I grew up over seas so I missed the Oilers (lack of football coverage).... From what I've watched though 1. Hakeem 2. Biggio 3. Watt 4. Not Sure....
God it's no surprise Bagwell isn't in the hall of fame. In the town he played his entire f**king career people don't even realize how great he was.
Him playing elsewhere is irrelevant IMO, not only did he play here for 8.5 seasons, he was also a local and that counts for something. Earl Campbell only played in Houston for 6.5 seasons, should he not be on the list?
The problem is that the list is limited to 4 names. Olajuwon, Ryan, and Campbell have those 3 slots on lock so it comes down to Bagwell vs Biggio for the 4th so you are forced to choose between them. Bagwell was no question the better player, but Biggio was more likeable and played here longer so he gets the slight nod.....but they really should be together.
Why does Nolan have a spot on lock? Was it the way he spent his most of career elsewhere, or was it because he went into the hall of fame in a Dallas cap. Or maybe the fact that he wasn't even the greatest pitcher in Astros history.
I totally agree that a player playing elsewhere is irrelevant; see Hakeem. However, him being in the HOF under the logo of another team is quite relevant. If there were a rule which stated only 1 city can have a single player on their rushmore, I think that fact trumps Houston in favor of Dallas. Which is all to say he was a complete beast while here in Houston.
IMO he does. He's arguably the greatest pitcher in MLB history and he's from the local area. With Ryan, Campbell, and Olajuwon they each have an argument as the greatest to ever do what they did which puts them on the Mount Rushmore IMO I'm not sure that Dallas has much of a claim on him honestly, sure he finished his career there and made the most money there, but he pitched the best in Anaheim and the longest in Houston. Those two cities have the best claim IMO and given that he's a local, I think Houston gets the nod. Of course he did have something to do with the Rangers organization for a while so maybe you could factor that in but IMO it would be like Dikembe Mutombo being considered a Rocket.
This is going to be a LOT harder to do in a few years when JJ Watt will be needing to be included on the list. We might just need a bigger mountain with space for more faces.
In reality, he is already, I just hate to list people who are so young as legends already. It just feels like I'm jinxing them.
1. Dream 2. Rudy T 3. Drexler 4. Murphy Worst 4 ever aka titanic 1. JJ Fatt 2. Jerry Lin 3. Lance Zierlein 4. Adam Clanton