He hit people a lot. He tried hard. He was a good cheerleader. Enough to get him into the most elite ring on the most (at one point) elite franchise in NFL history? No.
Roger Staubach
Randy White
Michael Irvin
Troy Aikman
Emmitt Smith
Bob Lily
Larry Allen
Lee Roy Jordan
I can name the rest of the ROH of you would like.
You keep saying that, but that doesn't buy him a ticket into the ROH. Tony Hill is is top 5, IMO, and he's not in, and he contributed a helluva lot more than Bates did.
So, you would have a career special teamer in the ROH. Talk about nuts.
Listen, I loved watching him play, too. Plus, his path to get there was tough, and he made it. That's great, but not ROH worthy.