Sports Illustrated has released its annual “World Fame 100” ranking of the most famous athletes on the planet. Only one baseball player made the 2019 list – new Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper.
There had been no baseball players to make the list in either of the last two years. Harper undoubtedly received a big push from his hotly contested pursuit in free agency this past off-season.
The folks at Sports Illustrated explain their process in this manner: “To identify the 100 most famous athletes in the world, we started with 800 of the biggest names in sports, drawn from 78 countries.