Nobody dominated a sport like Carlos Gracida

Today's question: Which athlete dominated his sport more than any other in history? The answer is easily polo's Carlos Gracida. I know, you're asking yourself, "What's polo?"

The name most Americans associate with polo is Ralph Lauren. Sure, Lauren model Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras plays the sport -- but the closest Lauren gets to a polo field is when he sues them for using his logo.

Polo is known as the sport of kings, unlike tennis, which two weeks ago was the sport of Queens. But if polo is the sport of kings, then the king of kings would have to be Carlos Gracida. No offense to any religious folks.

Very few sports have one athlete who dominates the competition so much that there's no question as to the best of all time. In hockey it's certainly Wayne Gretzky. The Great One has more assists than anyone else has total points, and he's the all-time leading goal-scorer, too.

In basketball, few question the dominance of Michael Jordan, unless they're talking about Wilt Chamberlain. Jordan and Chamberlain are tied for the points-per-game average. And while Jordan has more championships, insert obligatory Chamberlain scoring joke here.

Due to his ability to hit and pitch, Babe Ruth may have been the best all-time baseball player, but he started losing his records even before hitters ate more greenies than greens. As good as Tiger Woods is, he's nowhere near the undisputed best golfer. He might become that eventually, but he isn't yet. And people can't even decide on the best quarterback, let alone the best overall football player.

But in polo, the only thing that comes close to Gracida is whatever horse he rode in on. There aren't many arguments around bars about the best polo player, because most people in your average bar can't name a polo player. But if that argument existed, it'd be shorter than a debate about the best position player named Ripken. Sorry, Billy.

Gracida is a five-time winner of the Palermo Cup, a nine-time winner of the U.S. Open and a 10-time winner of the Gold Cup. Those are polo's three biggest events, and he's won them a total of 24 times. In fact, he's won all of them in the same year, making him the only Grand Slam winner in polo history. And he's done that three times.

Gracida has also won the U.S. Player of the Year award five times, but I am most impressed by his winning of Olimpia de Plata, the award for Argentina's most valuable player. It wouldn't be remarkable if Gracida were Argentine, but he's the only non-native ever to win it.

The last time Gracida was U.S. Player of the Year, in 2004, he was 44 years old. Imagine getting whupped by someone old enough to have grandkids. And I'm not talking Shawn Kemp grandkids, but legitimate ones. Not that Gracida has any -- but if he did, they might already be better polo players than some of the kids out there today.

Like all athletes his age, Gracida is not as good as he used to be. But he's still ranked as one of the top 15 polo players in the world. "Steve," you might ask, "don't only 15 people play polo?" I'd answer that by telling you that polo is a very popular sport worldwide, and that you should really call me Mr. Hofstetter since we barely know each other.

Gracida is undoubtedly getting older; it'd be really scary if he wasn't. As Brett Favre can probably tell you, it can't be easy to see the new guys come up as your career winds down (though the Packers are certainly giving him a long look). Much like the St. Louis Cardinals, Gracida has already gone from being the best to being one of the best, and much like the Boston Red Sox, will inevitably descend even further (though Gracida might have put up more of a fight against the Yankees). But no matter how old Gracida gets, his records will probably last well past any of us. Three Grand Slams will be harder to top than Johnny Van Der Meer's consecutive no-hitters.

I will never see a kid with a Carlos Gracida rookie card, I will never see a Carlos Gracida jersey, and I will never see a Carlos Gracida poster at the Sports Authority. And since I've never been to anything polo-related, I may never even see him play. But even though I know less about polo than Ozzie Guillen knows about cultural sensitivity, as a sports fan I can still respect him. You ought to, too.

And the horse he rode in on.

Steve Hofstetter is a nationally touring comedian whose column appears every Monday on SI.com. Catch him Sept. 28 at Standup NY or e-mail him at steve@stevehofstetter.com.

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