The best 'almost' champions

As the Major League Baseball season comes to a close and I take a look at the standings, I cannot help but notice Alex Rodriguez and his $25.2 million contract per year and how the Texas Rangers are once again in the cellar of the American League West. Despite being one of, if not the best all-around player in baseball, A-Rod has failed to lead his Rangers even close to postseason play in his three seasons with the club.\nI am and likely always will be an A-Rod fan, and he is easy to like with a nearly permanent smile and home run hitting power combined with stellar defensive skills. Some would say he makes too much money and that is definitely arguable. But year after year, Rodriguez puts up numbers to back-up his contract. This year, he once again has 40-plus home runs, 100-plus RBI's and is hitting just under .300. A-Rod has also earned his money as he has not yet missed a game since becoming a Ranger.\nThinking about Rodriguez and his not-so-stellar attempts to even make the postseason since heading south from Seattle made me consider some of the "best-ever" players in their respective sports, who never went the distance to win it all.\nIn the all-time-greats list for baseball, you can include nearly all Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox stars you can imagine, since those teams have not won a title since 1908, 1917, and 1818, respectively. Consider names such as Ernie Banks for the Cubs, Nellie Fox and Carlton Fisk for the White Sox, and Fisk, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski for the Red Sox.\nWilliams is arguably the best pure hitter of all-time and the last to hit over .400 for a season when he hit .406 in 1941. Yastrzemski is the last to hit for the Triple Crown, (leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted-in) which he did in 1967. Other stars who did not play for the Cubs, White Sox, or Red Sox, but still failed to win a championship include Harmon Killebrew, Gaylord Perry and the recently retired Tony Gwynn.\nFootball stars to never hoist a championship trophy after a title game include greats such as Fran Tarkenton, Gale Sayers, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Barry Sanders. Sayers and Sanders are two of the greatest running backs in football history, yet never once reached the pinnacle of success in the NFL. Marino, who holds numerous NFL passing records, led the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl in his second year and then never returned to the big stage. Meanwhile, Tarkenton and Kelly led their respective teams to multiple Super Bowls, but always came up one win short.\nPro basketball has its fair share of players to never rejoice after an ABA or NBA title as well. Recently retired (and should-be future Hall-of-Famers) John Stockton, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing all made it to the NBA Finals, yet were all denied the glorious winners stage. This trio joins good company of basketball greats never to garner a pro championship ring, such as Calvin Murphy, Elgin Baylor and George Gervin. Give anyone those six stars in their prime and I would like their chances at winning a title against any opponent.\nDespite never reaching the top in their respective sports, each of these athletes represents some of the best to ever play the game and should be recognized as such by any knowledgeable fan. These lists of all-time greats show that it often takes more than sheer individual talent and an owner's deep pocket to win a championship; team cohesiveness and a little luck never hurts.