We have another significant retirement in the NFL to look at as Place Kicker Sebastian Janikowski has announced his retirement from the pro football.

Born in Poland, Janikowski immigrated to the United States as a teenager and with his soccer background he was a natural kicker for football.  Heavily recruited, he would play for Florida State where he would win the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top Kicker in both 1998 and 1999, and to date is the only person to win that honor is back-to-back years.  In 2000, the Oakland Raiders drafted him in the 1^stRound (17^thOverall), which raised eyebrows as Kickers are not normally drafted that high but considering he played in Oakland for 17 years it turned out well for the silver and black.

Janikowski was never the NFL’s most accurate kicker as he was never in the top three in Field Goal Accuracy but he was the most powerful.  Janikowski holds the record for the most Field Goals made over 50 Yards with 58 and he is tenth all-time in Points Scored.  He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2011, which was the season he led the league in Field Goals.  He would finish his career with the Seattle Seahawks.

He is a long shot for the Pro Football Hall of Fame but will be eligible in 2024.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Sebastian Janikowski on having a wonderful career and we wish him the best in his post-playing career.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  As such it is news to us that the Kansas City Chiefs have announced that they are Brian Waters will be inducted into their franchise Hall of Fame.

Waters was undrafted out of North Texas and after the Dallas Cowboys signed and released him the Chiefs signed him and he made the 2000 roster.  By 2002, he was Kansas City’s starting Left Guard and in 2004 he would go to his first of five Pro Bowls as a Chief, with the others coming in 2005, 2006, 2008 & 2010.  He was also a two-time First Team All-Pro.  Waters played 163 Games for Kansas City before signing with the New England Patriots for the 2011 Season.

Waters becomes the 49^thperson and 45^thplayer to enter the Chiefs Hall of Fame.  Coincidentally, we are working on our All-Time Top 50 Kansas City Chiefs and Waters is pegged at the #19 spot.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Brian Waters for earning this honor.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com have been (slowly) working on the Top 50 of every major franchise in the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB.  As such it is significant news to us that the St. Louis Cardinals have announced their franchise Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

The new inductees are:

Jason Isringhausen: Isringhausen joined St. Louis in 2001 after being named an All-Star in Oakland.  He would remain a closer with the Redbirds and in 2004 would lead the National League in Saves in 2004.  The following year he would be named to his second All-Star Game (his second as a Cardinal) and he played there until the end of the 2008 season.  

Scott Rolen:  The Third Baseman was a four-time All-Star as a St. Louis Cardinal where he was a three-time Gold Glove recipient.  Rolen was an integral part of the Cardinals’ 2006 World Series Championship and the fringe Baseball Hall of Famer had 111 Home Runs with a Slash Line of .286/.370/.510 as a Cardinal.

Mort Cooper:  Cooper was chosen by the special Red Ribbon Committee and he was with the Cardinals from 1938 to 1945 where he was a two-time All Star and led the National League in Wins in both of those campaigns.  Cooper also won the ERA Title in 1942 and was named the league MVP.  He helped St. Louis win the 1942 and 1944 World Series.

The other nominees in the fan ballot included Keith Hernandez, Matt Morris, Edgar Renteria and John Tudor.

The St. Louis Cardinals began their Hall of Fame in 2014 and it has quickly become one of the most important franchise halls in the “Big 4” sports.  

The induction will take place on August 24. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the latest members of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

TMZ might just be the greatest new source for Pro Football Hall of Fame news…or at least for former players stating their case for enshrinement.  The latest is Chris Johnson, the former Running Back who told TMZ that he certainly belongsat a launch party for his supplement company in Nashville.

Johnson stated that he was a Hall of Famer “for sure” and he was the “fastest guy that ever played in the NFL”.  He also added that he hoped the Hall will “do the right thing”.

Hmmmm.

Johnson’s first three seasons in the National Football League was phenomenal as the then Tennessee Titan was named to the Pro Bowl and in his second year, he was a First Team All-Pro that led the league in Rushing Yards with 2,006 and was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year.  Johnson was not a Pro Bowler after 2010, but in his next three seasons with Tennessee he still rushed for over 1,000 Yards.  In his final four seasons he played for the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. He retired with 9,651 Rushing Yards with 50 TDs, which he complimented with another 2,255 Receiving Yards.  These are good numbers but in the modern era a Running Back that does not at least hit 10,000 Rushing Yards and more than one dominant season will struggle to see their bust in Canton.

The former Running Back is eligible for the Hall in 2023 and frankly he will be very lucky to become even a Semi-Finalist.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame is loaded and relative to the number of players who compete and the size of the Hall it is incredibly difficult to gain admission.     

Johnson is not likely to gain a gold jacket, but this one hell of a player who should always be celebrated in the state of Tennessee.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com will be paying attention!