Streetcar Line
A Ballot for Rickey Jackson
Why isn’t this Saint marching into the Hall? And what about Andre Dawson?
Conservatives rightly like to complain about the establishment media’s political bias. What’s less well known, but just as obvious, is the “big market” bias of sportswriters. It shows up most annoyingly in Hall of Fame selections in football and baseball — and some recent choices are so unfair that they’ve been galling me all year. So forgive another excursion out of politics into sports — but with the NFL Hall of Fame having just announced last weekend its list of 131 “preliminary nominees” (from which between four and seven winners will be chosen), now seems as good a time as any to scratch this persistent itch.
In football, the aggrieved party is longtime Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, who is quite literally the very first defensive player I would choose, from all of NFL history, around whom to build a team. In baseball, the most unfairly ignored player is former Expos and Cubs slugger Andre Dawson — although pitcher Bert “Be Home” Blyleven can make almost as strong a case.
Start with Jackson. He went unchosen again this past year while his contemporary, New England linebacker Andre Tippett, was inducted into the Hall at Canton, Ohio. In fact, Jackson has never even been a finalist for the honor. But as good as Tippett was, Jackson was better by all measurable indices, and (I would argue) by intangibles too. (Attribution note: I am taking some of these stats from a similar column by John DeShazier of the Times-Picayune on Aug. 5, as a time-saver, so credit is due him; but I’ve been planning to write on this very comparison of Jackson and Tippett since last winter.)
Jackson had more sacks than Tippett, 128 to 100 — and that doesn’t even include Jackson’s eight unofficial sacks in his rookie year, 1981, because the league started counting sacks as an official statistic only in Tippett’s rookie year of 1982. Jackson is second all-time in league history with 28 fumble recoveries. Tippett had just 17. Jackson was selected to six Pro Bowls, Tippett only five. (And Jackson arguably should have been elected to more; he suffered in six seasons in his prime from being on the same team as fellow linebacker Pro Bowlers Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, and Pat Swilling, and voters were often loath to vote for so many at the same position on the same team. Jackson still was selected twice in those years — and anybody who watched those teams every week knew that Jackson was the only indispensable member.)
Jackson was the toughest son of a gun you’ve ever seen: Playing a brutal position, he missed only two games to injury during his entire 15-year career (and those were after a car accident, not an on-field injury); in 11 seasons, Tippett played just 151 games of a total possible of 169. They each were starters in one Super Bowl. Jackson’s team (he played his final two years for the 49ers) won his Super Bowl; Tippett’s Patriots were blown out in theirs. And Jackson was still good enough to be a starter on that Super Bowl team in his 14th season — and, arguably, the Niners would not have made it that year without him. That was in the mid-1990s, when for several years running the NFC was by far the stronger conference and the only question was whether the Niners or the Cowboys would win the conference. As it happened, the conference winner was determined each year by who had home-field advantage — and in Jackson’s year, home-field advantage came down to the regular season match against the Cowboys. Jackson was a monster in that game, coming up with multiple tackles and the game’s two biggest plays, a sack and an interception.
(This was par for the course during Jackson’s career: He always came up biggest in the clutch. I well remember one crucial Saints game against the Rams, with the Rams inside the Saints 10 on the last play of the game. I turned to my father and said something like: “No problem; we’re fine. Rickey will find a way to make a play.” Sure enough, he did, ending the game with a monster tackle.)
If Jackson was so good as to be a key cog on a Super Bowl-winning team while he was on his proverbial last legs professionally, you can just imagine how good he was in his prime when he was the only mainstay bridging Saints teams that featured great defenses for about 12 years running, first for Bum Phillips and then for Jim Mora. It is no coincidence that Saints defenses started failing the minute Jackson left the team.
Another thing to consider: Jackson also played the run incredibly well — indeed, unlike other pass-rushing specialists who garnered sacks at the expense of run stuffing or pass defense, Jackson was also good in pass coverage (eight career interceptions vs. just one for Tippett) and, if anything, even better against the run than against the pass. Even in the last five years of his career, he almost never let the corner be turned against him — even when he didn’t shed a blocker, he had a way of pushing the blocker in such a way that it sealed off the corner on sweeps, forcing the runner back inside where others could make the tackle. In short, Jackson was an every-down player, not a one-trick pony. John Madden, who knows football like few others, regularly put Jackson on his All-Madden team, year in and year out, above Swilling and the rest, for just that reason: Jackson was a rock.
The only reason, indeed, that Jackson never got the Lawrence Taylor treatment was because he played in small-market New Orleans rather than in the Big Apple — and, further, because Jackson never “talked big” off the field, unlike the loquacious braggart Taylor whose mouth got louder still when he fed his drug habit. As it was, Taylor was credited with just 4.5 more sacks during his career than Jackson was, and Taylor recovered only 10 fumbles compared to Jackson’s 28. Finally, one last statistic: Jackson made 1,173 total tackles during his career, compared to Taylor’s 1,088 and Tippett’s mere 778.
It is, in short, a rank injustice for Rickey Jackson not to be in the Hall of Fame.
THEN WE MOVE TO BASEBALL, where statistics (at least before the steroid era) always tell the tale. This past year, Jim Rice was inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown. Andre Dawson wasn’t. Rice and Dawson were, roughly, contemporaries. Rice played his whole career in the hitter-friendly Fenway Park, in the much more hitter-friendly American League, compared to Dawson’s tougher National League and tougher (for part of his career) stadium in Montreal. But compare their stats. Dawson 438 home runs, Rice 382. Dawson 1,591 RBIs, Rice 1,451. Dawson 1,373 runs, Rice 1,249. Dawson 314 stolen bases, Rice 58. 503 doubles vs. 373. Near-identical best single power year: 49 HR, 137 RBI vs. 46 HR, 139 RBI. (Rice did have a better batting average overall, .298 vs. .279. But he had better “protection” in terms of better hitters around him than “the Hawk” did, which meant opposing teams couldn’t pitch around him.) They each played in eight all-star games, Dawson starting seven compared to Rice starting only four. They each won one league MVP Award.
Then there’s defense. Jim Rice was merely decent, Hawk was superb. Rice won zero Gold Glove Awards; Dawson won 8. Dawson recorded 51,58 putouts, Rice just 3,103. Even taking into account the fewer opportunities for putouts for Rice in Fenway’s narrow confines, that difference is astonishing.
In sum, there is no way on God’s green Earth that Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame before Andre Dawson.
And lest I be accused of a fan’s bias, the truth is in the other direction. I live and die with the Red Sox; I became hooked for good on the Sox during the splendid rookie years of Rice and Fred Lynn, in part specifically because of the excitement caused by rookies Rice and Lynn. I cheered for Rice his whole career; I was utterly indifferent to Dawson. But pre-steroid statistics don’t lie: Dawson was slightly but consistently the better all-around player, and he kept his skills at a high level longer than Rice did.
Finally, by reputation at least, Dawson was a better teammate, gregarious and generous, while Rice was by reputation surly and perhaps selfish. It was passing strange that the Sox made so few playoff appearances during Rice’s tenure, despite an abundance of talent; the word always was that its clubhouse was almost never a happy one. Last I checked, baseball remains a team game.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
Galen| 9.24.09 @ 7:47AM
"Full many a rose is born to blush unseen/to waste its sweetness on the desert air"
Howard| 9.24.09 @ 7:52AM
I think Mr. Hillyer has it partially correct. I am not sure if the Hall of Fame bias is against small market teams, as much as it is a bias against defensive players in general. Read The Cold Hard Football Facts website. They list several top defensive players who belong in the Hall. It is much easier if you are a flashy running back or wide receiver to get in, than a linebacker or safety.
The Big E| 9.24.09 @ 4:32PM
I think even greater bias against against defensive linemen and linebackers who do NOT record tons of sacks, as if that is the only thing that matters in the front seven.
craig henry | 9.24.09 @ 8:08AM
Great article. Let me second the point about CHFF and defensive players.
Ryan| 9.24.09 @ 8:12AM
From a life-long Saints fan, I heartily concur about Rickey. That defense - particularly the '87 season and the early '90s - was a sight to behold. Probably the best collection of linebackers in a single season EVER.
Stupid Niners and their being so good...
CPAP Tips | 9.24.09 @ 9:23AM
So Quin, you're saying that if Jackson had traded places with Tippett the Pats w0uld have reversed their 46-10 spanking at the hands of Da Bears?
CPAP Therapy | 9.24.09 @ 9:29AM
Geez, I wrote the first comment before I got to Rice & Dawson.
That bit about "protection" isn't really supported by the studies. Kinda like "clutch hitting".
JP| 9.24.09 @ 9:30AM
"Probably the best collection of linebackers in a single season EVER"
Ryan,
I thought about what you wrote, and I think you are correct. When I think of other great defenses like the Bears (85-87), or the Cowboys (75-79), or even the 1973-80 Steelers -those defenses were all built around superb front 4s. The Bears (Perry, Dent, Hapmpton, McMichaels), the Cowboys (White, Dutton, Martin, and Henderson), and the Steelers (Holmes, White, Greenwood, Green) all had memorable front 4s, but the Saints Linebackers were the backbone of thier defense. The Bears could have had a better linebacking corps if Otis Wilson and Wilbur Marshall weren't traded.
It is a shame Jackson didn't get in the first time around.
And I have no idea why Dawson didn't get in already.
Thomas| 9.24.09 @ 9:58AM
I vote for a large market [that is television market] and regional bias [Northeast and, to a lesser extent, West Coast] being the dominant factors in nominations for both the NFL and MLB Halls of Fame. In football, offensive players have always had the edge and since the mid-1980's defensive players have really been overlooked unless Northeastern sportswriters take a shine to one.
Bronson| 9.24.09 @ 10:09AM
Outside of LT, Rickey Jackson was the best LB of that era... period. The HOF voting is slanted towards QB's, RB's and more well known players. Jackson should be in on roller skates as should several offensive linemen and defensive linemen who are always overlooked. Richard Dent should be in, Mark Bavaro, Jay Hilgenberg and Donnie Shell as well. The game is won and lost in the trenches.
Doctor Right| 9.24.09 @ 10:30AM
Nice article. But in my humble opinion, the most outrageous exclusion from the NFL HOF in Canton is thge yearly denial of Art Modell's admission, driven by bitter, dick-heads in Cleveland who refuse to let go of the past.
In fact, these malcontents don't even NEED to let go of the past, since, in addition to a new stadium, and local ownership, they got to keep their colors and name, unlike similarly aggrieved fans in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Los Angeles.
Art Modell is one of the league's legendary owners. He's one of the men who is primarily responsible for the growth of the league in the 1960's as it became the sports and marketing juggernaut that it is today. Denying him his place in the HOF is nothing but sheer vindictiveness.
As a native of Baltimore, the sweetest irony in Modell's move was his Superbowl trophy for SB 35. That REALLY sent the bitterness brigades in Cleveland into overdrive...
Modell belongs in the HOF. Grow-up, Cleveland.
Eric damon| 9.24.09 @ 12:34PM
Not only did they get to keep their colors, etc., they got to keep all of the records associated with the Browns. Jim Brown is still the best player in team history, even though he never played for the new Browns organization.
And while I agree that Rickey Jackson deserves to be in the running for the HoF (at least), I don't think he suffered from being surrounded by great players that shared his position. Having guys like Swilling, Mills, and Johnson alongside you does not hurt you; it only enhances your ability to produce. Tommy Nobis suffered in Atlanta, Rickey Jackson...not so much!
And I have to say that the year he won his Super Bowl in San Franciso, he was not the key addition that put that team over the top. The guy that did that on defense was Deion Sanders, who was in his prime (pardon the pun) and shut down one half of the field on pass defense. Lots of guys were able to start on good teams late in their careers, but that doesn't mean they were still impact players (think Clay Matthews with the original Browns).
But the problem is that too many times the sportswriters who get these votes look at things other than play to formulate their votes. They act as though being media friendly has something to do with greatness, or playing for great teams is the tipping point. But I say that a player can be great, even all-time HoF great, even if the team put around him stinks like a Rahm Emmanuel fish-o-gram; Dale Murphy is a perfect example of that!
Hunter Baker| 9.24.09 @ 10:43AM
Quin, you should have been a lawyer because you made an outstanding case for your position. Really well done.
Quin| 9.24.09 @ 12:33PM
Thanks, Hunter! And thanks to you all for your comments.
Pete| 9.24.09 @ 12:38PM
It's the northeast media bias. Tune into SportsCenter any given night - we are all subjected to 40 minutes of Red Sox, Yankees and Patriots news on ESPN vs. 20 minutes for all other teams and sports. Jackson was a man.
Cpm| 9.24.09 @ 2:10PM
Otis Wilson, Mike Singletary,Wilbur Marshall....best linebacker trio in a single season EVER, 1985.
Rickey Jackson, I admit I had to scratch my head.
I wholeheartedly agree about The Hawk.
MikeN| 9.24.09 @ 4:53PM
Dawson's career numbers aren't high enough for automatic enshrinement. Comparing to Rice is weak, as he is a borderline candidate to begin with.
If you keep doing that, you get a hugely expanded Hall.
Dawson's big weakness is a .323 career on base percentage. Absolutely terrible. This year, it wouldn't make the top 120, and it's worse than David Ortiz's number for 2009.
vito toia| 9.24.09 @ 6:59PM
ricky jackson was a great player at pitt also.i saw him play many times in college and he was a better player than heisman runner up hugh green.
in fact the 1979 pitt team was probably the best college team i ever saw.saw them play syracuse that year.great great team.
Allen Hanson| 9.24.09 @ 7:08PM
Great article, Quinn!
The Hall of Fame selectors are a bunch of tools. They won't let Jerry Kramer from the Packers in, simply because he was and is a better writer than any of the sports-weasels on the Selection Committee.
The Hall of Fame's selectors should be football players and coaches, not a bunch of moron sportswriters.
Scott Browdy| 9.24.09 @ 10:40PM
Quinn could not be more correct as far as he goes. No one, however, has mentioned Ron Santo. The MLB HOF should not even exist until Dawson andSanto are in. Blyleven deserves to make it, as does Tommy John.
Phil Rizzuto? Bill Mazeroski? Come on. Fine players, but they're in before other more deserving players.
CalMark| 9.25.09 @ 7:39PM
Dead-on! A number of great baseball players who only played on "Flyover Country" teams come to mind, for whom media know-it-alls sniff at the idea of Cooperstown. All else being equal, they'd probably be more than good enough had they worn Yankee pin-stripes!
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