Petraglia is he the best ever?

[steve jones]

So - does this make John the greatest bowler ever? Professional titles across six decades.

When Gary Player won across six decades the golf media rated him as the greatest ever!!

In my view the comparison is the same - Petraglia is the greatest bowler ever.


KETTERING, Ohio – PBA Hall of Famer Johnny Petraglia became the first player in PBA history to win a national tour or senior tour title in six decades by winning the PBA Senior Dayton Classic presented by Roto Grip Thursday at Capri Lanes.

Petraglia, who won his eighth career Senior Tour title, also ended a three-year drought without a win by defeating reigning Senior Player of the Year Ron Mohr of Eagle River, Alaska, 220-204, in the title match.

 

[GeorgeF]

Its amazing effort and will go down in history and the record books but greatest ever? Thats still Earl Anthony for me

 

[da_cowman]

It's an amazing achievement, no doubts, but the wording makes it sound even more remarkable, he won titles over a 46 year period. 14 on the National Tour and 8 Senior events. Earl Anthony won 50+ titles including his senior titles, over a much smaller time frame. While Petraglia's commitment to be competitive is not to undermined, he has also been lucky to avoid major injuries or illness which has brought many other careers to an end. I'm not saying Petraglia isn't one of the greatest ever, he clearly is, and his record shows that. But the greatest ever? I still see it as Earl.

Cheers, Cow

 

[steve jones]

What could possibly be a more extensive and noteworthy test of greatness than longevity and I'm not so sure "luck" played a decisive part in Petraglia's stay at the top. He has focused utterly on his own personal fitness and well being, what luck is there in that? Anthony on the other hand made a personal choice as to how he would live his life - and it played a sizable part in his untimely and sad passing. Great bowlers both - no doubt about it - but for me winning across six decades is just too impressive to ignore.

 

[BigDaz]

Theres so many truly brilliant men and women who have played this game at all levels. I think its hard to say that 1 person is "the best" and leave it at that. Winning so many titles in such a short time is an amazing feat, but also being in the mix and not far from the top for 2 decades or more in my opinion is just as amazing. Everyone will have their own opinions and thats a good thing, sometimes people get slandered for having their own feelings on a subject.

I know if i had a choice of being the dominating player in Aus for say .... 2 years, or being a top 30 player in Aus for 10 years, id take the longevity. Just an example obviously.

 

[willey]

As George say's Earl Anthony was the Best ever, didn't Dick Webber win titles over 6 decades first.

willey

 

[steve jones]

Willey your Weber point is interesting - the clip of the Petraglia story in my opening of this thread is directly taken off the PBA website - so I am guessing they know what they are talking about "records wise" - well perhaps!? This sort of topic is a bit of fun and goes along with those unwinable pub arguments about who was the greatest ever footballer? How do you rate them - Anthony with titles, Weber with class - Petraglia with longevity - someone else by using some other measure?

 

[da_cowman]

One of Weber's titles was a regional. Petraglia was the first to win National title across the '6 Decade' time span.

I guess we'll have agree to disagree.

Cheers, Cow

 

[jimcross]

How the hell old were any of these people when they bowled their 6th one? --- Or indeed how young for the 1st?

Just think, for those of you who have won anything, say even from a Centre Championship scratch singles upwards, how old will you be before you win something ( anything ) 60 years after the first one ?

For me that would be in the year 2022 - I'm not placing any bets...............................

 

[steve jones]

Jim, Petraglia's career was interrupted early after he won his first title in around 1966 - he then went to serve in Vietnam for 2 years, on his return he rejoined the PBA. Does this add further to his efforts - well I think it does.

 

[jimcross]

How the hell old were any of these people when they bowled their 6th one? --- Or indeed how young for the 1st?

Just think, for those of you who have won anything, say even from a Centre Championship scratch singles upwards, how old will you be before you win something ( anything ) 60 years after the first one ?

For me that would be in the year 2022 - I'm not placing any bets...............................

Woops..I got confused between 6 decades and 60 years. 1962 plus 60 is 2022, BUT, Bring that date back to 2012.....Wheeeeee..........

 

[da_cowman]

Jim, Petraglia's career was interrupted early after he won his first title in around 1966 - he then went to serve in Vietnam for 2 years, on his return he rejoined the PBA. Does this add further to his efforts - well I think it does.

But he wasn't lucky to avoid any major injuries? Many top level athletes have injuries that are either genetically in them, or just one unfortunate accident. We are reminded of Lleyton Hewitt's woe's 4 times a year. I'm sure he has done everything in his power to stay fit and healthy during his career, same as Agassi, Sampras, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.

I don't want to be interpreted as thinking Petraglia is over-rated. He isn't. His achievement is remarkable and should be applauded. I just don't believe that winning over that time span instantly makes him the best ever. I can see WRWj doing the same thing, as long as he won his first title the second half of a decade, same as Petraglia. If Petraglia had done them all on the National Tour it would be a very different story, as opposed to winning a third of his titles on the Senior tour, which Gary Player did as well, is just enough for me, personally, to believe that Anthony is, and eventually WRWj will be, considered the best of all time.

Jim, I made the same point above. Patraglia's winning career spans 46 years, which is truly remarkable, but only 75% of the leading statement of 6 decades. They could say he has won over 2 millennia, but then so have many other pro's. It's part of a personal annoyance of mine that is misleading marketing.