Is Fred VanVleet The Most Successful Fred In Sports History?

The short answer is no, but he's climbing the ranks. 

Fred VanVleet has had quite the meteoric rise over the past 5 years. He went from being undrafted to being a key member of a championship team and signing an $85M contract.

He's good but he might not be the best Fred to ever play professional sports.

Here is Fred's resume:

• NBA Champion
• NBA D-League Champion
• 3rd Team NCAA All-American
• 2 time MVC Player of the Year
• 3 time All-MVC

Let's take a look at the contenders:

Fred Dryer:

Dryer's stats:

• 1 Pro Bowl
• 1 First-team All-Pro
• 1 Second-team All-Pro
• NFL All-Rookie Team
• 2 time NCAA Division II Champion
• Starred as Hunter in Hunter

Better than VanVleet? No. Hunter was a pretty good show though.

Fred Williamson:

Williamson's stats:

• 3 time AFL All-Star
• AFL Champion
• Nicknamed "The Hammer"
• Star of many 1970 blaxploitation films and was in From Dusk Till Dawn

Better than VanVleet? No. He was in some great movies though.

Fred Biletnikoff

Biletnikoff's stats:

• Super Bowl Champ
• Super Bowl MVP
• 4 time Pro Bowl
• First team All-Pro
• NFL receptions leader (1971)
• Consensus NCAA All-American

Better than VanVleet? Yes. They named the award for the best receiver in the NCAA after him. There's no VanVleet award. Yet.

Fred McGriff:

McGriff's stats:

• 5 time All-Star
• World Series Champion
• 3 time Silver Slugger
• 2 time HR leader
• Had an awesome nickname "The Crimedog"

Better than VanVleet? Yes. For now. McGriff had sustained success. Also it's nuts that he got his nickname from a PSA.

Fred Lynn:

Lynn's stats:

• 9 time All-Star
• AL MVP
• AL Rookie of the Year
• ALCS MVP
• 4 time Gold Glove winner
• AL batting champ
• Red Sox Hall of Fame

Better than VanVleet? Yes. But VanVleet has a chance to be about Fred Lynn's equal.

Fred Perry:

Perry's stats:

• Australian Open champion singles and doubles (1 each)
• French Open champion singles, doubles, and mixed doubles (1 each)
• Wimbledon champion 3 times singles and 2 times mixed doubles
• US Open champion 3 times singles and 1 time mixed doubles
• 4 time Davis Cup champion
• One of the best and most decorated tennis player of all time.

Better than VanVleet? Yes. Perry was a legend.

Freddy Garcia:

Garcia's stats:

• 2 time All-Star
• World Series champion
• AL ERA leader
• Awesome nickname "Sweaty Freddy"

Better than VanVleet? No. It's close right now and VanVleet still has half a career to go.

Fred Couples:

Couples' stats:

• 15 time PGA Tour winner
• 3 time European Tour winner
• Masters champion
• 2 time player of the year
• 1992 leading money winner
• Awesome nickname Freddy "Boom Boom" Couples

Better than VanVleet? Yes but this is another one that VanVleet could catch.

I probably missed a few in here (feel free to comment below) but it looks like Rockford's Fred ranks pretty high. He already has a pretty good nickname, Mr. Bet On Yourself. That's how cool Fred is, he gave himself a nickname, which is very hard to do.

We'll all be keeping an eye on Fred to see how high he can climb on the all-time Fred list.