A sports example

To illustrate another example, and how a specific visualization method works better than another, let us consider a different question: What are the top five record touchdowns by quarterbacks in American Football as of Feb 2015? The original source of data for this are the Len Dawson NFL and AFL Statistics. (Data source: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DawsLe00.htm.)

The data contains information about the top 22 quarterbacks: Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Frank Tarkenton, John Elway, Warren Moon, John Unitas, Vinny Testaverda, Joe Montana, Dave Krieg, Eli Manning, Sonny Jurgensen, Dan Fouts, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Bledsoe, Boomer Esiason, John Hadle, Tittle, and Tony Romo:

Before we think of a visualization method, a little bit of analysis needs to be done. These quarterbacks had played in different time periods. For example, Brett Favre played from 1991 to 2010, and Dan Marino played from 1983 to 1999. The...