The Unsung – Buddy Bell.

David Gus "Buddy" Bell (born August 27, 1951)

Played for: Cleveland Indians (1972–1978), Texas Rangers (1979–1985, 1989), 

Cincinnati Reds (1985–1988), Houston Astros (1988)

Buddy Bell: Baseball Reference [Player] — Third baseman (3B)

2,514 hits, 201 home runs, 1,106 RBI, .279/.341/.406 slash-line in 2,405 games, 66.3 WAR

 

5× All-Star (1973, 1980–1982, 1984)

6× Gold Glove Award (1979–1984)

Silver Slugger Award (1984)

It seems only yesterday that I was checking the all-time hit totals for players in the Top 100 for MLB (as one does when following Jose Altuve, the greatest Astro of the 21st century*).

One name jumped out among the various Hall of Famers and other various folks: Buddy Bell. The Unsung Hall of Fame is meant to give credit to those who never really got their due, and I would say Bell fits that category as one who played at such a vital position. The son of outfielder Gus Bell, David (later nicknamed "Buddy"), he attended Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati and excelled in both basketball and baseball as the first of a handful of famed athletes from there (Ken Griffey Jr, Barry Larkin, Doug Williams). Bell actually did get drafted in 1969, doing so in the 16th round by the Cleveland Indians*. He grinded away in the minor leagues until 1972, when he finally made the majors. Around his early twenties, he discovered that he suffered from epilepsy, which he went public with only after his career came to an end.

Oddly enough, his first season saw him play in the outfield (left/right) most of the time. He didn't get a hit on Opening Day, but he did get his first knocks on April 19 (three games later) with a three-hit day while also stealing two bases against the Boston Red Sox. He hit his first home run three days later in Cleveland against the Baltimore Orioles off Eddie Watt. In 132 total games that year for a team that finished 72-84, he had 119 hits (.255) with nine home runs while having the first of eleven seasons (minimum 95 games) where he had more walks than strikeouts. The trade of third baseman Graig Nettles to the Yankees gave Bell the chance to be the starter at the position, where he would play all but 91 games (not including pinch hitting/running) of his following career. He raised his totals a bit that year, batting .268 with fourteen home runs and 59 RBIs while being named to the All-Star Game for the first time. For whatever reason, the 1975 season saw him actually reject an All-Star Game selection, as his finish of second to Nettles initially led to the selection of Bell as a backup, but he declined it. In his seven seasons in Cleveland (for three managers), Bell was part of a winning team exactly once: the 1976 team (where they finished 81-78). By the end of the 1978 season, he was a 27-year-old player with 1,016 hits in 987 games. 

His peak, so to speak, would come quickly. In December, he was traded to the Rangers for Toby Harrah in a swap of third basemen. He played every game of the 1979 season and had his lone 100-RBI and 200-hit season while batting .299 and earning a 10th place MVP finish while being named a Gold Glover. Bell's tenure with the Rangers produced one winning full season with the 83-79 team in 1979 that finished five games behind the Angels for the West title and a close one of sorts with the 1981 split season where they finished 1.5/4.5 games behind in the halves of a season that saw them ultimately finish out of contention. Bell had a six-year run of Gold Gloves (interpret for the advanced folks about how that works out here) and even added a Silver Slugger Award in 1984 by batting .315 in 148 games with 83 RBIs. On April 26, 1985, he joined the semi-exclusive club of players with 2,000 hits (at the time, 162 people were on the list). Ironically, his latter seasons saw him actually play on teams that won more than they lost, starting in that year with a trade to Cincinnati for Jeff Russell and Duane Walker. He batted .266 in four years with the Reds, which at least saw him have a season of 3.5 in WAR for 1986 to go with his only 20-HR season.

The Astros traded for him in exchange for a minor league prospect in June of 1988. He batted .253 in 74 games, with the one highlight being a home run on September 11 that saw him reach 200 for a career - he was one of only 15 players to play 50% of their games at 3B with 200 home runs at that time. He was subsequently released in December. He signed as a free agent at 37 with the Rangers in 1989. In the Opening Day game on April 4, he reached 2,500 hits against Detroit. The struggles came early and never stopped, however, as he batted .183 in 34 games before electing to retire in June. At the time, he was one of just 65 players to have 2,500 hits in MLB history. From 1986 to September 23, 2026, he was in the top 100 all-time for hits. His four All-Star selections for the Rangers (1961 in Washington, 1972 Arlington) was at one point the most in their young history. His 2,405 games played ranks as the fourth most for those who never reached the postseason, with no player coming even 300 games close to that mark since Bell's retirement. He didn't walk much (836) but he also didn't strike out much (776). Owing to his durable nature, he played in 95 games in 17 of 18 seasons, going to 140 with 11/18 seasons and as a result is one of less than 100 players with 2400 games played in MLB history. He became involved in minor league instructing for a number of years before becoming an infield coach with Cleveland for 1994 and 1995, with the latter year seeing him take the field with, well, a postseason run. He served as a manager for three different teams (Tigers, Rockies, Royals) and managed the American team at the 1999 Pan American Games to a second-place finish (by doing so, the Americans qualified for the Olympic Games in 2000). He served in the front office for Chicago and Cincinnati for a number of years, with the latter tenure seeing him watch his son David become manager from 2019 to 2024.

In 1989, do you know how many players with at least 50 percent of their tenure at third base had both of 200 home runs and 1,000 RBIs? A measly total of eleven (ranging from the famous Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews to the underrated Darrell Evans & Nettles to HOFers Brooks Robinson and George Brett, for example), and the total has only grown to 28 since. For those interested in WAR and quibbling over the differences for offense and defense, Bell recorded 23.8 Defensive WAR, which actually ranks 25th all-time (for fun, there are just 12 players with at least 10,000 plate appearances and 20.0+ dWAR); 48.1 offensive WAR is no slouch thing to do at the position either. This isn't me going crazy to say that Bell is a deserving member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (better folks have tried), but for heaven's sake, he deserved more than one year on the ballot, as he received less than two percent of the vote in 1995 (receiving the same amount of votes as Evans; twelve players from that ballot eventually ended up in the Hall). He may have slipped through the cracks, but the Rangers inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2004 as the second class of inductees, which may be more than enough for his baseball life of curiosities. Let's just end on a quote of the time from Bell dwelling on the end of his career:

"The fun, the friends -- God, the ballparks you got to play in -- the old clubhouse men you met, who are the greatest people in the world. They're the goofiest guys. I think I'm going to miss them most of all."

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Buddy Bell to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/484473/cid/27521410/1983-Texas-Rangers-8x10-Photos-NNO-Buddy-Bell

*Respectfully (well, sort of), haters about Jose Altuve can kiss my ass. He's going to make the Hall of Fame despite petulant whining from losers, so the less time it takes to hear those great big words, the better. 

*Guardians really is a cool name.

*To plug my totally silly OMNI, Bell has 4,583 OMNIs, not too shabby.

*I probably should give it more character, but I also have a database trying to log in players that joined the 2,000 hit club - enjoy.

The Unsung – Bill Freehan.

William Ashley Freehan (November 29, 1941 – August 19, 2021)

Played for: Detroit Tigers (1961, 1963–1976)

Bill Freehan: Baseball Reference [Player] — Catcher (C)

1,591 hits, 200 home runs, 758 RBI, .262/.340/.412 slashline in 1,774 games, 44.7 WAR

 

11× All-Star (1964–1973, 1975)

World Series champion (1968)

5× Gold Glove Award (1965–1969)

It seems about right to talk about All-Stars and retiring Detroit people. Let's dwell on the players that were put into the All-Star Game that don't happen to be a Hall of Famer...let's say ten ASG appearances. You've got the obvious bunch in guys embroiled in the steroid era (Rodriguez, Bonds, Ramirez, McGwire), a man who knocked himself out of the Hall of Fame by stupidity (Pete Rose), active/just retired guys we all know are going into the HOF (Cabrera, Trout, Pujols, Molina), an East-West mainstay (Alex Radcliff), Steve Garvey*, and....yep, Bill Freehan. Bill Freehan was a Michigan man in more ways than one: he was born in Detroit to a sales representative that was raised in Royal Oak until the family moved to St. Petersburg when he was fourteen. He attended the University of Michigan because he wanted to play baseball and football and got his wish. 

The Tigers signed him after his sophomore year, where he had batted .585 (he was no slouch in college, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1966). He broke in that year with four hits in 10 at-bats before spending 1962 in the minors. He played 100 games in 1963 and batted .243 with 9 home runs that saw him play 72 games as catcher and 20 at first base. He would play over 100 games at catcher in each of the next nine seasons. Coincidentally, his All-Star run started with the following season. The 1964 season saw him bat near .300 by the time of July and saw him selected as a reserve to Elston Howard at catcher for the All-Star Game (played on July 7). In 144 games, he batted a career-high .300 and had 80 RBIs with 18 home runs while leading for the first time in hit-by-pitch (8). He received MVP votes, finishing 7th for the 85-win team. Sure, he was in a slump by the time of July in the 1965 season, but that didn't stop him being picked as an All-Star reserve. Amidst a .996 fielding percentage and a few highs in games for the position (129), he was named a Gold Glover for the first of five straight years; on the batting side, he had 10 home runs with a .234 batting average.

In a season that saw two managers die in the same year (Chuck Dressen in August and interim manager Bob Swift in October), Freehan had his most strikeouts in a season with 72 in 136 games. Things would change with new Tigers manager Mayo Smith in 1967. With a career high in games (catching 147 of his 155 games played), he batted .282 while walking more times than striking out (73-71) with new highs in RBIs (74) and home runs (20). He led the league in hit by pitch (20) and intentional walks (15). There was enough respect for him that he finished third place in MVP voting behind Carl Yastremski and Harmon Killibrew; Detroit finished one game back of the pennant to Boston. Considered the "heart and soul" of the team when he played, Freehan got one shot at the World Series with the 1968 season, the very last time that the World Series was the only playoff series. In 155 games (138 at catcher), he was in the top ten for home runs (25, 5th), RBIs (84, 6th) and total bases (245, 8th) while batting .263 and leading the league one more time in hit by pitch with 24. In the "Year of the Pitcher", the only .300 hitter in Yastremski didn't even get in the top 5 for MVP voting, as Denny McLain and his 31-6 record beat out his teammate Freehan and Ken Harrelson of the Sox to win the MVP Award. 

Sure, McLain struggled in the Series, and sure, Freehan didn't have a hit in the first five games, but Mickey Lolich didn't struggle which saw him start three of the seven games, including Game 5 and 7 and Freehan showed up. In the fifth inning of Game 5, trailing 3-2, the Tigers nearly saw the game pass them by when the Cards had Lou Brock on second base and saw him try to advance all the way to home on a base hit by Julian Javier to left. However, left fielder Willie Horton's throw was on the money and Freehan held onto the ball to block a charging Brock while having his foot on the base to deny a run (the Tigers subsequently scored three runs in the seventh after loading the base). He contributed a run in Game 6 and 7 with RBI hits; in the final game, his line drive double in the 7th inning off Bob Gibson increased the lead to 3-0 in a game the Tigers won 4-1, with Freehan catching a pop-fly in foul territory for the final out as the Tigers won the Series. Freehan was 27 and a World Series champion. The next couple of years saw him actually walk more than strikeout (289 to 276 from 1969-1974) and make a few more All-Star Game appearances (with one experiment in 1974 to have him more at first base [65] than catcher [63]). He even wrote a diary of his experiences with the 1969 team. He had one more postseason with the 1972 team, where he recovered from a hairline fracture on his thumb to play in Game 3 of the ALCS versus Oakland. He batted 3-for-12 with a home run as Detroit won Game 3 and 4 to force a decisive Game 5, which Oakland won 2-1 for the first of three straight ALCS victories (as for Detroit, they didn't return until 1984). After eleven 10-HR seasons (which included three 20-HR years in 1967, 1968, 1971), Freehan played in just 71 games in 1976 and had five home runs, with his final one coming on August 24 for his 200th as a major league player. He was released after the season ended in October, just shy of his 35th birthday and never played again. Freehan had ten 10-HR seasons as a primary catcher - still a franchise record, with Lance Parrish being the only one to pass him in HR for a primary catcher as a Tiger (okay not all of his 212 HR were at the position, but I think you get it). Freehan and his 324 games spent as a catcher with Lolich on the mound was the most by a duo until the battery of Adam Wainwright-Yadier Molina passed them in 2022.

Did you know that when he retired, only six players who played 75% of their games in the position of catcher had 200 home runs? Yes, there was Berra, Campanella, Bench, Hartnett, Dickey...and Freehan. A half-century since his retirement has only seen the list go to 19 (Gary Sanchez recently joined the club, while J.T. Realmuto sits at 190 and Cal Raleigh sits at 173 for active players). You might wonder how many times Freehan went up for the BBWAA vote, and it was one time in 1982, where he received 0.5 percent of the vote (16 of the 42 names up for the vote eventually made the Hall of Fame, incidentally*). In his years after playing baseball, he became a businessman (in between stints as a broadcaster) in retirement for Freehan-Bocci & Co. Inc., a manufacturers' representative agency but stumbled into becoming coach at Michigan after being hired to give the team honest footing in 1989. He managed six years and did a few stints in coaching with the Tigers in the 2000s and lived in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan for many years. Detroit has failed its players by not giving them the proper honors they deserve. A team hall of fame would've given Freehan the recognition he deserved, particularly since his Hall of Fame chances weren't the highest in any sense. I end with a quote from Freehan himself: 

 "Most of us did better financially after baseball. Detroit has been good to us. We made our homes here, stayed loyal to the community. That's the way it should be."

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Bill Freehan to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/58532/cid/3096294/1971-Detroit-Tigers-Color-Picture-Pack-(Set-B)-NNO-Bill-Freehan

*Garvey is an interesting case. Not for the Baseball Hall of Fame, which has rejected him many, many, many times, but the Unsung Hall of Fame, well, sure, I'll talk. 

*This includes various people who made it through the Veterans Committee such as Mazeroski. Yes, there were in fact people who voted more for Don Larsen (!) than Mazeroski on a ballot.

Working on a side project that I will update at the end of the regular season for MLB: OmniBase (7,000 batters in total bases, at least 100 TB). For example, Freehan had 24 stolen bases, 626 walks, and 114 hit by pitches. Alongside his 2,502 total bases, this adds up to 3,266 OMNIs, or 557th alltime. Naturally, there's also an alternative OMNI that takes into account caught stealing (21), strikeouts (753), ground into double plays (138) and sacrifice hit/flies (38, 48) that results in 2,268, or 413rd all-time. Have fun.

The Unsung – Pioneers of the Past Vol. 1.

Harry Haskell "Bucky" Lew (January 4, 1884 – October 22, 1963) 

Leo F. Ferris (May 31, 1917 – June 1, 1993)

Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) 

Played for (Lew): Lowell P.A.C. (1902–1903), Haverhill (1903–1905), Peabody (1905–1906), Lowell Five (1905–1926), Springfield (AC) (1906–1907), Brattleboro Athletics (1906–1907), Lowell (1908–1909, 1915–1916)

Managed (Ferris): Founder of Buffalo Bisons (modern Atlanta Hawks) in 1946, NBL vice president (1948-1949), General manager of Syracuse Nationals (1949-1955)

Played for (Misaka): Weber State (1941–1943), Utah (1943–1944, 1946–1947), New York Knicks (1947)

I would like to introduce a pioneers group to the Unsung Hall of Fame, which is meant to honor pioneers that either haven't got their due from a select Hall of Fame (in this case the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame) or folks that don't have enough of a history within a major league to write about for their own entry. In short: guys who played in the way way back*. Born in Massachusetts, Mr. Lew is considered the first black professional basketball player. He apparently started playing basketball from a young age, which included the local YMCA team. As an 18-year-old, he played ball with the Lowell P.A.C. (Pawtucketville Athletic Club) of the New England Professional Basketball League, which occurred after a series of injuries forced his manager to put him on the court on one November 7, 1902. Sure, it was hard to do say, a long-range shot with no backboard or get points at will, but the 5'8 Lew cultivated a fairly lengthy career even with the disbanding of the New England League in 1905 as Lew barnstormed around the region for the next 20 years while running a dry-cleaning business on the side. In the first 50 years of the 20th century, there were opportunities for black men to play in basketball to varying levels of acceptance from teams such as New York Renaissance & Harlem Globetrotters to pioneers like Lew that basically have been forgotten. A biography of him came out in recent years that likely has insight on the man beyond basketball.

Ferris has been continually ignored by the Basketball Hall of Fame despite clear and obvious accomplishments as an executive. The Elmira, New York native co-founded the Buffalo Bisons with Ben Kerner in the National Basketball League in 1946. The Bisons later relocated and rebranded to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (as one does when playing in Illinois), then Milwaukee as the Hawks, and, well, St. Louis and Atlanta. Ferris signed Pop Gates, the first black player to play in the league since the 1942-43 season had seen players of all colors due to roster depletion (Dolly King became the second by the Rochester Royals a few days later). Ferris soon became involved in the front office of the NBL, even becoming vice president in 1948 that saw him try to combat the Basketball Association of America. In 1949, he focused his attention at the position of GM for the Syracuse Nationals of the NBL and signed a handful of players that became noted stars such as Dolph Schayes and Al Cervi. On August 3, 1949, the NBL and BAA merged, for which the NBA willfully ignores by pretending the BAA history is what matters to them in anniversaries. Most importantly, Ferris, alongside Nats owner Danny Biasone, devised a way to make games more interesting with: a shot clock (others had ideas of doing a shot clock, most notably Oregon/Yale coach Howard Hobson, and Nats scout Emil Barboni also had a contribution). Yes, until the 1954-55 season, the NBA just let teams...have the ball without any way to stop them besides hoping they missed. The :24 part likely came because of Ferris, who calculated the number of seconds in a 48-minute game (2880) by the average shots seen taken in a game (120). The team went to the Finals three times and won it all in 1955, the year that Ferris had left sports to do real estate. A tough negotiator ignored by the time he died in 1993, the Ferris family still waits for his induction. Biasone got inducted in 2000 for the Hall of Fame with his contributions, even though, you know, it was Ferris who also was there with the idea of the shot clock. At least Syracuse recognizes Ferris in their Hall of Fame and his name (alongside Biasone, Hobson, and Barboni) is also included on the shot clock monument in the city.

Misaka's story is one of perseverance that merits kudos. Born in Ogden in hardship as a second generation Japanese American in the 1920s, he saw discrimination from a young age in his youth that saw him play basketball for Ogden High that won a state championship in 1940. He started his college education in 1941 at Weber College that excelled to win multiple ICAC junior college titles. He was named the 1943 athlete of the year for the college. He then took his studies to Utah in 1943 and his defense (for which he earned the nickname "Kilowatt") soon played key to success. The 1943-44 lost three times in the regular season and were slated to just play in the NIT. They lost in the first round but a stroke of chance (a car accident that saw Arkansas drop out) saw them invited to the NCAA tournament, where they played four days after the NIT loss. In the eight-team tournament, Utah beat Missouri 45-35 and Iowa State 40-31 to get to the championship, where they won 42-40 in overtime at Madison Square Garden over Dartmouth for the NCAA title. He was soon drafted for the war effort and became a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army before the war ended. He returned in 1946 to Utah and in his final season, the Utes beat Kentucky in the 1947 NIT 49-45. Drafted in the 7th round of the BAA draft in 1947 by the New York Knicks, he ended up getting a spot on the team in a historic occasion ignored by basically everyone: the only person of color to play in the BAA (yes, the NBL was considerably less racist, but the NBA is terrible at their own history); in 1950, the NBA had its first black players. Misaka played three games for the Knicks and scored seven points for a crowded team that cut him in mid-season. Rejecting an offer from the Harlem Globetrotters to pursue engineering, Misaka became an electrical engineer in Salt Lake City and had a worthwhile life with a family, a 2009 documentary, a 2022 jersey honoring and various Hall of Fame inductions: Weber State & Utah Crimson Club, and the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. Not bad for a 5'7 guard.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome this group to the Hall with a blanket induction.

N O T E S

*There will also be a blanket induction for players/managers of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League as well, starting with three folks to be named later. You might recognize that the AAGPBL has its own exhibit in the National Baseball Hall of Fame but, well, this seems like a good time to name some names as well.

The Unsung – Shaun Alexander.

Shaun Edward Alexander (born August 30, 1977)

Played for: Seattle Seahawks (2000–2007), Washington Redskins (2008)

Shaun Alexander Pro-Football Reference [player]) statistics 

9,453 rushing yards, 4.3 yards per carry, 100 rushing touchdowns

215 receptions for 1,520 yards and 12 touchdowns

NFL Most Valuable Player (2005)

NFL Offensive Player of the Year (2005)

2× First-team All-Pro (2004, 2005)

3× Pro Bowl (2003–2005)

NFL rushing yards leader (2005)

2× NFL rushing touchdowns leader (2001, 2005)

NFL scoring leader (2005)

You might wonder to yourself: Shaun Alexander? NFL Films even did a whole video about him and referred to him as "The Best Running Back You Forgot About". Born in Kentucky, Alexander actually excelled in football only in the middle of his sophomore season at Boone County High School, to the point where he left high school with 110 touchdowns on just over 6,000 yards. At the University of Alabama, he ran for less than 600 yards in each of his first two years, but he had a 1,000-yard season as a junior in 1998 with 12 touchdowns. Coming back for his senior year, it saw him lead the NCAA in points with 144 while having 19 rushing touchdowns (tied for the most that season) as Alabama won the 1999 SEC Championship. In 2000, the Seattle Seahawks (of the AFC, until 2002) had the 19th pick in the draft when they traded Joey Galloway to Dallas. They used that pick to select Alexander, where he had all of 64 carries as a rookie for the 2000 season behind another unsung legend in Ricky Watters; in his one start that year, in Week 5 against Kansas City, Alexander had 11 carries for 74 yards and his first touchdown as a player in the 24-17 loss. Shoulder injuries to Watters by the third week of the 2001 season led to Alexander getting the keys to being the main back against Jacksonville in Week 4 and he never looked back. He had 31 carries that day for 176 yards with two touchdowns in the 24-15 win. With a quarterback room of Trent Dilfer (four games) and Matt Hasselbeck, Alexander was tasked to run heavily, which saw him run 29+ times in five of his 12 starts. His monster game by far was against Oakland in Week 9 where he ran for 266 yards on 35 carries for three touchdowns in the 34-27 win to break the franchise record for rushing yards that had been set by Curt Warner in 1983 (Alexander's record still stands). Overall, Alexander ran for 1,318 yards on 309 carries for 14 touchdowns for 4.3 yards a carry (he also added 44 receptions for 343 yards and two touchdowns). Alexander would finish in the top 10 for carries in a season five times from 2001 to 2005 (9th, 10th, 7th, 3rd, 1st) on a team that topped out as the third best running team for yards in 2005.

In the 2002 season (now in the NFC), Alexander reached further heights, setting a new record for rushing touchdowns for a Seahawk (breaking the 1995 record by Chris Warren of 15), doing so with a league-leading 16 touchdowns on 295 carries for 1175 yards. Alexander ran for under 40 yards in each of the first three games of the season, but he had a game for the books against Minnesota on September 29: He ran for 139 yards on 24 carries and caught three passes for 92 yards for a combined total of five touchdowns, all in the first half of a 48-23 win. Sure, the Seahawks went 7-9, but a chunk of that came with Alexander's scoring bonanza, which saw him run for five combined touchdowns in the final three games (all wins) to get to 16. It came together in 2003 on two levels: In 16 games (15 starts, as he was late to a game due to family emergency), he ran for 1435 yards with 14 touchdowns and got named to the Pro Bowl. He reached the playoffs for the first of five straight years and had an unusual game for the books. He ran 20 times for just 45 yards but had three touchdowns, all of them coming in the second half (his last one came with :55 to tie the game) as Seattle lost 33-27 to Green Bay in the "We want the ball and we're gonna score!" game. He continued to rise in yards with 1696 in 16 games of the 2004 season (106 yards per game) with 16 touchdowns while leading the way with 20 combined rushing/receiving touchdowns. The 2004 season ended on a strange note. Alexander was not given the ball with the team at the 1-yard line (2nd and goal, mind you) in a 21-20 game. Seattle got the yard with a Hasselbeck run and never got the ball back in a 28-26 win that saw Alexander fall one yard short of Curtis Martin for the rushing title that saw Alexander grouse for a moment at Holmgren. In the Wild Card round, he ran for just 40 yards on 15 carries in the 27-20 loss.

And then, 2005. With career/league highs of 370 carries and 1,880 yards, he ran away with the MVP and the Offensive Player of the Year awards and had 27 touchdowns (with one receiving TD) as Seattle went 13-3 and won every single home game that year. The 2005 playoffs saw him have varied success. He only had six carries in the Divisional round win against Washington before exploding for 132 yards on 34 carries with two touchdowns to lift Seattle to their first NFC Championship title. In Super Bowl XL against Pittsburgh, he had 95 yards on 20 carries that saw Seattle miss a few field goals (and maybe get stiffed on a call or two) in the 21-10 loss. When comparing every player in a random span of 50 games for touchdowns, there's LaDainian Tomlinson and Priest Holmes leading the crowd...and then Alexander with 68 from 12/15/2002 to 12/24/2005. The 2005 season saw him become the first player with five straight 15-touchdown seasons in NFL history (Tomlinson passed him with his sixth in 2007).  And yes, there's Alexander on top of a few legends for both awards:

A broken foot (in week 3) and a big contract (eight years, over $60 million) overshadowed Alexander and his 2006 season, where he ran for 896 yards in 10 games with 7 touchdowns. He had a 100-yard game in the Divisional Round game against Chicago that they lost 27-24. His 2007 season saw him suffer injuries to his wrist, knee, and ankle to get 716 yards in 10 games with four touchdowns. In the December 30th game against Atlanta, he became part of history when his two-yard run for a touchdown gave him his 100th career rushing touchdown. In the two playoff games that year, he ran for a total of 66 yards on 24 carries, which included a touchdown against Green Bay that ended up being his last ever one as a pro player in the 42-20 loss. He was then released. Incidentally, he still leads the franchise for most 150+ rushing yard games with 11. Now 31 years old, he signed with Washington for 2008 and played four games with no touchdowns and retired.

You might wonder: how does he compare for players that ran from their 1st to 9th season? Alexander actually fits at 26th, right in the middle of a few Hall of Fame players such as say, Earl Campbell (who ran the same 2,187 times as Alexander, but for only 9407 yards). He also ranks 29th in yards per game by that same measure with 76.9, which is not too shabby. And the easy question: how many players had 100 rushing touchdowns in their first nine seasons? Just five, and Alexander is one of them alongside Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown, and Derrick Henry (yes, not even Barry Sanders had 100 touchdowns in his first nine seasons - he had 95). You might think, oh, well, he had two Hall of Fame blockers with Walter Jones (the nine-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle) and Steve Hutchinson (the seven-time Pro Bowl guard he played with until 2005). If having great blockers is meant to be a detriment saying who had the better career, well, they put in Terrell Davis for having four 1,000-yard seasons as a peak before injury...while Alexander had five 1,000-yard seasons to go along with being one of 36 players (as of 2026) with five seasons of 10 touchdowns (also of course he had good blockers, how many great running backs go around with poles for blockers?). Did I mention the rare club of multiple 20-touchdown seasons (six people)? Or that when Alexander retired in 2008 that his 28 games with 2+ touchdowns actually was in the top 15 for a career? Why should a player with over 100 total touchdowns, a mark achieved by less than three dozen players in a league that has been around for 100+ years, be ignored? (he has never even been a finalist) 

Alexander and his place in the 100 TD club is assured for history to judge, and if being on the Seahawks Ring of Honor and the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team (second-team) is enough to honor Alexander's place in football, well, that's more than most people get in their career.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Shaun Alexander to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo credit: https://50.seahawks.com/players/shaun-alexander

*On an unrelated note, Torry Holt is still waiting for the Hall of Fame as a 2000 All-Decade guy while Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens, all selections to that team, are in the Hall.

*You know, Priest Holmes might deserve a case here too. 

The Unsung — Darrell Evans.

Darrell Wayne Evans (born May 26, 1947)

Played for: Atlanta Braves (1969–1976, 1989), San Francisco Giants (1976–1983), 

Detroit Tigers (1984–1988)

Darrell Evans (Baseball Reference [Player] — Third baseman / First baseman (3B / 1B)

2,687 games, slash-line of .248/.361/.431; 1,354 RBIs, 2,223 hits, 414 HR, 119 OPS+, 58.7 WAR

2× All-Star (1973, 1983)

World Series champion (1984)

AL home run leader (1985)

Baseball historian Bill James famously described Evans as "the most underrated player in baseball history." It occurred to me I haven't covered a baseball unsung hero in a while, so why don't we dwell on the story of a player who surely would've been more loved if he played just a few years later? Evans was born in Pasadena, California to a sports-connected family: his dad played semipro baseball and his mother played pro softball. He excelled at John Muir High in baseball and basketball before going to Pasadena City College. He actually was drafted multiple times by MLB teams (1965, 1966, 1967, it was a different time) before finally landing upon the Kansas City Athletics in the 1967 draft. However, he suffered a sore arm (not helped by service in the Marine Corps Reserves) by 1968, he was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft that saw him selected by the Atlanta Braves. Evans did break into the major leagues in 1969, although the 1969 and 1970 seasons saw him play in just 24 total games with 20 hits. Crediting the influence of Eddie Mathews (the former third base icon for the Braves who served as coach in 1971-72 before becoming manager from 1972-1974) for aiding in his swing and defense, Evans would become the third baseman for the Braves on a fulltime basis in 1972 (after playing 72 in 1971) and did so for the next four years. On May 29, 1971, Evans hit his first home run, doing so off against the Cardinals and Bob Gibson in St. Louis. In 89 games of the 1971 season, he hit .242 while walking 39 times to striking out 54 times. Evans had a neat year with 1973: he hit .281 with career highs in home runs (41), RBIs (104), hits (167), and walks (124). With Hank Aaron hitting 40 and Davey Johnson hitting 43, the '73 Braves became the first team with three 40-HR hitters on the same team (meanwhile, the team went 76-85-1).

Evans played a tiny part of baseball history on April 8, 1974: when the Braves played the Dodgers in Atlanta, Evans led off the 4th inning with a groundball error. The next batter was, well, Hank Aaron, who hit a deep home run to left field for his historic 715th home run. Evans didn't get named an All-Star that year, but he did have a league-leading 126 walks to 88 strikeouts with 25 home runs. He had 105 walks in 1975, the last season before he took a stopover in playing other positions (1976 at first base, 1977 in left field). He batted .173 for Atlanta in 44 games before being traded to the San Francisco Giants on June 13 (with Marty Perez) for Jake Brown, Mike Eden, Willie Montañez and Craig Robinson. In 92 games with San Francisco, he batted .222 but at least had ten home runs (in contrast, he had one with Atlanta). In his first full season with the Giants, he batted .254 and had 17 home runs (of note is yet another walks over strikeout season: 69 to 50). By the time the season was over, Evans was 30 years old and had a total of 147 home runs with 493 RBIs and a batting average of .248. Some things, well, would change.

Sure, the Giants didn't reach the postseason with Evans, but he cultivated a solid enough part of his career there, playing 1,094 of his 2,687 games in San Francisco. He had more walks than strikeouts in each of his eight seasons with the team (peaking with 105 walks in his 1978 season) and even garnered one more All-Star season in 1983 with a 30-HR year and a .277 batting average in 142 games. He entered the free agent market in 1984 and amidst a feeding frenzy, he selected the three-year deal of Detroit, who got their "big name" guy for roughly $2 million; he would play first base/DH for the team. Evans was 36 going on 37 when he entered Detroit. Age looked to be against that year, where he batted .232 with 16 home runs while, again, walking more than striking out (77-70). He finally saw the postseason that year due to, well, being on the 1984 Detroit Tigers, but he had just four hits in eight postseason games as Detroit won the championship over San Diego. Evans would have a banner year in 1985, hitting 40 home runs to become both the oldest guy to hit 40 in the AL (a mark not topped for three decades) and the first to hit 40 home runs in the AL and NL (when the leagues were treated as, well, separate entities). Not bad for a year where he struck out/walked the same amount (85); of note is that he joined the 300 HR club on July 28, 1985. He continued to defy the odds a little while longer in age before HR beauty, hitting 29, 34, and 22 in his final three seasons for Detroit, which saw him reach the 400 HR mark on September 20, 1988. Evans apparently had a few key lessons to stick around for so long without even one trip to the injury list: not going down to the weight room after a game (instead spending that time to work on the mental side), aiming for eight hours of sleep, concise batting practice sessions that worked on quality over quantity, and fitness that basically saw him run a few miles a day six days a week. He played his final year as a free agent for Atlanta in 1989, hitting 11 home runs in 107 games that saw him bat .207. He hit 230 home runs in the decade of the 1980s, 6th best for all players in that time. In total, only Mike Schmidt. Reggie Jackson, and Dave Kingman hit more home runs than Evans from 1969 to 1989. He was released by the team in 1990, narrowly avoiding being one of the few players to play in four decades. Evans subsequently spent a number of years coaching and managing in the minor leagues (with the Golden Baseball League, he won the 2007 title with Long Beach).

Evans was used all over the place for fielding: 1,442 games at third base, 856 at first base, 22 at shortstop, 83 at left field, 253 at DH, and a few games as pinch hitter/runner. When Evans had his fifth 100-walk season in 1987 (having previously done so in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978), he was one of just 24 players with at least five 100-walk seasons (nowadays, 39 people are in that club), which coincidentally was the same amount as his idol, Eddie Mathews. He had 19 seasons with at least ten home runs, which actually is pretty good for those who favor consistency* and also is a thing that only seventeen other players have done in MLB history. Only Carlton Fisk had more home runs than Evans for guys after turning 40 years old. For the sabermetrics crowd, it should be noted that for guys with a batting average under .250, Evans managed to collect 58.7 wins above replacement (WAR), second only to Graig Nettles. For OPS+ for ballpark/league adjusted numbers, Evans and his 119 OPS+ actually is 13th. Nobody walked more times (1605) than Evans when it comes to guys who hit under .250, nobody had more runs than Evans (1344) and only Nettles had more hits than Evans (as for home runs, Adam Dunn and Dave Kingman have more than Evans). In his one year on the BBWAA ballot, he had 1.7 percent of the vote in 1995. At least the Giants inducted him into their team Wall of Fame, doing so in 2008. A career that spanned three decades, 400 home runs, 2,000 hits, and a world championship is still a pretty nice story. 

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Darrell Evans to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Darrell_Evans_1983.jpg

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/290794/cid/17593145/1984-Detroit-Tigers-Photocards-NNO-Darrell-Evans

*Gene Tenace, hmm...

*Among active players, Andrew McCutchen leads the way with 17.

The Unsung – Bill Bridges.

William C. Bridges (April 4, 1939 – September 25, 2015) 

Played for: Kansas City Steers (1961–1962), St. Louis /Atlanta Hawks (1963–1971), Philadelphia 76ers (1971–1972), Los Angeles Lakers (1972–1974), Golden State Warriors (1975)

Bill Bridges (Basketball Reference [Player] — Power forward / Center (PF / C)

11,012 points (11.9 points per game), 11,054 rebounds (11.9 rebounds per game), 2,553 assists (2.8 assists per game) in 926 games

 

NBA champion (1975)

3× NBA All-Star (1967, 1968, 1970)

2× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1969, 1970)

All-ABL First Team (1962)

Yes, you heard that right: a player with more rebounds than points for a career. For players with 10,000 points and 5,000 rebounds, there exists six players with more rebounds than points: Bill Russell, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Dikembe Mutombo, Paul Silas...and Bridges. Bridges excelled in basketball in his native hometown of Hobbs, New Mexico, which saw him win state high school championships in 1956 and 1957 while losing only five games. He enrolled at the University of Kansas in 1957 and waited out the then-rule that freshmen couldn't play varsity ball with plenty of practice and a scholarship. From 1958 to 1961 with 78 games played, he averaged a double-double as a rebounding leader for the Big Eight while reaching both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, the very first player in program history to do so.

He was presented with offers from the NBA (with the Chicago Packers) and the upstart American Basketball League (with the Kansas City Steers) in 1961. He chose the Abe Saperstein-founded ABL and played the 1961-62 season with Kansas City, who went 54-25 and made the ABL Finals only to lose to the Cleveland Pipers. He averaged 21.4 points per game and 13.4 rebounds and was named to the All-ABL First Team. In the second season of the doomed league, Bridges set a ABL record in points with 55 on December 9, 1962. He later had a knee injury in that month, but fate lent a hand in not missing much. Substantial losses (such as losing the Pipers after the first season) led to the dissolving of the league on New Year's Eve of 1962; Kansas City was 22-9 and the best team in the league at the time it went under. The points leader that year with 849 in 29 games (29.2 average), Bridges also ranked as the all-time ABL leader in rebounds with 1,496 in 108 games. Days later, on January 8, 1963, Bridges played his first game in the NBA with the St. Louis Hawks against the Lakers. He recorded one rebound in four minutes; five days later, he recorded his first double-double, having 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 105-104 win against Cincinnati. He played in 27 games that year and almost recorded more rebounds (144) than points (164). In the eight-team NBA playoffs, Bridges had three games with over 10 rebounds (all in the first round: Game 1, 2, and 4 of the Division Semifinals against Detroit). In the 1963 Western Division Finals against the Lakers, with a chance to go to the NBA Finals, Bridges shot 37.3% from the field with 5.3 rebounds as the Hawks lost in seven games. The 6'6 power forward would play for the Hawks for eight more postseasons (with two division titles), which included six total trips to the Division Finals (one step away from the NBA Finals), but they lost them all.

Bridges would gradually go up in minutes per game from season to season, going from 13.9 in that first year to 24.4 in the 1963-64 season to over 30+ minutes in eight straight seasons from 1965 to 1973. He had his first season averaging 10+ points/10+ rebounds a game in the 1964-65 season, averaging 11.5 points and 10.8 rebounds in 79 games. In seven straight seasons (1965-1972), he was in the top ten in the league in total rebounds (topping out at 5th in the 1966-67 season with 1,190). He peaked in points for a game with 37 in a loss against Detroit on December 26, 1967. The 1967-68 season saw him lead the league in fouls, with 366, which actually was a league record for two years. He received a little bit of recognition with the Hawks, where he was named to the All-Star Game three times and the All-Defensive Second Team twice in the span of four years (1967-1970). For whatever reason, 14 games into the 1971-72 season, Atlanta felt they needed to trade for Jim Washington (interestingly, despite being four years younger than Bridges, Washington and Bridges wound up retiring in the same year in 1975. Bridges departed the team with the second most rebounds in league history next to Bob Petitt. Since 1962, the first year that Bridges played in Atlanta, no player has recorded more total rebounds than him for the franchise, with Kevin Willis coming the closest with 7,332.

Oddly enough, his high in rebounds for a game came with Philadelphia: he had 32 in a win versus Seattle on March 19, 1972. In 78 total games of the 1971-72 season, he averaged 12.6 points with 13.5 rebounds. The 1972-73 season basically became an "outhouse to the penthouse story" for Bridges. The 1972-73 76ers, coached by a combo of Roy Rubin and Kevin Loughery to a total of 9 wins, but Bridges was around for only ten games before Philadelphia traded him and Mel Counts on November 2 for Leroy Ellis and John Trapp. Bridges had his final season with 30 minutes per game, averaging 35 with 10.3 points and 11 rebounds per game. In the playoff run, he averaged over 30 minutes while getting 9.3 rebounds and 8.9 points per game as the Lakers lost to the Knicks in five games in the NBA Finals. The 1973-74 season saw him mostly played on the bench and the early part of the 1974-75 season was much of the same. Troubled by knee injuries and an elbow injury (which eventually healed), he played a total of 32 whole games and averaged 13 minutes with 2.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. The Lakers waived him in December 1974 before Bridges was recruited to play for the Warriors in March 1975. In the 1975 playoffs (in which a 48-win Golden State was the #1 seed in the Western Conference), he would log in 148 minutes, with the most significant action coming in Game 6 of the Conference Finals against Chicago. He logged eleven rebounds (ten defensive) as the Warriors beat the Bulls 86-72 to force Game 7. In his last games as a player in the 1975 NBA Finals against the heavy favorite Washington Bullets, Bridges logged in seven rebounds with four whole points, but the Warriors rolled anyway to a four-game sweep (besides, Game 2 and 4 were decided by one point each, and Bridges had two points in each) to let Bridges go out a winner. He served as an environmental consultant in California for many years. 2004 saw Bridges honored by Kansas with a jersey retirement (thanks to the efforts of booster Bernie Morgan). 2014 and 2016 saw him inducted into the New Mexico and Kansas Sports Halls of Fame. He passed away from cancer in 2015 at the age of 76. 

This Hall is practically built for guys like Bridges in unsung heroes that did their job well and aren't given as much attention as they deserve. Bridges and his 11.94 rebounds per game ranks 18th in NBA/ABA history. 452 of his 926 career games ended up with him having at least 10 points and 10 rebounds, which actually ranks among the top 50 for 10/10 games in NBA history. Of course, Bridges isn't the leader for non-HOFers, because it currently is held up by current player Nikola Vučević (582) and Buck Williams (572), but still*. In the top 30 for rebounds per game, only the following are not in the Hall: Bridges, Mike Lewis (11.93), Andre Drummond (active, 11.91), Rudy Gobert (active, 11.68), Ira Harge (11.60), Swen Nater (11.55), Walter Dukes (11.25), and Johnny "Red" Kerr (11.15). You know how many players exist who recorded over 10,000 rebounds in less than 1,000 games? 14 players *total*, with Bridges being 10th (two are active), which actually is more than David Robinson in less games. 209 players at the height of 6'6 or shorter have gotten 10,000 points, but how many players at that height or shorter had 10,000 rebounds? Just three: Bridges, Charles Barkley (12,546) and Elgin Baylor (11,463). But Bridges had what you would call a great basketball life, and I suppose that is enough for most to aspire for.

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Bill Bridges to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/2011/cid/2986887/1968-69-Topps-Test-16-Bill-Bridges

*Speaking of Unsung Hall of Famers...

The Unsung – Larry Centers.

Larry Eugene Centers (born June 1, 1968)

Played for: Phoenix / Arizona Cardinals (1990–1998), Washington Redskins (1999–2000), Buffalo Bills (2001–2002), New England Patriots (2003)

Larry Centers [Stats on Pro-Football Reference] - FB

2,188 rushing yards, 3.6 yards per carry, 14 rushing touchdowns

827 receptions for 6,797 yards and 28 receiving touchdowns

 

Super Bowl champion (XXXVIII)

First-team All-Pro (1996)

3× Pro Bowl (1995, 1996, 2001)

You might be wondering: who? In fairness, there are a few odds and ends that are surprising in the road to spotlighting Centers, who basically is the pinnacle of an unsung storybook player. Centers was born and raised in Texas, playing football on and off all the way to high school and found himself with a scholarship to Stephen F. Austin State University. He broke his finger in his freshman year but used the time to play scout team running back and special teams. An injury to the starter in his sophomore year gave him the chance to play, where he had numerous 100+ yard rushing games. He became a dual threat in receptions and rushing yards in his next two seasons, setting a school record for rushing yards in his final year, with the team even making the NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game, narrowly losing to Georgia Southern. In 1990, he was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft by the Phoenix Cardinals.

In his first two seasons in the NFL, the Cardinals (as coached by Joe Bugel) saw him as nothing more than a third-down back at 6'0 and 225 pounds. In his first season of 1990, he returned kicks (16, for 272 yards). He caught his first pass in the Week 10 game of the 1991 season against Dallas, catching four passes for 28 yards from Tom Tupa (yes, really) in the loss. He caught 19 passes that year for 176 yards with 14 carries. He was given more chances to catch in 1992, catching 50 of 59 targeted balls for 417 yards (with his first touchdown coming against Washington in Week 4) while rushing 37 times.  From 1994 to 1997, Centers ran 100+ times in three of those four seasons, which, well, it didn't go very far (never averaging more than 3.7 yard per carry), but he did have more time catching the ball. In 1995, he caught 101 passes for 962 yards for 9.5 yards per catch (all of which were career-highs) for two touchdowns.  In his one All-Pro season in 1996, he caught 99 passes for 766 yards with a career high seven touchdowns while running a peak 116 times for 425 yards; Centers had the only multi-receiving TD game in Week 9, catching six passes for 58 yards and two scores. In his final season with Arizona in 1998, he had his first winning season on the heels of lessened play. He caught 69 passes on 94 targets for 559 yards with two touchdowns. The Cardinals, bolstered by a weak schedule, finished 9-7 for a playoff spot. Playing against the Dallas Cowboys for his first playoff game, Centers ran three times for 5 yards with three catches for 16 yards, but he did score a touchdown in the eventual 20-7 win, the first and only playoff win for the Cardinals in the timespan of 1948-2007.

To put it lightly, Centers was on a handful of bad teams in Arizona. Centers had the type of teams from 1990 to 1998 that employed guys at quarterback that either were past their prime, had no prime at all or a different factor altogether: Tupa, Timm Rosenbach, Stan Gelbaugh, Chris Chandler, Steve Beuerlein, Jay Schroeder, Jim McMahon, Dave Krieg, Boomer Esiason, Kent Graham, and Jake Plummer (the coaching, meanwhile, went from Bugel to Buddy Ryan to Vince Tobin). For all of his contributions, the Cardinals decided to release him in June 1999, with one Arizona outlet calling him the "heart and soul" of the team. He signed with Washington in 1999 and caught 69 passes for 544 yards, with his one noted catch being against San Francisco on Week 16 that gave them the win in overtime and clinched the division for the first time in seven years. He caught ten passes for 69 yards in the playoff loss to Tampa Bay.  He caught 69 passes in his final season with Washington in 2000 before becoming a free agent. He signed with the Buffalo Bills and made the Pro Bowl that year with 80 catches and 620 yards that saw him reach history with receiving yards for a running back to pass Ronnie Harmon to be the second back with 6,000 receiving yards (only one has reached the mark since Centers with Marshall Faulk, who set the record with 6875 prior to retiring in 2005). He closed his tenure in Buffalo in 2002 with 43 receptions to get to 800 for a career. Now 35, he signed with New England for 2003 and was troubled by knee problems that saw him released and later re-signed by the team, much to his good fortune.  In three playoff games, he caught two passes on five total targets, but it ultimately didn't matter, because the Patriots ended up winning Super Bowl XXXVIII on a last-second field goal that meant that Centers could retire a winner.

Did you know that in the year 2000, the all-time list for receptions in the history of the Cardinals, one of the oldest franchises in the NFL, had Centers on top of the list? That's correct, Centers topped the list with 535 receptions, which was more than famed names such as Roy Green (522) and Hall of Fame player Jackie Smith (480). Sure, he was eventually passed by Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, but still, well. I would unironically advocate for him to be inducted into the Cardinals Ring of Honor. For a moment in time, Centers was actually in the pantheon of guys who could catch the ball in the NFL, ranking 7th for all players in receptions with 827 when he retired in 2003, which was actually more receptions than, say, Steve Largent (819), James Lofton (764). Obviously, this isn't a Hall of Fame pitch, but did you know that only three players had more receptions from 1990 to 2003 than Centers? Centers still ranks as the all-time leader for receptions for a running back/full-back. He never had a 1,000-yard rushing or receiving season or topped 10 total touchdowns in any season or even have 10,000 all-purpose yards (9,659), but when it comes to guys who fit the mold of cultivating a worthwhile career as a sparkplug that got what he wanted out of football, I would say that's rewarding enough. I'll close it out with a quote from Centers from 2003 prior to the Super Bowl:

"If I'd sat down and written a script, I couldn't have made it more perfect. You know, I thought about retiring after the Bills released me, but deep down inside I felt I had unfinished business. Now I'm here this week to finish it. I don't have the words to explain how exciting this is. I wish I could slow the clock down and savor the moment even more. If it turns out that this is it, if I quit after Sunday, I'll be as proud of my career as any player who ever lived."

On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Larry Centers to the Hall.

N O T E S

Photo source: 1996 Playoff Contenders #18 Larry Centers | Trading Card Database