Career Leader for Two Different Franchises





Two years ago, Tom Brady threw his eighty-first regular season touchdown pass with the Buccaneers to pass Josh Freeman for second all-time on the Buccaneers career list. Of course, he is also first on the Patriots career passing touchdowns list. The only other quarterback to be in the top two in career touchdown passes for two different franchises is Peyton Manning. After throwing a franchise-high 399 touchdown passes for the Colts, Manning threw 140 touchdown passes for the Denver Broncos (second all-time). Unlike Manning, Brady had a real chance of being the all-time leader for his second franchise. He retired from the NFL with 108 touchdown passes, just thirteen shy of Jameis Winston's franchise record of 121 touchdown passes.

That got me to thinking: is anyone currently the career leader in any category for two different franchises in the four major professional sports leagues? Like Brady, many of the greatest athletes (Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Willie Mays, Michael Jordan, etc.) played too much of their careers with one team to accomplish this.

My first thought was Mark McGwire and home runs. McGwire played eleven seasons with the Oakland A's and had some crazy seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. While McGwire is the all-time leader in home runs for the A's, he is only sixth all-time for the Cardinals. Based on my own memories and looking at career leaders lists and this list and this list, I also tried the following athletes and categories: Finally, I found two athletes who were the career leaders for two different franchises in some category: Chris Paul (assists) and Nolan Ryan (strikeouts). Paul is the career leader in assists for the Clippers and the Pelicans. Ryan is the career leader in strikeouts for the Angels and the Astros.

Incredibly, Ryan is also fifth on the all-time list for the Rangers. Ryan is not the only athlete to be in the top-5 in any category for three different sports franchises. Wilt Chamberlain is top-5 in career rebounds for the Warriors (2nd), 76ers (5th), and Lakers (5th). Even though he is the all-time leader in rebounds, Chamberlain is not the career leader for any single franchise.

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