When fans are talking about the greatest players in their favorite team’s history, kickers are rarely mentioned. Other than a select few, they operated in relative anonymity, mentioned only when they fail. The Arizona Cardinals have had some terrific kickers throughout their history, but none compares to Jim Bakken.
Bakken was a seventh round draft pick out of Wisconsin in 1962. He quickly took control of the job as kicker, and never looked back. For 17 years, he represented the Cardinals, and he has a tremendous list of accomplishments to show for it.
Total field goals made isn’t a statistic to judge by, but he did lead the league twice in that category.