HOF Golden Era Results

[Peter_Spaeth]

Speaking of Namath, it's interesting that his rookie card is so visible and valuable when he is at best a top 20 quarterback.

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by ksabet

Joe Namath is the biggest joke Hall of Famer ever!

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Speaking of Namath, it's interesting that his rookie card is so visible and valuable when he is at best a top 20 quarterback.

I do not follow football at all. So these comments surprised me because Namath is the most popular pre 80s quarterback I have heard of. So I assumed he was better. This shows the bias that happens when all you know is the name and nothing else about the sport's history or stats.

[JollyElm]

With Namath, it's simple. Personality goes a long way.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I could be wrong but I don't think any football person could claim he was better than Unitas, or Starr, or Tarkenton, or Dawson, or Staubach, and probably others just from the 60s/early 70s.

[GregMitch34]

It's a joke that some came so close even.

[sycks22]

Would love to see Oliva get in then all of my auto's of him would go up. He signs every other day here in MN.

[Fred]

Bob Johnson gets no respect..... overall stats are similar to Dick Allen's numbers but he didn't even get a mention for consideration.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I could be wrong but I don't think any football person could claim he was better than Unitas, or Starr, or Tarkenton, or Dawson, or Staubach, and probably others just from the 60s/early 70s.

I would add Sammy Baugh and Sonny Jurgensen to that list of great QB's.

The mystique regarding Joe Namath is that in 1969 he showed the NFL world that the AFL was not a 2nd class League....when he led the Jets
to a Super Bowl win over Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts.

The sports world (more or less) considered Namath's victory a "fluke". But, then in 1970, Lenny Dawson followed up with his Super Bowl win
over the Vikings.

Those were great years, if you were an old AFL fan. Namath was good, but his Receiving squad, made him greater than good....Maynard, Bell,
Snell, Caster, and RB's: Boozer and Riggins (my favorite guy).

Here's my ticket stub from the greatest FB game I was ever at (Jets 44 vs. Colts 34..9/24/72). Namath threw for 496 yds. and Johnny Unitas
threw for 376 yds.)




TED Z
.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

With Namath, it's simple. Personality goes a long way.

Statistically he was not one of the top QBs of all time but it's more than personality with Namath. He legitimized the AFL when he signed the biggest contract in history with the Jets instead of going to the NFL. He engineered a huge Super Bowl upset that further legitimized the AFL. He was the first QB to throw for 4,000 yards in a season (14 games). He was voted first team All-AFL ahead of Len Dawson.

jeff

[ksabet]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Statistically he was not one of the top QBs of all time but it's more than personality with Namath. He legitimized the AFL when he signed the biggest contract in history with the Jets instead of going to the NFL. He engineered a huge Super Bowl upset that further legitimized the AFL. He was the first QB to throw for 4,000 yards in a season (14 games). He was voted first team All-AFL ahead of Len Dawson.

jeff

I think the 4,000 yard thing is nice but doesn't make up for the fact that he had a losing record as a starter and threw more INT's than TD's. His completion percentage I believe is at or near the bottom of Hall of Fame QBs.

If Namath played in St. Louis at the time he would be a complete after thought. I would rate Plunkett and Brodie and possibly Gabriel as better contemporary passers.


Sorry I digress. I know this is a baseball forum and therefore given my above argument I am glad to see no one made it in. There should be NO golden era committee or Veterans committee or anything the like. If you weren't good enough to get in during eligibility the you are simply not good enough.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Passer rating can be misleading, but Joe is not even in the top 150 in that department (and it doesn't depend on longevity).

[bxb]

Fortunately, HOFs do not, nor should they, depend solely on statistics. I was a Buffalo Bills fan as a kid and saw many games against Joe Namath. I can tell you first hand he was one of the greatest QBs of all time.

[nolemmings]

If Namath played in St. Louis at the time he would be a complete after thought. I would rate Plunkett and Brodie and possibly Gabriel as better contemporary passers.

Jim Plunkett was barely a contemporary of Namath's, and threw a shotput--one of the ugliest balls I have ever seen (with apologies to Bobby Douglass). John Hadl would be a more apt comparison to Namath, given their attachment to the old AFL and its love for the long pass and flair for the big play.

I doubt Namath would ever have been an "afterhought" regardless of where he played,and I would suggest that had he quarterbacked the Chiefs or Raiders, he would have led those teams to even more success than they enjoyed as the dominant teams of that time. Note that Namath was voted/named the quarterback on the all-time AFL team, ahead of Dawson, Kemp, et al.

I was no fan of Joe Willie, especially as I lived and died with Johnny U's Colts. Still, I recall him being an incredible player to watch, and stats aside, the following tributes (per Wikipedia) are pretty high praise from those who would know:
"Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh stated that Namath was "the most beautiful, accurate, stylish passer with the quickest release [he'd] ever seen." Hall of Fame coach Don Shula stated that Namath was "one of the three smartest quarterbacks of all time."

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by ksabet

There should be NO golden era committee or Veterans committee or anything the like. If you weren't good enough to get in during eligibility the you are simply not good enough.

Who wants to go visit the grave of Arky Vaughan and give him the bad news?

[timn1]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

Who wants to go visit the grave of Arky Vaughan and give him the bad news?

+1, well put. I want Arky in there!

What is this mania for preserving the "standards" of the HOF? Sure, there are some clunkers in there (Hooper, Ferrell, the infamous Frisch-led infield of Kelly, Jackson, and Lindstrom), but for the most part the Veterans Committee has righted a lot of omissions that the sportswriters collectively committed.