It looks like we have another NFL retirement to look at.
Running Back DeMarco Murray announced to ESPN on their NFL Live program that he would be retiring from professional football after a seven year career in the National Football League.
A third round pick out of Oklahoma, Murray joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2011 and he immediately saw playing time in “Big D”. He would have a breakout season in 2013 where he was named to the Pro Bowl and would rush for 1,121 Yards, but that would pale to his accomplishments in the season after.
Without question, 2014 would be the greatest season of his career where the then Dallas Cowboy would lead the NFL Rushing Attempts (392), Rushing Yards (1,845) and Rushing Touchdowns (13), lead everyone in Yards From Scrimmage (2,261), All-Purpose Yards (2,261) and would be named the AP Offensive Player of the Year, a First Team All-Pro and again was a Pro Bowl Selection.
Murray would leave Dallas and join division rival Philadelphia in the off-season though it was a horrific fit and he would struggle to get yardage only finishing with 702 Rushing Yards for the season. A trade to the Tennessee Titans would see him enjoy a rejuvenation of sorts as he returned to the Pro Bowl in 2016 with a 1,287 Rushing Yard season. 2017, which would be his final season with Tennessee and in Football would see him finish with 656 Yards on the ground.
DeMarco Murray retires with 7,174 Rushing Yards, 2,165 Receiving Yards and 55 Touchdowns. This will not be a Hall of Fame career and he may struggle to become even a preliminary Hall of Fame candidate, but it is a good career nevertheless and he will be Hall of Fame eligible in 2023.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com wish DeMarco Murray the best in his post-playing career.
As we are approaching the All Star Game in Major League Baseball, a significant player has announced that 2018 will be his last in the game.
In a news conference at Dodger Stadium six-time All Star Chase Utley proclaimed that he will be retiring from baseball following the end of the season. The Second Baseman has been used predominantly in a utility role in the past two seasons but when it is all said and done it will be his time as a Philadelphia Phillie where he will be remembered.
From 2005 to 2010 Utley would go to five All Star Games had five 150 Hit seasons had six 20 Home Run seasons, four 100 RBI seasons, was a four time Silver Slugger and helped Philadelphia win the World Series in 2008. Not only was Utley regarded as one of the best offensive Second Baseman he had stellar defense (despite never winning a Gold Glove). He had six straight seasons where he finished in the top ten in Defensive bWAR in the NL, including the 2008 campaign where he was the league leader.
As of this writing, Chase Utley has 1,100 Runs, 1,880 Hits, 259 Home Runs, 1,025 Runs Batted In with a Slash Line of .276/.358/.466 and a bWAR of 65.6; fairly good numbers that are not likely to grow much considering there is only a half season left for a player who does not see action every day. He is currently 10th overall in bWAR for Second Basemen and his 57.4 JAWS is slightly above the Hall of Fame average of 57.0. This makes him an intriguing Hall of Fame case as his overall numbers are worthy and he was considered elite at his position at one time. The World Series Ring doesn’t hurt either.
We have a feeling that we will be debating the Hall of Fame merits of Chase Utley for sometime but in the meantime we here at Notinhalloffame.com will try to catch a few more Dodgers games so that we can see Utley a few more times.
We were wondering how the Pro Football Hall of Fame were going to react when Terrell Owens decided that he was going to do his Hall of Fame speech somewhere other than Canton with the rest of the inductees. We found out today, and their answer is to not acknowledge him at all that evening.
The Hall of Fame’s Executive Director, Joe Horrigan stated that Owens will not be introduced for the Gold Jacket ceremony nor will be announced the following evening at the Induction Ceremony.
“The focus, is on the guys who are here” Horrigan said, which obviously excludes Terrell Owens. As for his gold jacket, it will be shipped to him separately.
Owens will be giving his speech earlier in the day at his alma mater, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The other inductees are Jerry Kramer, Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Brian Dawkins, Bobby Beathard, Brian Urlacher and Robert Brazile.
As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports. After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives.
As such, it is important to us that the Anaheim Ducks have announced that they will be retiring the numbers of former players Paul Kariya and Scott Niedermayer during the 2018-19 season.
Paul Kariya played his first nine seasons of his NHL career with seven of which served as the team’s captain. The Left Winger would score 669 Points in 606 Games for the Ducks, which generated an excellent 1.10 Points per Game Average. He would collect a lot of hardware with the then named Mighty Ducks as he was named a First Team All Star three times, a Second Team All Star twice, would win the Lady Byng Trophy twice and was a part of the team’s first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
Scott Niedermayer was with the Ducks for the last five seasons of his career. After winning three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils, Niedermayer would help Anaheim win their first and to date only Stanley Cup in 2007, where he was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.
The addition of Kariya’s #9 and Niedermayer’s #27 number marks the second and third numbers retired by the Ducks. The team has already retired Teemu Selanne’s #8.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate both Paul Kariya and Scott Niedermayer for earning this prestigious honor.