6. Tommy John, Indians/White Sox/Dodgers/Yankees/Angels/Athletics

10 Players Who Should Be In Their Sports' Hall of Fame

Sometimes baseball milestones, such as 300 wins, 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, are easy landmarks to decide who belongs in the Hall of Fame and who doesn't. And sometimes those arbitrary numbers are completely unfair. Tommy John is exhibit A. If he had won 12 more games, he would have easily made it into the Hall of Fame. After all, he had a 26-year career, a very respectable 3.34 career ERA, was a four-time All-Star, and he racked up the seventh most wins of any left hander in MLB history. Of course, it's also worth noting that midway through his career, John suffered an elbow injury that would put him on the shelf for a year and a half. He was the recipient of a radical new surgery which took a tendon from his right forearm and placed it in his damaged elbow (now known as Tommy John surgery). Not only did he have no idea whether the surgery would be successful, he had to completely revamp his pitching style to put less pressure on his elbow. Despite this, he won 164 games after the surgery... one less than first-ballot Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax won in his entire career. His 288 wins are the most of any pitcher not in the Hall of Fame. He belongs in Cooperstown.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/File)

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1. Ken Anderson,... His candidacy for the Canton Hall of Fame is now being reviewed by the Veteran's Committee. This should be a no-brainer. Ken Anderson led the NFL in QB rating four times; Montana and Marino combined to lead it three times. He threw for more yards than Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese and Joe Namath. He threw for more TDs than Troy Aikman, Bart Starr and Roger Staubach. His only blemish is his lack of Super Bowl rings. He threw with pinpoint accuracy at a time when guys were happy to complete half of their passes. Completely overlooked.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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2. Ricky Watters... "For who? For what?" Never have words hurt a players' legacy more than those four words hurt Ricky Watters’s. Despite the fact that he played smashmouth football for most of his career, taking a play off in Philadelphia is a mortal sin, and Eagles fans never let him, or the world, forget those words after he alligator-armed a pass at the end of a blowout loss. It's too bad, because Watters is one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. He is 20th all-time in all-time yards from scrimmage, squeezed between two guys you might have heard of named Randy Moss and Jim Brown. And that doesn't include the 1,117 yards from scrimmage he racked up in 11 postseason games. In his only Super Bowl appearance, he had over 100 total yards and hit paydirt three times. If you want to judge him because he said four words that hurt your feelings, then maybe you should be watching soap operas instead of football. Watters should be in the Hall.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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3. Curtis Martin... How in the world does a player who played most of his career in New York stay so far under the radar? The fourth leading rusher in NFL history… more rushing TDs than Jim Brown…. more yards than Eric Dickerson… more yards from scrimmage than Thurman Thomas or Tony Dorsett… Rookie of the Year… five-time All-Pro – you get the picture. While Watters's attitude certainly hurts him in voters’ eyes, Martin's off the field contributions only make him look even better: Three-time Dennis Byrd Courage Award, Bart Starr Man of the Year, Kyle Clifton Good Guy Award and Ed Block Courage Award. If ever there should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer in football, this is the guy. If you ask me, every writer who didn't vote this guy in should get his credentials revoked... and his head checked.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

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4. Cris Carter, ... The only possible explanation for Carter's snub to Canton is that he caught too many touchdown passes, and Hall of Fame Voters frown on that, just like Buddy Ryan did. It is true, he caught a lot of them, 130 to be precise, which is fourth all-time. He has the third most receptions in NFL history and eighth most yards. There is simply no conceivable reason why he's not in the Hall of Fame. None.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Tom Olmscheid)

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5. Shoeless Joe ... His numbers speak for themselves: a career batting average of .356 (third highest in baseball history), four seasons batting .380 or higher, including one season at an unprecedented .408. Jackson was not a home run hitter, but he possessed the speed and power to lead the league in triples three times. He was well on his way to padding those numbers even more when Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis threw him out of the game for good, following accusations of throwing the 1919 World Series. If he did fix the Series, he did a pretty awful job of it. The White Sox left fielder led all batters with a .375 average, set a new Series record with 12 hits, threw out a runner at home and fielded all 30 of his chances cleanly. Jackson claimed to his dying day that he didn't throw the Series. I believe him. A funny thing happened on the way to Canton, however. His snub from the Hall of Fame hasn’t made him famous; it’s made him infamous.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP photo)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
6. Tommy John, I... Sometimes baseball milestones, such as 300 wins, 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, are easy landmarks to decide who belongs in the Hall of Fame and who doesn't. And sometimes those arbitrary numbers are completely unfair. Tommy John is exhibit A. If he had won 12 more games, he would have easily made it into the Hall of Fame. After all, he had a 26-year career, a very respectable 3.34 career ERA, was a four-time All-Star, and he racked up the seventh most wins of any left hander in MLB history. Of course, it's also worth noting that midway through his career, John suffered an elbow injury that would put him on the shelf for a year and a half. He was the recipient of a radical new surgery which took a tendon from his right forearm and placed it in his damaged elbow (now known as Tommy John surgery). Not only did he have no idea whether the surgery would be successful, he had to completely revamp his pitching style to put less pressure on his elbow. Despite this, he won 164 games after the surgery... one less than first-ballot Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax won in his entire career. His 288 wins are the most of any pitcher not in the Hall of Fame. He belongs in Cooperstown.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/File)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
7. Jeff Bagwell,... Jeff Bagwell's crime was coming along in the steroid era, and just like every power hitter of that era, the pall of suspicion hangs over him. There is no evidence that he did steroids, but there's no evidence that he didn't either, and in this day and age that's enough to turn voters off. If you go simply by the numbers, though, this guy should be in the Hall. He was a Rookie of the Year, a perennial MVP candidate (he won once and finished in the top 20 in voting nine other times), and a great defensive player. He hit 449 homers, had an incredible career OBP of .408, and is one of only three first basemen ever to have six straight seasons of 30 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored. The other two are Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx. Bagwell is the only first baseman in history to hit 400 home runs and steal 200 bases. We don't have the time to debate the steroid era, but when all is said and done, baseball is a game of numbers. And Bagwell's numbers are Hall-worthy.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Brett Coomer)

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8. Tim Raines, E... The only player in MLB history to score 1500 runs and not be inducted into the Hall, Raines also stole more bases than all but three other men (Henderson, Brock, Cobb) in the history of baseball. Another guy who gets hurt by baseball's magic numbers, he finished his career with 2,605 hits and a career .294 average. Four-hundred more hits or a .300 average and I think he waltzes into the Hall. And let's be honest: if Raines had played his glory years in New York instead of Montreal, he'd have already dressed in a tie and given a speech.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
9. Reggie Miller... Basketball's Hall of Fame is a completely different monster than the other sports. Not only do they enshrine women, they go out of their way to include foreign players as well. It's great that they are so inclusive, but it also makes it hard to judge what exactly being a Hall of Famer means. You can't compare Reggie Miller with, say, women's pioneer Ann E. Meyers the way you can compare Ken Anderson with Dan Fouts. Regardless, Miller should have been a lock to make the Hall in his first year of eligibility. The argument against him is that he never won an MVP or a championship. Like it's his fault he played at the same time as Jordan, who won all the MVPs and titles. He almost single-handedly lifted a dead-end, dormant franchise into the NBA's elite. He hit more three-pointers than all but one player (Ray Allen) in NBA history. Furthermore, he turned his game up in the playoffs, electrifying the nation with his traditional late-game heroics in Madison Square Garden. And finally, how in the world does Chris Mullin get in if Miller doesn't? After coming from a Golden State team that he took nowhere, Mullin came to Indiana to play with Miller. One of them was the best player on that team, and one player wasn't. The one who wasn't just gave his Hall of Fame speech.—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Beth A. Keiser)

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10. Robert Horry... His regular season numbers are far from gaudy. He was never one of the best three players on his team. He was lucky enough to play with some of the greatest big men in NBA history (Olajuwon, Shaq, Duncan). There are plenty of reasons to deny Horry’s entry into the Hall. But Robert Horry's seven rings were no accident. He took big shots, in big moments, and always seemed to hit them. He was the equivalent of a great relief pitcher. In a tight game, with less than a minute left, you'd see Horry check in at the scorer's table and think to yourself, "This one's over." Thanks to inviting over half of the teams into their interminable playoffs, the NBA has rendered the regular season almost meaningless anyway, so I have no problem overlooking Horry's regular season stats and judging him by what he did in the clutch. Year after year… after year… after year...—Johnny Goodtimes (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
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