in my life time, iv’e always said Wayne Gretzky was the greatest team sport athlete ever...until Brady went to a different team last year and won it all at that age...just jaw dropping...his career will never be equaled..
The strongest argument to be made is that Gretzky didn't just break records -- he obliterated them. I believe he retired with 62 official NHL records, and now -- more than 22 years ago -- still holds 61* records.
Most of Brady's records were set for two reasons: (1) he hung around long after most players would have retired, and (2) his career coincided with a period when the NFL rules changed to make it easier for quarterbacks and receivers to compile epic statistics.
* -- Interestingly, TWO of Gretzky's records were actually broken, but he gained a new record (average points per game) when Mario Lemieux came out of retirement and couldn't maintain the average scoring pace from the first part of his career.