In football, like in baseball, are there "magic numbers" that are automatic HOF bids? (lik

Estil

Okay, those of you who are baseball fans know the magic numbers for unoffical automatic bids into Cooperstown. 3000 hits, 500 HRs (unless you were on 'roids), 300 wins, and once Bert Blyleven FINALLY gets in, 3000 K's for a pitcher.

Now, I've been reading my new football Becketts (I didn't get into football cards until a couple years back) and I know what the magic numbers for excellence in a season are: 1000 yards receiving, 1000 yards rushing, 3000 yards passing. But what about career? Is there a magic number that ensures an "automatic bid" into Canton? For example, are all HOF eligible quarterbacks with say, 25,000 or 30,000 passing yards or running backs with 8000 or 10,000 rushing yards (or receiving yards for wide receivers) in the HOF? Or on defense, is there a magic number for career tackles, sacks, or interceptions that gets you into Canton?

I obviously don't know nearly as much about football history as I do baseball history, but there's only one way to learn, right?

lsutigers1973

Baseball is historically all about stats. Football is about championships and fan/writer perception. How many diehard sports fans can tell you how many HR's Hank Aaron had? Probably most of them. On the other hand, how many of those same fans can tell you how many TD's Jerry Rice had or how many yards Dan Marino threw for?

Stats are great in both sports but not as recognized in football (or any other sport) the way they are in baseball.

SDSportsFan

It will be interesting in the next few years in both sports. I think 40,000 career passing yards have pretty much meant automatic HOF induction up until now. Now that Vinny Testaverde and Drew Bledsoe have both surpassed that total, and Kerry Collins is within 2,607 yards of the mark, I think the bar will be raised to 50,000 yards.

Same with 10,000 career rushing yards. Up until now, every running back reaching that total has been inducted. Jamaal Lewis, Warrick Dunn, Fred Taylor, Corey Dillon, Ricky Waters, Tiki Barber and Curtis Martin have all reached 10,000 yards, and I just don't know if they're really "Hall of Fame" quality.

I just did some further research, and so far, 11 quarterbacks and 24 running backs have reached 40,000/10,000 career passing/rushing yards.


Steve

perkdog

<< <i>Baseball is historically all about stats. Football is about championships and fan/writer perception. How many diehard sports fans can tell you how many HR's Hank Aaron had? Probably most of them. On the other hand, how many of those same fans can tell you how many TD's Jerry Rice had or how many yards Dan Marino threw for?

Stats are great in both sports but not as recognized in football (or any other sport) the way they are in baseball. >>




What a great post! I LOVE football and know that Rice is the all time TD leader but off the top of my head have ZERO clue how many he has- same thing about Emmitt Smiths rushing TD #'s and Im a HUGE running back guy- I do know how many HR's Hank has as well as individual season leaders like Brady Anderson ect.. though. Weird but its true.

BTW- I think Tomlinson will be a shoe-in for the hall but IMO should not be considered because of his ridiculas injury history come playoff time.

jaxxr

A big part of baseball's enjoyment is the possibility of reasonable comparisons over different time eras.

Since the start of two major leagues in 1901, the rules have remained relatively constant, also the number of players on the roster, and the number of games played has seen only a 5% increase.

FB has changed drastically, numerical marks from the 20's are quite unrelated to those from the 50's, and also far removed from those of 2008.
Roster size increases ended the need for two-way players, thus guys could concentrate on a particular skill much more than before, rules have changed and items like sacks were not even recorded in the 50's. The NFL seasons were once 10 games, now they have nearly doubled, hard to put numerical marks in perspective. or really have any lasting historical "milestones".

Hoopster

Jaxxr is spot on.

1,000 yards rushing or receiving is a 'joke' accomplishment in the NFL today. That used to mean something when the season was only 10 or 12 games long. But 67 yards a game is not impressive at all in 2009.

As Jaxxr said, the way the game was played in the 1930's is much different than now. Heck, the rules change EVERY year in the NFL, so given 60 years of rule changes it is bound to be different.

Rules have made it much easier for passing now, compared to that of even in the 1970's.

Baseball has seen changes too, heck the pitchers used to throw under hand! There was discrimination and such, and other factors that created legends far greater than their actual status, but that can be determined to a greater accuracy than comparing football era's.

VitoCo1972

SDSportsFan, I agreed with you for a lot of your post, but Curtis Martin is unquestionably a HOFer No question.

TomGshotput

No. And there shouldn't be any in baseball either

Connecticoin

Favre must think the threshold is 100,000 passing yards!

jay0791

As the stats in both sports are skewed by steroids or just changes in the game itself we are losing the ability to compare today with yesterday. Is jim thome a HOF'ER if he hits 650 HR's? Don't know. He can easily do it. The qb's with stats is another good example. A HOF'ER IMO is someone we can sit back and say WOW!!!! he was great. He dominated his era (not just ok or good with accumulated stats). How important was he to his team..and did that translate into championships. But championships alone cannot be a measure (look at poor ernie banks who never even played in a playoff game). How many first team all pro's did he win? How many times over his carear was he in the top 10 in MVP voting? Individual awards have always been important. But will that even do it for the future? Mark mcGwire recieved 22% of the hof writers vote. You need at least 5% to stay on the ballots. Will he move up this year or down? if down could he be dropped from consideration. Answers will available in the next few years. I am not saying he is or is not a hofer but merely an argument of a possible HOF caliber player and steroids linked to his carear. In baseball I don't see anyone that is a for sure HOF'ER without controvesy until 2013 when Mike Piazza come up.

Estil

Mike Piazza (though I agree he's a future HOFer) wasn't even the best catcher in the 90s. That honor goes to Pudge. Piazza couldn't carry Pudge's thirteen Gold Gloves (nor his rifle of an arm) if his life depended on it.

lbcoach20

Vito is absolutely correct! Curtis Martin is HOF'er, no question. 14,000+ yards rushing and 4th all-time is a no-brainer! Now the others on that list, I don't know.

Estil

<< <i>
I just did some further research, and so far, 11 quarterbacks and 24 running backs have reached 40,000/10,000 career passing/rushing yards.
>>



Sounds like good benchmarks for automatic bids to me. Now let's talk defense. Any magic numbers for career interceptions, sacks, and tackles?

RonBurgundy

I've always thought a running back who eclipsed Jim Brown's career total of 12,312 yards was automatically in. 10,000 yards is kind of like 400 HR's in baseball......you get in the conversation, but it's not automatic.

Estil

<< <i>I've always thought a running back who eclipsed Jim Brown's career total of 12,312 yards was automatically in. 10,000 yards is kind of like 400 HR's in baseball......you get in the conversation, but it's not automatic. >>



I know, just ask Dave Kingman.

As someone who's followed baseball history since the early 1990s, I guess I just figured hardcore football fans were just as much into stats as baseball fans, but I guess that's not neccesairly the case?

SDSportsFan

<< <i>

<< <i>
I just did some further research, and so far, 11 quarterbacks and 24 running backs have reached 40,000/10,000 career passing/rushing yards.
>>



Sounds like good benchmarks for automatic bids to me. Now let's talk defense. Any magic numbers for career interceptions, sacks, and tackles? >>




There aren't any defensive "magic numbers" in football, at least that I'm aware of. Paul Krause is the all-time leader in interceptions, and he just got in the hall of fame a couple or so years ago. The problem with sacks is that they weren't considered an "official" statistic until 1982, so anyone playing before then didn't really have any of their sacks counted. That was I think, the biggest hangup with Jack Youngblood. He had a huge amount of sacks, but they weren't "official", so it took him forever to get in. I really don't know about total tackles.

I think of the three, the biggest to me anyway, would be sacks. I personally think anyone with 100 or more, should get an automatic hall pass

Of the 14 players in the top-10 in interceptions (there's a 5-way tie for 10th place), only 6 of them are in the hall of fame.

In sacks, there are 24 with at least 100 in their career. Only 3 of them are in the hall. Of the top-10, only Reggie White and Lawrence Taylor are in the hall. Andre Tippett is the only member of the 100 sack club enshrined.


Steve