Standing Tall in New York: Our Pro Sports Team’s Largest Athletes

When it comes to sports, size matters. But depending on the sport, height isn't always advantageous.

Certainly it's important in basketball. In football, size might be important for a linebacker, but generally width is more important than height in that regard. And in the case of baseball and hockey, height is sort of inconsequential. Those sports prioritize other physical qualities.

But regardless of the sport in question, there have been tall people who've played them all. Heck, even Manute Bol -- the tallest player in NBA history -- has a horse jockey license. (Yes, really.)

I don't care what anyone says, people have a fascination with giants. It's why Andre the Giant was one of the biggest box office draws in wrestling history. Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the oldest stories around, and it's usually read to us as kids. So it's hardwired in our DNA to be fascinated with tall human beings.

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, the tallest person in recorded human history with irrefutable proof is Robert Wadlow, who stood 8'11" tall. I don't think he did any downhill skiing.)

You can find a lot of Google results for "Tallest player in NBA history" type articles, but I wanted to curate a list that focused specifically on the tallest athletes who donned New York jerseys. For the purposes of this list, we're only considering teams from the "Big 4" sports leagues: The NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.

So without further ado, I give you New York players who stood head and shoulders above the rest: