 Many of Jordan 's contemporaries say that Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time . In 1999 , an ESPN survey of journalists , athletes and other sports figures ranked Jordan the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century , above such <unk> as Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali . Jordan placed second to Babe Ruth in the Associated Press 's December 1999 list of 20th century athletes . In addition , the Associated Press voted him as the basketball player of the 20th century . Jordan has also appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated a record 50 times . In the September 1996 issue of Sport , which was the publication 's 50th anniversary issue , Jordan was named the greatest athlete of the past 50 years . 
