Committee Chairman

Sammy Sosa snubbed by the Cubs

Apr 24, 2014

When the Chicago Cubs held their celebration to mark the 100^th anniversary of Wrigley Field, fans, announcers and media noticed one significant absence from the Cubs legends brought back to share in the festivities: Sammy Sosa.

Sosa played thirteen seasons with Chicago where he won the National League MVP in 1998 and had three seasons of 60 or more Home Runs. His totals as a Cub are impressive with 1,985 Hits, 545 Home Runs, 1,414 Runs Batted In, a .928 OPS and a bWAR of 58.5 and for years he was one of the most popular players in the game and owned the Windy City.

As much as Sosa was revered, the sentiment in Chicago (and Baseball in general) changed. As his stats declined and the injuries piled up, Sosa became surly and many of the media who once praised him, painted him as a fraud, but did so in two ways.

The first was Performance Enhancing Drugs. As the public became aware of PEDs, Sosa was one of the players who that alleged to have taken them. In a 2002 Sports Illustrated piece with sportswriter, Rick Reilly, Sosa said he was never on them and that he would be the first in line should Baseball mandate drug testing:

(From Rick Reilly’s 2002 SI Piece)

"You've said if baseball tests for steroids, you want to be first in line, right?" I asked him last Thursday at his Wrigley Field locker.

"Yes," Sosa replied.

"Well, why wait?" I said.

"What?"

"Why wait to see what the players' association will do?" I continued. "Why not step up right now and be tested? You show everybody you're clean. It'll lift a cloud off you and a cloud off the game. It'll show the fans that all these great numbers you're putting up are real."

Sosa's neck veins started to bulge.

I tried to tell him how important I thought this was. How attendance is headed for the cesspool. A former MVP told SI that 50% of the players are on steroids. The fans are starting to look at every home run record the way people look at Ted Koppel's hair. And there's the threat of a strike. Something good has to happen. What could be more positive than the game's leading home run hitter's proving himself cleaner than Drew Carey's fork?

Sosa looked at me as if I were covered in leeches.

"Why are you telling me to do this?" he said. "You don't tell me what to do."

I tried to explain that I wasn't telling him to do it, I was just wondering if he didn't think it would be a good move for him and the game.

"You're not my father!" he said, starting to yell. "Why do you tell me what to do? Are you trying to get me in trouble?"

I asked how he could get in trouble if he wasn't doing anything wrong.

"I don't need to go nowhere," he growled. "I'll wait for the players' association to decide what to do. If they make that decision [to test], I will be first in line."

But didn't he think a star stepping forward now, without being told to be tested....

"This interview is over!" He started looking around for security. "Over, motherf-----!!"

Damn, we loved rereading that!

Incidentally, Reilly would go on to say in the piece that he doubted Sosa was on steroids, though in his defense he would later write pieces that he was naïve to the situation, most famously when he wrote about being duped by Lance Armstrong who he strongly defended in many articles.

Reilly wrote that piece in 2002. Two years later, Sosa played his last game for the Cubs. In the last game of the 2004 Regular Season, he asked not to play, and left the stadium before the game ended. He famously denied that accusation, though security footage showed he lied. Allegedly, one of his Sosa’s teammates destroyed his boombox with his baseball bat to a rousing applause from the rest of the Cubs. Sosa never played another game in Chicago again.

This is the biggest reason why Sosa was not invited back to the Cubs and this celebration. A spokesman from the team stated that “There are things that Sammy needs to look at and consider prior to having an engagement with the team.”

Sosa wanted to be a part of it, and has expressed in the past that he wants to see his number retired by the Cubs and in regards to yesterday’s events he had the following to say:

“I should have been there. I would have liked to have been there. The Cubs know where to find me and I hope to have the chance to clear up any misunderstanding.”

Players have come back to organizations after severe fallouts, and suspected PED users have even returned to the game in various capacities. Most recently, Barry Bonds was part of the opening day ceremonies for the Pittsburgh Pirates and worked as an Instructional Coach for the San Francisco Giants in Spring Training. Sosa’s impact on the Cubs cannot be downsized, and we are very curious to see how this story unfolds.

Ronnie Milsapto the Country Music Hall of Fame

Apr 23, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Shortly after the Country Music Hall of Fame completed its expansion, the Nashville based institution has announced three new inductees in their Class of 2014.

Ronnie Milsap headlines this group as the Modern Era Artist inductee, and is one of the most successful Country Musicians of all time. Starting out as a session musician in the 60’s (he appeared on Elvis Presley’s Kentucky Rain), Milsap also penned some hits for others (including Ray Charles) but in 1972 after a trip to Nashville, he switched his focus to Country Music at the influence of Charley Pride. Milsap would soon after have his first top forty Country hit, and by 1976 he emerged as one of the top acts of the genre.

Milsap would also have crossover success in the Pop world as he blended mainstream elements to his music. He would go on to have forty Country number one hits.

Milsap is joined by Hank Cochran who had seven top twenty Country Music hits. Cochran is more known for his songwriting skills, as he wrote “I Fall To Pieces” and “She’s Got You” which would become major hits for Patsy Cline. Cochran passed away in 2010.

The third inductee is Veteran Era Artist Inductee, Mac Wiseman. Wiseman was a major figure in Bluegrass Music where he began singing harmonies for Flatt & Scrugg’s Foggy Mountain Boys and Bill Monore’s Bluegrass Boys before becoming a very successful solo artist.

The Country Music Hall of Fame was first established in 1961, and this year’s ceremony will be the first one in the facilitie’s new 800 seat theatre. Once we finish a few other projects on this site, we are looking to create a section for this Hall.

Pat Tillman to the Hall of Fame?

Apr 22, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

After watching ESPN’s Outside the Lines Program about the death of Pat Tillman, Sunday Night Football Analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Cris Collinsworth took the Twitter stating his belief that Tillman should be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

“If I live to be a million years old, I will never understand why Pat Tillman is not in the NFL Hall of Fame. Thanks ESPN. Great Reporting”

“I cannot name one person in NFL history that represents what I would like the NFL to be more than Pat Tillman. Shouldn’t that be enough HOF?”

Actually Cris, it isn’t.

We need to make it very clear that this is not a shot at Pat Tillman in any capacity. It takes great conviction to forego a million dollar contract (which was offered) to instead serve your country knowing full well that you would put your life in danger overseas. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in 2004, and the NFL and his former team, the Arizona Cardinals, have by multiple accounts honoured the career of Tillman appropriately.

The NFL has long been known for its support of the military, and the Arizona Cardinals (and his College of Arizona State) have retired his number. Traditionally, many professional sports franchises have retired the numbers of players who died tragically while they were a member of the team, and the Cardinals and Sun Devils gesture was a warm one, as he was not an active member of the roster.

Currently, the Pro Football Hall of Fame honors those who have made a significant impact on the field (or as a contributor) in the Professional ranks, and as we look up and down those who have been inducted, they have done just that.

With all due respect to Pat Tillman, his professional football career was not a Hall of Fame one. He played four seasons with Arizona where he played sixty games (starting thirty-nine of them) and while good enough to have received a multi million dollar offer from the team (prior to enlisting), he had not achieved an All Pro or Pro Bowl level on the NFL level.

Known columnist, Peter King opened up his opinion on whether Pat Tillman’s military sacrifice was enough to warrant a Hall of Fame Induction.

“Should all 26 NFL players who have died in service to our country, either in World War II, Vietnam or Afghanistan be enshrined in Canton? Is one player’s service worth more than others? Should every player who served in wartime be enshrined, or put a wing of the Hall of Fame?

What about others who played football and went on to great things? Byron “Whizzer” White, a running back in the NFL, went on to be a Supreme Court Justice. Jack Kemp quarterbacked the Bills, then became a nine-term Congressman and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Should they be in?

I think football players and coaches and executives should be in the Hall of Fame for what they accomplishment as football players and coaches and executives and not for anything else.”

There is an exhibit in the Hall that does acknowledge Tillman and others that served in various wars, so it is not as if his career and sacrifice is not represented in Canton, but is a bust of Tillman among the great players of the game needed? With all due respect, his play doesn’t warrant it, and that is what should occur.

We do think that many sporting Halls of Fame have forgotten that the key word is “fame”, and may depend a little too much on stats as opposed to moments, but again, Tillman became famous for walking away from the game, and the fact is he was a good NFL player, but not a great one. If the Hall looks to induct those who had heroic acts off the field, do we then kick out the ones who committed atrocities off of it (O.J. Simpson)? It should be noted that Tillman was never a preliminary nominee on the Hall of Fame ballot.

We are very curious to see if this sentiment builds momentum and also what your thoughts on this are.

A Garbage bin enters the RRHOF (Seriously)

Apr 21, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

For those to say the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is full of rubbish, apparently the institution has decided to confirm it.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have procured one of the painted oil drums that is used at the Glastonbury Music Festival to collect garbage will soon be on exhibit in Cleveland, Ohio where it will stand alongside Elvis’ leather jacket and everything that Bruce Springsteen ever owned. When asked why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wanted this to add to their collection, Glastonbury founder and promoter, Michael Eavis could only offer a perplexing explanation.

“I don’t really understand why. For some reason the Americans wanted to put one is as a sample of what we do.”

Interesting statement isn’t it? Of all the things that they could have asked for from this famed festival of music, they are asking for a garbage bin?

For those unaware of Glastonbury, Michael Eavis put this together in 1970 in the United Kingdom where for a one pound ticket you could see the headliner T.Rex in a music festival. The festival returned a year later, where David Bowie was the headliner. After a seven year hiatus, Eavis brought the festival back and with the exception of 1980, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2012, it has been an annual staple on the music scene.

A virtual who’s who has performed at this festival over the years. The list includes The Rolling Stones, U2, R.E.M., Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Peter Gabriel, The Wu-Tang Clan, New Order, Oasis, Paul McCartney, The Smiths, Elvis Costello, Coldplay, The White Stripes, Johnny Cash, Beyonce, The Cure, The Pixies, Morrisey, Blur, Kings of Leon, Paul Simon, Rage Against the Machine, Gorillaz, Muse, Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne, Sting, Curtis Mayfield, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Eyed Peas, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Manic Street Preachers, Yes, Primal Scream, Lenny Kravitz, Arctic Monkeys, Moby, Ray Davies, Bjork, Suzanne Vega, Pulp, Mumford & Sons, Tony Bennett, Muse, The Prodigy, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Blondie, Shakira, The Flaming Lips, James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, P.J. Harvey, Joe Cocker, B.B. King, The Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos, The Specials, Roger Waters and the Happy Mondays.

With the vast history and incredible talent that has appeared at Glastonbury, a garbage bin is what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wants to showcase? This is a commentary that writes itself.