On Wednesday, the National Baseball Hall Of Fame, dedicated to presumably honor the greats in Major League Baseball and American Baseball at the highest levels, announced the results of the vote taken late last year by the BBWAA. The BBWAA are the organization of sports writers devoted to covering MLB and making their slack-jawed opinions known whether we want them or not. Every year, a select number of recently retired ballplayers who have been inactive for at least five years are voted by these writers to receive this prestigious honor. And in most cases, ballplayers that deserve the honor are routinely denied the honor of having a day devoted to them and a permanent plaque in Cooperstown, NY.
For 2016, only 2 ballplayers will receive a plaque. These players are Ken Griffey Jr., one of the better center fielders of the 1990s and early 2000s who totaled more than 620 home runs and a slew of personal records; and Mike Piazza, perhaps the best hitting catcher of his era with over 420 home runs and 2600 hits. Being from New York, most of the attention is on Piazza getting in; more so now since he will go in as a Met. By the way, Junior Griffey is going in as a Mariner, but that was a given. It is all well and good, until you realize the amount of ballplayers and off-the-field leaders who are not in the Hall of Fame, either still alive or since passed away.
I was going to provide a list of these oversights, yet that will be for another time. Suffice to say, these oversights, brought forth by a collection of sportswriters and self-proclaimed moralists who think only the purest of pure shall be granted induction, have greatly delineated most people's interest in the Hall of Fame beyond a regional level. I will have more to say about this one day. It might though be a multi-part examination of the Hall of Fame which I know few of you have interest in reading about now, so perhaps in the summer this will suffice.
Now, onto a more lively and exciting Hall of Fame discussion. One day after the Baseball Hall of Fame announced their inductees, the Pro Football Hall Of Fame announced the 18 finalists for their Class of 2016. The 8 inductees will be revealed at the NFL Honors one day before Super Bowl 50, February 6, 2016. Now right then and there, the reveal carries a lot more weight in the NFL than MLB cares to be involved with. As well, the 18 finalists are of such great importance that any of these finalists could be inducted this year and no problems would be had for who went in and who did not. The 18 finalists are:
Morten Andersen
Steve Atwater
Don Coryell (1924-2010)
Terrell Davis
Edward DeBartolo Jr.
Tony Dungy
Alan Faneca
Brett Favre
Kevin Greene
Marvin Harrison
Joe Jacoby
Edgerrin James
John Lynch
Terrell Owens
Orlando Pace
Ken Stabler (1945-2015)
Dick Stanfel (1927-2015)
Kurt Warner
With that in mind, discussion these next few weeks will turn to who gets inducted, when we are not following the playoffs and being armchair quarterbacks. As I mentioned before, 8 of the 18 finalists are likely to be inducted. 4 of them are certain locks. These would be Brett Favre, Ken Stabler, Dick Stanfel and Edward DeBartolo Jr. Stabler and Stanfel made it to be Senior Committee nominees, and Debartolo Jr. is the Contributor nominee; that means three of the eight slots are to be reserved for these specialized candidates. I am certain all three will go in. It also goes without saying that Brett Favre is a certain lock, and I need not explain why.
So that leaves 4 finalists to be inducted. Here is how I see the direction this will go. From what I gather, the four I would choose to go along with the obvious locks are as follows:
Kurt Warner: I do realize we are talking about inducting three quaterbacks getting in one year. However, there have been no quatrerbacks inducted since 2006; so the Hall of Fame is in need of ending the quarterback drought. Warner's backstory and accomplishments speak for themselves I believe.
Kevin Greene: when Kevin Greene retired after 15 years following the 1999 season, Mr. Greene amassed 160 quarterback sacks. Not only was it the third best total of that era; it was and still is the most sacks by a linebacker. Only Lawrence Taylor came closest with 142 sacks. Nine times during his career, Kevin Greene led his team in sacks, and had been a pivotal component in being a defensive leader for playoff teams. It is often hard to pick which team Greene made the most impact for, though I think it was the LA Rams. None the less, Kevin Greene was clearly one of the more consistent linebackers and defensive play makers of his time, and should finally get the long sought induction this year.
Tony Dungy: starting as an effective assistant coach, and then becoming a most impressive head coach with the Bucs and Colts; Tony Dungy had an impressive track record in turning around piss-poor teams and making them playoff contenders. The results are impressive: 148 wins, 10 seasons of 10 or more wins, only one losing season, only two seasons not making the playoffs, three conference championship games, and in 2007 winning Super Bowl 41. With that, Dungy became the first African-American head coach of a Super-Bowl winning team. Not only that, Tony Dungy was and still is an important mentor and role model to his players and active in numerous charitable activities; not to mention his impressive transition to NBC's football coverage and analysis.
Marvin Harrison: never the flashiest player, Marvin Harrison went on to become one of the better wide receivers in the game. Along with perhaps the best wide receiver in Colts history. To this day, Harrison holds the record for the most receptions in one season, set in 2002 with 143. He also had nine seasons of 10 or more touchdowns and 1000 receiving yards, 4 seasons of 100 receptions, only one season in playing less than 10 games, 188 starts out of 190 games played, 1,102 receptions, 128 touchdowns and 14,580 yards. Harrison is also part of the most accomplished quarterback to wide receiver tandem in NFL history along side Peyton Manning. And yes, he did win a Super Bowl as well.
Once again, I presume these will be the eight inductees announced next month. I do think there will be five finalists that could also get selected this year which would not surprise me.
Terrell Owens: though having never won a Super Bowl, and not as consistent in his later years than his 49ers tenure; Terrell Owens was quite the good wide receiver. Owens was also one of the best characters in the game as well, complimenting his 153 touchdowns and numerous records of importance.
Terrell Davis: he only played 7 seasons, and then only the first four were fantastic. Yet I keep mentioning this opinion: the Denver Broncos do not win back to back Super Bowls without Terrell Davis, who came and went as if he were a bright comet. Very comparable to the shortened career of Gale Sayers, whom by the way went in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot though never appearing in the playoffs. If Sayers is in, Davis should go in one day.
Alan Faneca: a great Steelers offensive lineman similar to Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson. Faneca also had 11 fumble recoveries and started 201 out of 206 games played. As well, for a retired player, Alan Faneca looks much better today than in his playing years.
Orlando Pace: Pace was the leading fulcrum in guiding the greatest show on turf during the halcyon era of the Rams. He started 165 out of 169 games played and recovered 9 fumbles along the way.
Morten Andersen: the all time leader in games played, points, field goals, points after touchdowns, field goals of at least 50 yards, and holds the team records for kicking in both the Saints and the Falcons. Andersen became the prototype for the idea of the kicker to be the deciding factor in not only a win for a team, but also an identity.
I think Steve Atwater may be waiting at least another year. Don Coryell might get a posthumous induction, though Coryell not having been to a Super Bowl is a bit of a damper. John Lynch will get inducted one day, though it may take a few years. Edgerrin James will likely go in one or two years from now. And Joe Jacoby is a candidate that could be a surprise inductee, though I am just not seeing it this year.
Well, those are my thoughts on the two different Halls of Fame. Truthfully it is really only the Pro Football Hall of Fame that my focus was on; not a surprise since I am more interested in football than baseball.
I have also been informed that this marks one year since I started this weblog page. To all that are continuing on this journey with me; I offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation. 2016 is promising to be a very intriguing year and one full of newer possibilities and avenues to show my opinions. I hope you will like what is coming next.
More coming; stay tuned,
Robert
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