PITTSBURGH \u2014 It\u2019s perhaps the most famous birthday in all of sports. The man who was born on Aug. 7, 1987 \u2014 8\/7\/87 \u2014 and wears No. 87 and earns a well-calculated $8.7 million annually turned 39 on Friday.<\/p>\n
And really, at this point, what is there to write about Sidney Crosby that hasn\u2019t already been written?<\/p>\n
We know he\u2019s an extraordinary hockey player, generally considered among the five greatest in the sport\u2019s history. As if this weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Rick Tocchet, now the coach of the Philadelphia Flyers but formerly a successful Penguins assistant coach, once fittingly summed up Crosby:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the perfect hockey player,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cI think he might be the perfect person, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point, really, the only remaining items left are determining Crosby\u2019s place in hockey history and in Pittsburgh history.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s keep in mind that he isn\u2019t done. He told me in May in Switzerland that he\u2019d like to play for a while longer. Crosby is about to enter his 22nd NHL season and, while he\u2019s not one to concern himself with milestones, I suspect he\u2019d like to play 25 seasons if his health allows. If he can manage that, he\u2019ll certainly reach the 2,000-point plateau and probably around 750 goals.<\/p>\n
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\u2019d like. Old-timers will swear Orr was the greatest, that he changed the game and that no one could dictate a game\u2019s conclusion like him. Most will say Gretzky and point at his incomparable numbers. Others will watch five minutes of Lemieux\u2019s YouTube highlights and laugh at the notion that anyone was ever better.<\/p>\n
Regardless of where you rank them, they\u2019re the top three, and it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone topping them. Maybe if Crosby wins the Stanley Cup again before he\u2019s done, he\u2019ll reach that historical class. Maybe if Connor McDavid ever wins it, he\u2019ll reach it, too, because his pure skill is like nothing we\u2019ve seen since Lemieux.<\/p>\n
As things stand, it\u2019s appropriate to rank Crosby No. 4 all-time. In 2023, The Athletic did just that<\/a> \u2014 accurately, in my view. Comparing athletes from different eras is impossible, and some will make legitimate arguments for Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Alex Ovechkin, Jarom\u00edr J\u00e1gr, Nicklas Lidstr\u00f6m or McDavid. It\u2019s 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 \u2014 typically fans based in eastern Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. \u2014 will acknowledge him to be a top-10 player. His biggest supporters will vault him into the Orr-Gretzky-Lemieux category already.<\/p>\n The truth is usually in the middle, and that\u2019s the case again here.<\/p>\n Given Crosby is about to become the longest-tenured athlete in Pittsburgh sports history, it\u2019s fair to consider where he ranks locally. Pittsburgh might be a \u201csmall market,\u201d but there\u2019s nothing small about the talent here over the years.<\/p>\n Check out this list (as of Sept. 30, 2026, when the NHL season begins) of longest-tenured Pittsburgh athletes:<\/p>\n PlayerSeasons<\/p>\n Sidney Crosby<\/p>\n 22<\/p>\n Willie Stargell<\/p>\n 21<\/p>\n Evgeni Malkin<\/p>\n 21<\/p>\n Kris Letang<\/p>\n 21<\/p>\n Roberto Clemente<\/p>\n 18<\/p>\n Honus Wagner<\/p>\n 18<\/p>\n Ben Roethlisberger<\/p>\n 18<\/p>\n Babe Adams<\/p>\n 18<\/p>\n Mario Lemieux<\/p>\n 17<\/p>\n Bill Mazeroski<\/p>\n 17<\/p>\n Lloyd Waner<\/p>\n 17<\/p>\n Pie Traynor<\/p>\n 17<\/p>\n Max Carey<\/p>\n 17<\/p>\n It\u2019s pretty roundly accepted that Lemieux is the greatest athlete in Pittsburgh sports history. If you saw him play, you know. Consider what he overcame \u2014 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 \u2014 and it\u2019s almost impossible to place anyone ahead of him. A Pittsburgh Mount Rushmore starts with him.<\/p>\n Roberto Clemente was probably No. 2 on the list at the end of the last century, and it wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n The Steelers have produced dozens of stars. \u201cMean\u201d Joe Greene, Ben Roethlisberger, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris \u2014 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\u2019t think there\u2019s one Steeler I\u2019d rank ahead of Lemieux or Clemente.<\/p>\n Honus Wagner shouldn\u2019t be forgotten, but he played more than 100 years ago, so it\u2019s difficult to include him. There\u2019s no video of him. Just stories and statistics.<\/p>\n So, what about Crosby?<\/p>\n I\u2019d probably place him right in between Lemieux and Clemente. Clemente is the greatest right fielder ever, and his 1971 season \u2014 winning the Gold Glove and World Series MVP \u2014 sets him apart from most Pittsburgh athletes. But he was never considered the greatest player in baseball. Crosby was hockey\u2019s undisputed greatest player for a decade.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Crosby, whose warmth and decency are omnipresent even in a sports world that seems to lose track of those attributes daily.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 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\u2019 Pittsburgh, 21 years after Lemieux.<\/p>\n Crosby wants to play a few more years. He\u2019s 39, and he\u2019s won the Stanley Cup three times. He\u2019s pretty much done it all. He owes Pittsburgh nothing. But if he wants to keep going, the city will savor every moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 It\u2019s perhaps the most famous birthday in all of sports. 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