PITTSBURGH — It’s perhaps the most famous birthday in all of sports. The man who was born on Aug. 7, 1987 — 8/7/87 — and wears No. 87 and earns a well-calculated $8.7 million annually turned 39 on Friday.

And really, at this point, what is there to write about Sidney Crosby that hasn’t already been written?

We know he’s an extraordinary hockey player, generally considered among the five greatest in the sport’s history. As if this weren’t enough of a blessing for Pittsburgh to have enjoyed over the past two-plus decades, what truly makes the city appreciate Crosby is that he is the rare great athlete whose character exceeds his on-ice impact and attributes. His kind gestures, generosity and down-to-earth behavior are more legendary, in Pittsburgh at least, than his actual hockey career.

Rick Tocchet, now the coach of the Philadelphia Flyers but formerly a successful Penguins assistant coach, once fittingly summed up Crosby:

“He is the perfect hockey player,” Tocchet said. “I think he might be the perfect person, too.”

At this point, really, the only remaining items left are determining Crosby’s place in hockey history and in Pittsburgh history.

Let’s keep in mind that he isn’t done. He told me in May in Switzerland that he’d like to play for a while longer. Crosby is about to enter his 22nd NHL season and, while he’s not one to concern himself with milestones, I suspect he’d like to play 25 seasons if his health allows. If he can manage that, he’ll certainly reach the 2,000-point plateau and probably around 750 goals.

In NHL history, there is the holy trinity of (in the order they arrived) Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Argue about their places in history all you’d like. Old-timers will swear Orr was the greatest, that he changed the game and that no one could dictate a game’s conclusion like him. Most will say Gretzky and point at his incomparable numbers. Others will watch five minutes of Lemieux’s YouTube highlights and laugh at the notion that anyone was ever better.

Regardless of where you rank them, they’re the top three, and it’s hard to imagine anyone topping them. Maybe if Crosby wins the Stanley Cup again before he’s done, he’ll reach that historical class. Maybe if Connor McDavid ever wins it, he’ll reach it, too, because his pure skill is like nothing we’ve seen since Lemieux.

As things stand, it’s appropriate to rank Crosby No. 4 all-time. In 2023, The Athletic did just that — accurately, in my view. Comparing athletes from different eras is impossible, and some will make legitimate arguments for Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Alex Ovechkin, Jaromír Jágr, Nicklas Lidström or McDavid. It’s all perfectly fair. But if you combine hockey ability, impact, longevity, winning and international accomplishments, no player outside of the Holy Trinity surpasses Crosby. He is the most-hyped player in the history of the sport, and he lived up to all of it, and then some. He was brilliant at 18. He remains a force one year shy of 40. Even his biggest detractors — typically fans based in eastern Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. — will acknowledge him to be a top-10 player. His biggest supporters will vault him into the Orr-Gretzky-Lemieux category already.

The truth is usually in the middle, and that’s the case again here.

Given Crosby is about to become the longest-tenured athlete in Pittsburgh sports history, it’s fair to consider where he ranks locally. Pittsburgh might be a “small market,” but there’s nothing small about the talent here over the years.

Check out this list (as of Sept. 30, 2026, when the NHL season begins) of longest-tenured Pittsburgh athletes:

PlayerSeasons

Sidney Crosby

22

Willie Stargell

21

Evgeni Malkin

21

Kris Letang

21

Roberto Clemente

18

Honus Wagner

18

Ben Roethlisberger

18

Babe Adams

18

Mario Lemieux

17

Bill Mazeroski

17

Lloyd Waner

17

Pie Traynor

17

Max Carey

17

It’s pretty roundly accepted that Lemieux is the greatest athlete in Pittsburgh sports history. If you saw him play, you know. Consider what he overcame — cancer, a chronically bad back, a pathetic supporting cast in his first few seasons, an era that was considerably more violent and a league that had zero interest in protecting him — and it’s almost impossible to place anyone ahead of him. A Pittsburgh Mount Rushmore starts with him.

Roberto Clemente was probably No. 2 on the list at the end of the last century, and it wasn’t his death at 38 while delivering humanitarian aid that cemented it. It was his right arm and transcendent performance, at 37, in the 1971 World Series that moved him to the top of the pack until Lemieux came around.

The Steelers have produced dozens of stars. “Mean” Joe Greene, Ben Roethlisberger, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris — on and on and on. Take your pick. They should have a wing at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Still, I don’t think there’s one Steeler I’d rank ahead of Lemieux or Clemente.

Honus Wagner shouldn’t be forgotten, but he played more than 100 years ago, so it’s difficult to include him. There’s no video of him. Just stories and statistics.

So, what about Crosby?

I’d probably place him right in between Lemieux and Clemente. Clemente is the greatest right fielder ever, and his 1971 season — winning the Gold Glove and World Series MVP — sets him apart from most Pittsburgh athletes. But he was never considered the greatest player in baseball. Crosby was hockey’s undisputed greatest player for a decade.

Clemente was a truly great man who fought his entire life for equality and for the less fortunate. He talked the talk, and he ultimately gave his life trying to help people. Lemieux, meanwhile, has saved the Penguins franchise on multiple occasions and has generated millions of charitable dollars in Pittsburgh, including more than $40 million for cancer research from the Mario Lemieux Foundation. His 22 years as owner, Penguins employees will tell you, were the best time of their professional lives because he treated everyone with a special dignity. His loyalty to Pittsburgh is unmatched.

Then there’s Crosby, whose warmth and decency are omnipresent even in a sports world that seems to lose track of those attributes daily.

It’s a minor miracle that a city of any size would be blessed by Clemente and Lemieux within 30 years of each other. The biggest miracle yet might be that a third person would bring similar greatness as a player and person to little ol’ Pittsburgh, 21 years after Lemieux.

Crosby wants to play a few more years. He’s 39, and he’s won the Stanley Cup three times. He’s pretty much done it all. He owes Pittsburgh nothing. But if he wants to keep going, the city will savor every moment.