Philadelphia Sports: Top 10 athletes from last decade (2010-19)

As the decade comes to a close, it’s time to make some hard choices and count down the top 10 professional athletes to suit up for Philadelphia sports teams over the past 10 years.

Thinking back over the last few years, who are the best of the best among Philadelphia sports athletes this decade?

Upon reflecting, I found that there were no easy, slam-dunk answers. This stands in stark contrast to last decade, where you and I could rattle off names immediately.

There were Hall of Fame players like Allen Iverson and Brian Dawkins.

There were very good players who will tell you they’re Hall of Famers like Donovan McNabb.

There was the core of the Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series championship team such as Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.

Players like Bobby Abreu, Jim Thome, Andre Iguodala and Simon Gagne would all have been in the mix as well.

But that was all last decade, as hard as that might be to believe.

As for this nearly-complete decade of 2010-2019, things are much murkier. Maybe the old adage about hindsight being 20/20 is true after all.

There are, at the same time, many options but also no clear-cut list-topping players. I find myself having to make tough calls up and down the entire rankings.

But, rank we must, and hopefully some healthy debate is stirred by this list.

Let’s start with some honorable mentions, those players whose contributions since 2010 were important and notable but fell just short of earning them a spot in the top ten.