15 of the Most Underrated Superstars in Sports History

Sure, "underrated superstar" is a bit of an oxymoron, but these 15 athletes were just that.

They were really (like really) good but have been underrated for one reason or another. Some were overshadowed by other superstars. For others, circumstances simply dictated they didn't get as much attention or reach their full potential.

In honor of the late Moses Malone, let's give these folks some love (and see what a few others had to say about them, too).

15. Jim Kelly

NFL Career: 1986-1996, quarterback, Buffalo Bills

Notable: Five-time Pro Bowler, passed for over 3,000 yards eight times, reached four straight Super Bowls, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Taken in the same draft as Dan Marino and John Elway, lost four straight Super Bowls.

14. Frank Robinson

MLB Career: 1956-1976

Notable: 12-time All-Star, won the MVP in both leagues, career line of .294/.389/.537, Triple Crown winner, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Played on an underrated team (Baltimore Orioles).

13. Mark Messier

NHL Career: 1979-2004

Notable: Six-time Stanley Cup champion, second to Wayne Gretzky in all-time points, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Played with and at the same time as Wayne Gretzky.

12. Zach Johnson

Golf Career: 1998-Present

Notable: 12 PGA Tour wins, two major championships. After a dramatic defeat of Tiger Woods at the 2013 Northwestern Mutual World Challenge, Woods told reporters (via Emily Kay of SB Nation), "It was pretty impressive what he did. He got me."

Underrated Because: Tiger Woods exists.

11. Tim Brown

NFL Career: 1988-2004, wide receiver, mostly with Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders

Notable: Nine-time Pro Bowler, nine consecutive 1,000-plus-yard receiving seasons, sixth on the all-time career receiving yards list

Underrated Because: Played on a generally poor team.

10. Ken Griffey Jr. 

MLB Career: 1989-2010

Notable: 13-time All-Star, 630 career home runs, 10 Gold Gloves

Underrated Because: Career derailed by injuries. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com wrote in 2010, "What if he'd stayed as healthy as, say, Alex Rodriguez? Or Hank Aaron? Or Willie Mays? What if he'd been ripping off 150-game seasons every year instead of all those 111-game seasons and 53-game seasons and 70-game seasons? What kind of legacy would we be talking about then?"

9. Bart Starr

NFL Career: 1956-1971, quarterback, Green Bay Packers

Notable: Four-time Pro Bowler, five-time NFL champion, 1966 NFL MVP, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Played for a guy named Vince Lombardi. Fran Tarkenton (also criminally underrated) called him, "One of the most underrated QBs in [NFL] history and an even better person."

8. Ron Francis

NHL Career: 1981-2004

Notable: Four-time All-Star, two-time Stanley Cup champion, fifth on the all-time points list, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Jason Iannone of CBS Local Sports called him "very sportsmanlike and nonaggressive" and suggested those qualities have played a part in Francis' milder notoriety.

7. Lefty Grove

MLB Career: 1925-1941, pitcher

Notable: Six-time All-Star, 1931 American League MVP, career ERA of 3.06, won 24 or more games five times (including 31 in 1931). According to Baseball-Reference.com, a common sentiment is, "Lefty Grove could throw a lamb chop past a wolf."

Underrated Because: As Dayn Perry of CBS Sports put it, "In part, that's because the bulk of his career fell during one of the most hitter-friendly eras ever (the 1930s)."

6. Elgin Baylor

NBA Career: 1958-1972, mostly with Los Angeles Lakers

Notable: 11-time NBA All-Star, averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Never won a title.

5. Marvin Harrison

NFL Career: 1996-2008, wide receiver, Indianapolis Colts

Notable: Eight-time Pro Bowler, NFL leader in single-season receptions (143 in 2002), eight consecutive seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards, not in the Hall of Fame

Underrated Because: Caught balls from Peyton Manning, remembered as "quiet."

4. Don Hutson

NFL Career: 1935-1945, defensive player and wide receiver, Green Bay Packers

Notable: Four-time Pro Bowler, 7,991 career receiving yards and 99 touchdowns, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Caught a lot of footballs before passing was a primary element of the game.

3. Monica Seles

Tennis Career: Turned pro in 1989, last match in 2003

Notable: Nine Grand Slam titles, former world No. 1, member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Underrated Because: A vicious stabbing derailed her career. Tennis great Martina Navratilova told Melissa Isaacson of espnW, "She would have won so much more. We'd be talking about Monica with the most Grand Slam titles [ahead of] Margaret Court or Steffi Graf."

2. Moses Malone

NBA Career: 1976-1995, center

Notable: 12-time All-Star, three-time NBA MVP, 1983 NBA Finals MVP, averaged a double-double for his career (20.6 points and 12.2 rebounds per game)

Underrated Because: A big man not named Chamberlain, Russell, Abdul-Jabaar or O'Neal.

1. Stan Musial

MLB Career: 1941-1963, St. Louis Cardinals

Notable: 20-time All-Star, three-time National League MVP, fourth on the all-time MLB hit list, career line of .331/.417/.559, Hall of Famer

Underrated Because: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote (via Jeff Merron of ESPN.com), "Musial didn't play for New York or Boston teams, so he wasn't romanticized by the hopelessly provincial baseball poets who transformed Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio into gods. And Musial wasn't a controversial figure. He just played the game."