By Derek Rosenfeld
No, this headline was not ripped from the pages of The Onion, but I believe its exaggerated irony speaks volumes about the process by which many athletes are now going about how they seek out championships.
Having my own sports column has afforded me the opportunity to discuss several social, political, and financial aspects of professional sports, mostly through the jaded lens of cynicism which sometimes needs to be pointed at such a giant industry. Thus, I would like to inject some humor into the proceedings to attempt to shed light on another very recent phenomenon resulting from the rise of free agency in sports over the past four decades, which the popular comedian Bill Burr has coined the “Pile-On Team.”
In the wake of the Miami Heat’s recent championship run two years after the twin additions (and an embarrassing Broadway-style unveiling) of LeBron James and Chris Bosh through free agency, it appears that for many title-starved superstar athletes, the road to hoisting that validating trophy at season’s end now lies in joining forces with other similarly title-hungry superstar athletes, creating a sort of pro sports superpower whose only ambition is to steamroll inferior, naturally assembled teams and grab a quick championship or three. It is the pro sports equivalent of a “get-rich-quick” scheme.
With just 12 players per team and five being active on the floor at any one time, basketball is the easiest of the four major American sports where one player can completely take over a game and where a team can win a championship with just a few relatively superior players supported by other, minor pieces that simply do their job adequately and stay out of the way of their dominant teammates. Although the most recent incarnation of the Miami Heat is the most notable pile-on team to win a championship, it is simply the latest in a line of teams that has won or attempted to win through assemblage of free agent or traded superstars, often within the span of one offseason.
When free agent veterans Ray Allen (left, with GM Pat Riley and Head Coach Erik Spoelstra) and Rashard Lewis signed with the Heat before the champagne had dried on their championship this summer, coveted future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash had joined forces with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles; as a result, free agent center Dwight Howard is now waiting in the wings to be added to the Lakers after talks broke down with the Brooklyn Nets, who had attempted to create their own pile-on team with Howard after adding Atlanta Hawks All-Star Joe Johnson to its inaugural season roster (which already includes superstar guard Deron Williams). Thus, once again, the bandwagon mentality toward team building was in full force.
The signing of Allen took the league by surprise, as the greatest three-point marksman in NBA history was not expected to chase another title since he was coming from the Boston Celtics, another quickly built pile-on team that won the NBA title in 2008. Lewis, another high-percentage three-point threat, openly admitted that, after making nearly $140 million in his NBA career, he was looking to grab the brass ring.
At his press conference announcing the signing, Lewis stated, “I’m at a point where I’ve been on All-Star teams, played for 14 years, made a pretty good amount of my money. I’m hungry just to win. I will do whatever it takes, [if that’s] coming off the bench, if that’s playing five to 10 minutes or 30 minutes.”1
Before you tune in to another fun-filled episode of Hoarders expecting to see the visage of Miami Heat General Manager Pat Riley smoking a cigar in another winning locker room, remember that adding star players to an already formidable team is nothing new, and has been done since trades in sports were first conceived. However, the concept has never been put into practice as it has over the past 20 years. Table 1 shows some recent teams that have attempted, with mixed results, in what is, essentially, talent hoarding.
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TABLE 1. Notable “Pile-On” Teams of the Past 20 Years. |
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| Team | League | Year | Notable Additions | Result |
| Toronto Blue Jays | MLB | 1992, 1993 | Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, Jack Morris, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, David Cone |
Won WS both years |
| New York Knicks | NBA | 2005-2006 | Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Anfernee Hardaway, Jalen Rose | 29-52 W-L |
| Boston Celtics | NBA | 2007-2008 | Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett | Won NBA Finals |
| New York Yankees | MLB | 2009 |
C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, A.J. Burnett, Nick Swisher |
Won WS |
| Philadelphia Phillies | MLB | 2010 | Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Hunter Pence, Roy Oswalt | Lost in Divisional Playoffs |
| New York Jets | NFL | 2011 | Plaxico Burress, Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes | 8-8 W-L |
| Miami Marlins | MLB | 2012 | Jose Reyes, Health Bell, Mark Buehrle, Carlos Zambrano | 47-56 as of 8/1 |
PILE-ON PLAYERS
It’s not only the owners and front offices of these and other teams that can be accused of creating “Frankenstein’s monster” teams. Over the past 20 years, some athletes themselves are solely implicit in pushing their way onto already successful teams in the hopes of riding the wave to the championship ring they could not have obtained through their original teams.
The most notable example of this is pitcher Roger Clemens (left). Clemens, who came within one out of winning a World Series title with the infamous 1986 Red Sox, had been a force in the Major Leagues for 15 years before the 1999 season. Coming off consecutive Cy Young awards with the Toronto Blue Jays, Clemens essentially forced his way on to the New York Yankees after the team completed one of the greatest seasons in sports history, winning the first of its eventual three consecutive World Series titles in 1998. Traded on February 18, 1999, for (a none-too-pleased) David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush, Clemens arrived as an almost unnecessary upgrade that excited fans but did not do the same for some on the then-current team.
Although the Yankees would go on to win two consecutive titles with Clemens at the top of their rotation, his contributions were good but not impactful, as he went a combined 27-18 with a 4.13 earned run average in those two years. He would go on to win Cy Young awards in 2001 and 2004 with the Yankees and Astros, respectively, and pitch at a very high level for several more years before his late-career accomplishments came to light amid the steroid investigations that followed his retirement in 2007.
From those who succeeded in winning their ring as a less significant part of a championship team (Gary Payton, 2005-6 Miami Heat; Ray Bourque, 2000-1 Colorado Avalanche) to those who tried the same but came up short (Karl Malone, 2003-4 Los Angeles Lakers; Junior Seau, 2007-8 New England Patriots), the lure of piling on to add a championship to an already impressive resume after all the individual awards and money have been secured seems to have proven an opportunity too great to resist, for all parties involved.
Special thanks to Peter Prochilo for help with this article
Photos found on Wikimedia Commons courtesy of, from left to right and top to bottom, Stanmar and Keith Allison, Pepsidrinka and Keith Allison, Centpacrr and Keith Allison, Joaacopazos, Dr. Macro, and Keith Allison.
ENDNOTES
1. www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/12/2891725/rashard-lewis-joins-miami-heat.html.
Derek Rosenfeld is an associate editor for Fire Engineering. He has coached baseball at the collegiate level for eight seasons, including stints at New Jersey’s Bergen Community College and Ramapo College. He has also been an infielder in several highly competetive semipro baseball leagues throughout the New York tri-state area.
During the mid-90s, Rosenfeld was a three-year starter at second base for the Ramapo College baseball team in Mahwah, New Jersey, where he earned all-New Jersey Athletic Conference honors and was a two-time New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) all-star selection. He was named MVP of the 1997 NJCBA All-Star Game. He has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Ramapo College.
