What athletes have gone far despite having the 'wrong' body type for their sport?
e.g.
Chiyonofuji: sumo wrestler with low body fat
Mike Tyson: heavyweight boxer who is short
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Tim Lincecum. It literally required his engineer father to analyze and perfect every part of his pitching mechanics to be able to compete at the highest level. Everything about his pitching delivery was so goddamn weird that he is simply known as The Freak. But for a short time he was as good as anyone, throwing 2 no hitters, and winning 2 cy young awards and 3 world series.
Google says he's 5'11? Is that too short to pitch?
Most MLB pitchers, and players for that matter, are over 6 foot tall.
No it’s not too short to pitch, but less than average.
That doesn't surprise me too much. I'm just surprised at the notion that being 5'11 would require such drastic effort. I'm not doubting it, I just would've figured there were a bunch of pitchers that height with people like Randy Johnson being outliers. But I don't really watch baseball.
And let's not forget the Giants' amazing reliever, Pablo Sandoval (0.00 ERA and 0.00 WHIP)!
For those not in the loop, he was a (seemingly) overweight 3rd baseman who made phenomenally athletic plays and hit monster home runs (especially in the postseason, leading to 3 World Series trophies and a WS MVP), earning the nickname "Kung Fu Panda."
Then, in the twilight of his career, he also pitched 2 innings without allowing a baserunner, becoming a bit of an SF meme, including at least one "Let Pablo Pitch" bobblehead.