Much has been made recently concerning the great Tom Brady and his potential status as the Greatest of All Time. (Henceforth known as GOAT.)

Brady’s got seven Super Bowls and three MVPs. He’s the greatest football player of all time.

But in all sports?

Consider the following.

Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 2,857 points. That’s 936 ahead of the man who’s number two. (That would be Jaromir Jagr.) For those of you who appreciate the math lessons I try to bring to this blog, Gretzky’s career points total is 48.7% higher than Jagr’s. That is, nearly half again as much.

Doesn’t sound impressive yet?

If Barry Bonds beat Hank Aaron’s career home run record by the same factor he wouldn’t have finished with 762. He’d have finished at 1,123.

Pete Rose wouldn’t have 4,265 hits. He’d have 6,233. Kind of like completing a Hall of Fame career… twice.

If LeBron James wants to take over the NBA’s all-time scoring lead some day he’ll have to score 3,482 more points. To top Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by the Gretzky factor he’ll have to score 18,703 more than that.

That’s eight and a half more years, 82 games a season, at his career pace.

And Tom Brady?

Well, if he plays next year (I have no doubt he will), in a few games he’ll pass Drew Brees on the all-time NFL passing yardage list.

All he’s got to do then is pass for 39,154 more.