The List

With SI's best faces forward, here is the magazine's Top 10*—the athletes who've been on the most covers, and all the contenders for the crown. To see all the covers of your favorites, go to SI.com/covers

Michael Jordan (49)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (22)
Magic Johnson (22)
Jack Nicklaus (22)
Pete Rose (15)
Mike Tyson (15)
Arnold Palmer (14)
Muhammad Ali (37)
Larry Bird (15)
Bill Walton (14)

the all-star cast

Here are the magazine's MVPs (most visible players) over the past 50 years, including all the subjects who have made a minimum of three cover appearances

Michael Jordan 49
Muhammad Ali 37
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 22
Magic Johnson 22
Jack Nicklaus 22
Larry Bird 15
Pete Rose 15
Mike Tyson 15
Arnold Palmer 14
Bill Walton 14
Mickey Mantle 13
Patrick Ewing 12
Wayne Gretzky 12
Sugar Ray Leonard 12
Joe Montana 12
Tiger Woods 12
John Elway 11
Emmitt Smith 11
Sonny Liston 10
Shaquille O'Neal 10
Kobe Bryant 9
Marvelous Marvin Hagler 9
Dan Marino 9
Willie Mays 9
Mark McGwire 9
O.J. Simpson 9
Ted Williams 9
Jimmy Connors 8
Roberto Duran 8
Ken Griffey Jr. 8
Reggie Jackson 8
Joe Namath 8
Floyd Patterson 8
Bill Russell 8
Wilt Chamberlain 7
Julius Erving 7
George Foreman 7
Joe Frazier 7
John McEnroe 7
Jim Ryun 7
Darryl Strawberry 7
Herschel Walker 7
Charles Barkley 6
Johnny Bench 6
Terry Bradshaw 6
Roger Clemens 6
Tony Dorsett 6
Larry Holmes 6
Evander Holyfield 6
Bo Jackson 6
Derek Jeter 6
Carl Lewis 6
Jim McMahon 6
Gary Player 6
Cat Ripken Jr. 6
David Robinson 6
Dennis Rodman 6
Ralph Sampson 6
Fran Tarkenton 6
Tom Watson 6
Steve Young 6
Troy Aikman 5
Lance Armstrong 5
Bjorn Borg 5
George Brett 5
Lou Brock 5
Billy Casper 5
Eric Dickerson 5
Brett Favre 5
Dwight Gooden 5
John Havlicek 5
Bobby Hull 5
Randy Johnson 5
Sandy Koufax 5
Karl Malone 5
Moses Malone 5
Billy Martin 5
Stan Musial 5
Bobby Orr 5
Walter Payton 5
Scottie Pippen 5
Deion Sanders 5
Mike Schmidt 5
Tom Seaver 5
Sammy Sosa 5
Michael Spinks 5
Lee Trevino 5
Kurt Warner 5
Marcus Allen 4
Eddie Arcaro 4
Arthur Ashe 4
Rick Barry 4
Yogi Berra 4
Rod Carew 4
Gary Carter 4
Steve Cauthen 4
Larry Csonka 4
Mary Decker Slaney 4
Doug Flutie 4
A.J. Foyt 4
Franco Harris 4
Thomas Hearns 4
Gordie Howe 4
Ingemar Johansson 4
Al Kaline 4
Jason Kidd 4
Bob Knight 4
Mario Lemieux 4
Elle Macpherson 4
Eddie Mathews 4
Denny McLain 4
Jerry Rice 4
Tony Rice 4
Brooks Robinson 4
Nolan Ryan 4
Bart Starr 4
Jim Taylor 4
Joe Theismann 4
Y.A. Tittle 4
Johnny Unitas 4
Al Unser 4
Ken Venturi 4
Maury Wills 4
Hank Aaron 3
Andre Agassi 3
Ernie Banks 3
Carmen Basilio 3
Rocky Bleier 3
Barry Bonds 3
Christie Brinkley 3
Bear Bryant 3
Earl Campbell 3
Steve Carlton 3
George Chuvalo 3
Gerry Cooney 3
Bob Cousy 3
Dave Cowens 3
Randall Cunningham 3
Anthony Davis 3
Dave DeBusschere 3
Augie Donate Hi 3
Ken Dryden 3
Don Drysdale 3
Leo Durocher 3
Phil Esposito 3
Chris Evert 3
Carlton Fisk 3
Walt Frazier 3
Roman Gabriel 3
Rich Gannon 3
Kevin Garnett 3
Steve Garvey 3
Kirk Gibson 3
Charles Goren 3
Steffi Graf 3
Florence Griffith Joyner 3
Dick Groat 3
Elvin Hayes 3
Rickey Henderson 3
Orel Hershiser 3
Paul Hornung 3
Desmond Howard 3
Kathy Ireland 3
Hale Irwin 3
Allen Iverson 3
Phil Jackson 3
Keyshawn Johnson 3
Rafer Johnson 3
Bert Jones 3
Jackie Joyner-Kersee 3
Jean-Claude Killy 3
Bernie Kosar 3
Craig Krenzel 3
Greg LeMond 3
Vince Lombardi 3
Jerry Lucas 3
Danny Manning 3
Peyton Manning 3
Pete Maravich 3
Tommy McDonald 3
Stan Mikita 3
Joe Morgan 3
Chuck Muncie 3
Dale Murphy 3
Hakeem Olajuwon 3
Gary Payton 3
Sam Perkins 3
Gaylord Perry 3
Mike Piazza 3
Kirby Puckett 3
Willis Reed 3
Frank Robinson 3
Larry Robinson 3
Rumeal Robinson 3
Alex Rodriguez 3
Babe Ruth 3
Pete Sampras 3
Frank Shorter 3
Monica Seles 3
Billy Sims 3
Ozzie Smith 3
Sam Snead 3
Mark Spitz 3
Ken Stabler 3
Willie Stargell 3
Casey Stengel 3
George Steinbrenner 3
Isiah Thomas 3
David Thompson 3
Cheryl Tiegs 3
Alan Trammell 3
Wes Westrum 3
Sidney Wicks 3
Jay Williams 3
Ricky Williams 3
James Worthy 3
Carl Yastrzemski 3

*Here and on the pages that follow, athletes incidental to the main image were not included in the count.