r/whowouldwin • u/retired-tweeter • 4d ago

Battle All 47 US Presidents are running against each other in a 40 yard dash. Who wins?

Every U.S. President is magically cloned into their peak physical form, dropped onto a football field, and lined up for a 40-yard dash. Who ya got?

Favorites:

JFK: 2 sport college athlete, plus military training. Swam 3.5 miles towing an injured soldier with a bad back.

Gerald Ford: Another strong military background who was a two-way football player at Michigan.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Extensive military career, who played halfback at west point until his injury. Guessing he was a little fast even in segregated times

Barack Obama: Gonna get a lot of votes here probably as one of the only presidents we've seen in action playing an athletic sport, but no athletic background, so you know, can't give him too much credit

Donald Trump: In doing my 20 minutes worth of research, I came across this quote from a Ted Levine in 2015 (In an article about Trump running in 2016 so...take that as you will) "He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete," Levine said. "He could have probably played pro ball as a pitcher. I think he threw 80 miles an hour.... He was physically and mentally gifted." So there's that (Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-high-school-classmates-what-he-was-like-2015-10)

All in All, I'd lean Gerald Ford. JFK had injury issues so who knows what his "prime" would have been athletically. Maybe at absolute peak and health, JFK could win, but I'm going with the 2-way football player from Michigan.

799 Upvotes

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335

u/doylehawk 4d ago

Saying someone could have played professional baseball as a pitcher then saying “I think he threw 80” really tells me you haven’t the slightest idea of what a pro pitcher might be

229

u/neksys 4d ago

A 16-17 year old throwing 80mph fastballs in 1962 would have absolutely drawn a TON of interest from MLB teams. Even now 75-85 in high school would pique some scouts attention.

I say this with A LOT OF DOUBT that Trump was throwing heaters in high school.

100

u/CowboySoothsayer 4d ago

I say with no doubt that he wasn’t.

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u/Coalnaryinthecarmine 4d ago

he was physically and mentally gifted

I assume his physical gifts were about on par with his mental ones

29

u/Ill_Made_Knight 4d ago

Listen man, he's highly cognitive. Woman. Fish. Elephant. Doctor nearly fell out of his chair when Trump listed those things. Never been done before. They tested Einstein once and he only got to Wom. The fact that Trump got all 3 means he's 3 times smarter than Egghead. He's on another level and has the good genes like Syndey. A lot of people are saying it.

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u/JonnyRottensTeeth 4d ago

trump was also tangentially related to an MIT professor! If great intellect is not inherited directly from your uncle, I don't know anything about basic genetics!

1

u/faplessinfeattle 4d ago

Mental bone spurs

1

u/ejjsjejsj 1d ago

I have no idea why you would be confident in that. He was over six feet tall and kind of a bulky build in his youth, probably around 200 pounds. Also throwing 80 is very good but not outrageous. He was also rich growing up so he could’ve had good coaching/training. Overall I see no reason why this couldn’t be true

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u/EmptyOhNein 4d ago

Trump is less than a year from beating Kim Jong Un's "38 under" on the golf course with his current trajectory. I'd take any accomplishment he has or had with a planet full of salt.

1

u/CloseToMyActualName 2d ago

I heard that Trump and Kim Jong Un played a full round of golf together.

After 18 holes they were tied at 17.

19

u/rolldamntree 4d ago

D1 schools now have basically all their guys throwing minimum mid 80s and most in the 90s. 75-80 might get you a look for a d2 school it definitely isn’t interesting pro scouts in today’s baseball

3

u/confused-koala 4d ago

Thank you lol. Not quite, but nearly as asinine a comment as the one we’re (deservedly) clowning on

2

u/PibbleDad 1d ago

I threw 75-80 in HS with good accuracy. Definitely did not get scouted lol

4

u/Mrs_Crii 4d ago

He definitely wasn't. I remember reading about someone who knew him then and his baseball performance wasn't anything special.

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u/PresidentEnronMusk 3d ago

How could he have had an athletic career with bone spurs?

21

u/object109 4d ago

Jaime Moyers fastball topped out at like 84 and he played 20 years.

15

u/Glonk49 4d ago

In his 40s yeah. Moyer could toss around low 90s when he was younger. Fuck I miss watching his old ass pitch

8

u/GhostFaceRiddler 4d ago

The glaring exception to the rule doesn’t prove the point.

6

u/Sisko4President 4d ago

“He was just the best, a good, a great athlete” sounds like when they say, “Just write what you want me to say on the rec letter.”

4

u/Bradddtheimpaler 4d ago

This is borderline knuckleballer erasure.

3

u/Key-Tip-7521 4d ago

Wasn’t there a video of him firing a strike on a ceremonial first pitch many years ago?

4

u/Mr_Sarcasum 4d ago

Today 10 miles higher. But we're talking about the 1960s and '70s here.

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u/JBaecker 4d ago

Tom Seaver entered USC pitching 85mph fastballs. He upped his speed to 91 by the end of his lone season in college in 1965. By the time of the 69 Mets World Series he had multiple recorded 100mph fastballs. Some pitchers might get looked at if they were throwing 80 in high school but you had to be mid-80s for good college programs to notice you even back then.

1

u/AlexTheGreat 4d ago

Pitch speed is also measured differently today. Out of the hand rather than the average velo.

1

u/whinenaught 4d ago

Pitchers are also not often very fast runners. So while he could have been a great athlete that’s no proof of 40 yard speed

1

u/doylehawk 4d ago

What?

1

u/whinenaught 3d ago

There’s pitchers in the big leagues who are strong and can throw well but they are slow when they run. It’s all about what they train.

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u/cutlerthebutler 3d ago

“And many people, a great number, actually, when you ask them, they say ‘Donald Trump is a great athlete’. It’s true, believe me. A great many people, they see what I can do, and boy. My doctor signed a really great medical report. HERC. ULEAN. Folks, they call it Herc. Ulean. That’s what they call me. I could have been a professional, a pro, really, in baseball, with my arm? I had an arm like you wouldn’t believe, 80 miles an hour, I could throw it. Very fast, all the teams, they’d have been asking for Trump. Begging for me to sign. Believe me, it’s true.”

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u/undercovertiger 11h ago

The average mlb fastball was estimated to be upper 80s to low 90s in the 1960s. So, a high schooler throwing 80s back then is COMPLETELY different than throwing 80 nowadays.

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u/CountOfSterpeto 4d ago

What's the time frame, though? Trump is OLD. If we're talking early 1960s, 80 wouldn't be too far off the mark

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u/lj_w 4d ago

Why the downvotes? This is right (not that he was actually throwing at those speeds, that much is obvious)

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u/rolldamntree 4d ago

80 mph was not a pro level fastball even in 1960

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u/decksetter914 4d ago

I took it to mean he threw 80 around that 2015 timeframe, but I have no idea. Pitching doesn't directly translate to being a fast runner.