His reign was short but memorable. His tears during the ’84 playoffs are still in the hearts of Knicks fans.
1985 Doc Gooden: His image filled the side of a skyscraper in Manhattan. He said enough.
1986, Lawrence Taylor: The second defensive player to that point (Alan Page, 1971 was the other) to win a consensus NFL MVP.
1987, Don Mattingly: Either 1 or 2 from 1984 to 1988, but while he had better years, this was the end of a four-year stretch when he had a season average of 0.337 / 30 HRs / 121 RBI.
1988-1991, Taylor: Only a general strike of 87 could slow its roll.
1992-94, Mark Messier: He brought instant star power in ’92, was a trained killer in 1993 and then delivered the most of anyone in 1994, topping every second.
1995-97, Patrick Ewing: While the Knicks were the source of annual fascination and frustration, Ewing was the face of their eternal pursuit.
1998-2000, Derek Jeter: Maybe you could add another 10 years, but that was Peak Jeter.
2001 Mike Piazza: September 21, 2001. Enough said.
2002-2003, Jason Kidd: Making the networks relevant and almost making them heroes.
2004-2007 Alex Rodriguez: Two MVPs, season average of .303/.403/.573, 43 HR, 128 RBIs. As with Reggie: bitter with sweet.
2008 Ellie Manning: He started the year off with an impossible Super Bowl win, and finished with his first Pro Bowl nod after going 12-4.
Trade Aaron Rodgers to the Jets
On Monday, after months of speculation and rumors, the Jets and Packers reached agreement on a deal that would bring four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to New York.
The trade immediately promotes the Jets from rookie team to playoff contender in the hopes that Rodgers will help break one of the longest active postseason droughts in sports.
commerce
Jets receivers: Aaron Rodgers, No. 15 pick (2023) and No. 170 pick (2023).
Packers receive: #13 pick (2023), #42 pick (2023), #207 pick (2023) and a conditional 2024 second-round draft pick transferred to a first-rounder if Rodgers plays 65% of the Jets’ plays in 2023.
What comes next
The trade still needs to be finalized — Rodgers’ contract terms need to be worked out — and sent to the NFL.
Both teams will start feeling this deal as early as Thursday in the 2023 NFL Draft.
For the Packers, it’s now about fourth-year QB Jordan Love getting ready to take over. With Gang Green, it’s about getting a whole bunch of new faces offensively on the same page.
Read more coverage from The Post’s Aaron Rodgers
2009, Mariano Rivera: 5-for-5 in the playoffs, 0.56 ERA.
2010-11, Manning: Super Bowl No. 2 and No. 10 were the biggest ever.
2012 Carmelo Anthony: You either loved it or hated it. But you had an opinion on it.
Follow The Post’s coverage of Aaron Rodgers’ trade to the Jets
2013, Matt Harvey: Do you remember “Happy Day Harvey?”
2014 Henrik Lundqvist: Definitely the king that spring.
2015-16, Eunice Céspedes: It’s easy to forget how it ended, but there have never been tornadoes like the one that ripped through our town.
2017 Aaron Judge: he struck out and finished with 52 homers; He should have been the best player.
2018-19, Jacob DeGrum: Back to back Cy Youngs, it happened every time he did a show.
2020 – present, judge: And yet, it wasn’t even close.