Committee Chairman

Hockey HOF Inductions Tonight

Nov 12, 2013

It is Hockey Hall of Fame Weekend, and the Class of 2013 and you can say this is one of the most “Champion” loaded group in a long time. The four men with NHL experience who are going in this weekend, all have their names etched on the Stanley Cup.

Scott Niedermayer hoisted Lord Stanley’s grail four times and was a two time Olympic Gold Medalist. He is joined by a pair of three time Cup winners in Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan. The fourth man to enter the Hall is Fred Shero, who coached the Philadelphia Flyers to two Stanley Cups in the 1970’s.

This raises a question that we want to look at in the upcoming months: How much does winning a Championship raise an athlete’s chances to enter a Hall of Fame? There have been many Hall of Famers in all four major North American sports in which inductees have never been a champion. Conversely, there have been Playoff MVPS that have never come close to the Hall of Fame.

Different sports place a higher premium on championships, and though we have not all the research we need to do, we believe that Hockey places a bit of a higher premium on it. Classes like this one show it.

New Additions to the National Toy Hall of Fame

Nov 08, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Initially, we never paid attention to the Toy Hall of Fame. We can’t say that we ever plan to do a section in the near future about the toys who are not in that Hall of Fame, but as it is gaining traction, we thought it might be worth mentioning that the latest class has been selected.

The 2013 Toy Hall of Fame has added two, increasing the overall total to 53. The ancient game of Chess has been added as has the Rubber Duck. Frankly we can’t think of two completely different toys.

These two selections beat out bubbles, the board game Clue, Fisher-Price Little People, little green Army men, the Magic 8 Ball, My Little Pony, Nerf toys, the Pac-Man video game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the scooter.

The Toy Hall of Fame is entering its 15^th year of existence.

Veterans Committee Ballot out

Nov 04, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

The Baseball Expansion Era Committee (1973-Present) has announced their nominees for the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame. This year's committee includes Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Whitey Herzog, Tom Lasorda, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro and Frank Robinson; Toronto Blue Jays President Paul Beeston; retired club executive Andy MacPhail; Philadelphia Phillies President Dave Montgomery; Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf; Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau; Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle; Baseball Writers' Association of American Secretary-Treasurer Jack O'Connell; and retired Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Jim Reeves.

The Ballot includes:

Dave Concepcion

Bobby Cox

Steve Garvey

Tommy John

Tony LaRussa

Billy Martin

Marvin Miller

Dave Parker

Dan Quisenberry

Ted Simmons

George Steinbrenner

Joe Torre

This is a fascinating group that should likely yield an induction or more. Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre have done enough as a Manager to generate induction. In the case of Torre, he was on the ballot for the full fifteen years as a player. There has always been hot debate on Steve Garvey, who is a former MVP, but whose overall statistics have not been looked as kind in the case of modern sabremetrics. Ted Simmons is on the other end of the spectrum, as he was not considered a Hall of Fame player during his time, but has received a lot of support lately.

We are very curious to see the support of Tommy John and Dave Parker, two other players of which much has been written about.

It should be noted that Vida Blue, Ron Guidry, Al Oliver and Rusty Staub were on the 2010 Ballot, though failed to return. In the last Veterans Committee Ballot for this era, only Pat Gillick was selected.

Avalanche retire Adam Foote's jersey

Nov 03, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

We almost forgot about this. The Colorado Avalanche retired the number 52 in honor of Adam Foote who played for them in all but two and a half seasons from 1991 to 2011. The native of Whitby, Ontario was known as a consummate stay-at-home Defencemen, who brought leadership and grit to every team he ever played on. This is why that for a man that was never selected to any All-Star team and had 309 career points, was a stalwart on Canadian National teams and was a part of the 2004 World Cup and 2002 Olympic victories.

Foote becomes the fifth man to have his jersey retired. He joins Joe Sakic (#19), Peter Forsberg (#21), Patrick Roy (#33) and Ray Bourque (#77). Foote is eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.