Separated at Birth - Rappers and Ballers

Charlie Hayes For years, I've had this long standing belief that Phife Dawg and former Yankees utility man Charlie Hayes looked remarkably similar.

Charlie Hayes

For years, I've had this long standing belief that Phife Dawg and former Yankees utility man Charlie Hayes looked remarkably similar. A very random thing to believe in, yes, but a subject that has come up more than once in conversations with my Yankees obsessed friends (perhaps the only group of people who actually know who Charlie Hayes is, a man whose main claim to fame being that he caught the last out in the '96 World Series). In an effort to resolve the issue, I went onto the internet to find photos for comparison's sake. I learned two things: Hayes and Phife don't look anywhere near as similar as I thought they did, and there are virtually no good photos to be found on the internet of a 90's era Phife Dawg (to the point where I couldn't even find a decent photo of Phife to run with this post). A disappointing endeavor all around, I have to admit, so I decided to pull together some better athlete/rapper comparisons to redeem myself. This task was complicated somewhat by the fact that the last time I was interested in any sport other than basketball was right around the time Charlie Hayes was putting up any kind of meaningful stats.¹

So here are the eight best rapper/NBA lookalikes that I could come up with, along with a couple of suggestions I found over at joebuddentv. Got any better suggestions? Drop 'em in the comments.

(Image: Fresh Prince vs Robert Horry)

Fresh Prince / Robert Horry

(Image: Dr. Dre vs Marcus Camby)

Dr. Dre / Marcus Camby

(Image: The Game vs Josh Smith)

The Game / Josh Smith

(Image: Donyell Marshall vs Ludacris)

Donyell Marshall / Ludacris

(Image: Nene vs Bonecrusher)

Nene / Bonecrusher

(Image: Baron Davis vs Kanye West)

Baron Davis / Kanye West

(Image: Anthony Johnson vs Nate Dogg)

Anthony Johnson / Nate Dogg

(Image: Mickael Pietrus vs Jay Electronica)

Mickael Pietrus / Jay Electronica

And a few that just missed the cut, mostly due to me not being able to find photos that show a close enough resemblance: Joe Budden/Kenyon Martin/Drew Gooden, Method Man/Kenyon Martin, Prodigy/Monta Ellis, Chris Brown/Shannon Brown, Nick Cannon/Channing Frye, Bangz/Chris Bosh.

¹Since this is a sports-related post, it seemed like the perfect time to go into Bill Simmons mode and drop a lengthy footnote. To be specific, I lost interest in baseball as a result of the '94 strike, when my beloved Expos were robbed of their last, and best, chance at going to the World Series. I grew up in a household that was partial to the Phillies (due to my grandfather being a onetime pitcher for the club) and the Yankees (due to geographical proximity), but after watching Ken Burns' documentary on baseball, which included a story of Expos star Tim Raines exclusively sliding head first whenever stealing a base so as not to break the vial of cocaine that he kept in his uniform's back pocket, I became fascinated with the team. They also had the best caps in baseball.