that's pretty american-centric. as an indian i'd say ali was truly world-famous, jordan is well known to my generation due to nba catching on in the 80s but i'm betting a large chunk of my parent's generation wouldn't know him, i only knew about babe ruth from reading american fiction, and i'd pretty much never heard of gretzky until last year.

so you have in fact heard of all of them. I think that pretty much proves my point, but I could also throw Pele in there for a non american that is far far more well known than Mr. Bradman.

It's obviously American centric because American media has been dominate at a global level for decades. That's the reason so many people know who eg Tiger Woods and Jordan are: American media made them famous to a degree far exceeding their accomplishments. The same holds true in music, movies, tv shows, and so on.

Jordan was widely regarded as one of the most famous people on earth for 15 or 20 years. His name is even more famous than his picture. I don't think there's much debate to be had about his global fame frankly. As basketball globalized rapidly in the late 80's / early 90's, it was his image intertwined with it, and it perfectly coincided with the rise of global media.

It's got more to do with the audience for the sport. Golf is played all over the world. On the other hand, a famous American Football quarterback could travel incognito in most of the world, because the international audience for American football is tiny by comparison.

> Someone that a higher percentage of people would be familiar with.

Actually, given India's huge population, I think it is more likely than not that more people are familiar with cricket than are familiar with baseball.

For example - http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2011/04/04/cricket-wor...

Babe Ruth? So by "a higher percentage of people" you mean "Americans and few others"

I suspect that Babe Ruth might actually be comparable. People that know a little bit about baseball know him. People that know a little bit about cricket know Bradman.

Ali and Jordan on the other hand are pretty much known by everyone. Pele would be another good example.

OP apparently isn't from the USA; I'd imagine in OP's cultural context the Bambino is less well known, baseball being a mostly North American sport.

Let's not forget we have an international readership here :-)

True, but I suspect the other three are more well known by far more people. If we want to go international, I'd put Pele out there before Mr. Bradman