Committee Chairman

RIP: Ritchie Havens

Apr 24, 2013

Ritchie Havens, passed away today at the age of 72 due to a heart attack. Havens is best known for his outstanding opening set at the Woodstock festival in 1969. He blended Soul and Folk and played the acoustic guitar with a fervent style, atypical of other Folk singers. Havens was atypical of other Folk acts, as he was an African American in what was predominantly a Caucasian genre.

Although Havens would have many acclaimed albums, it was that Woodstock performance that he will always be remembered for. In what could have been just an answer to a trivia question, Haven’s performance was instead immortalized on the Woodstock film, and is considered by many to be the most remembered scene.

We offer our condolences to the family and friends of Ritchie Havens at this time.

Rasheed Wallace: HOF or not?

Apr 21, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Amidst our excitement of the beginning of the NBA Playoffs, we almost forgot (Okay, we did for a bit), the retirement of Rasheed Wallace, who is retiring for the second time after a comeback this season with the New York Knicks. The Knicks will be entering the playoffs as the second seed in the East, but injuries have taken Wallace out of the game, and he has chosen to retire instead of join New York as they go after an NBA Championship.

This brings us to our favourite question: Hall of Fame or Not?

For the record we actually thought Rasheed Wallace was a little underrated. He received the bulk of his attention for his negative attitude and ability to draw technical fouls (he has the most all time), but he was a very good two way player, who could score and rebound at a consistent rate. However, there are certain traits that we think a bona fide Basketball Hall of Fame candidate, and Wallace comes up short in our eyes.

Although the Power Forward was selected to four All Star Game appearances, he was never selected to an All NBA Team, nor was he selected to the Defensive Team. It was debatable whether he was ever the best player on his own team (likely for Portland, but a case could be made against it) and though he is an NBA Champion with the 2004 Detroit Pistons, it was not exactly his team, and it is more accepted that the Lakers imploded more than Detroit won the title.

Rasheed Wallace’s overall statistics were good, but other than two finishes in Field Goal Percentage, he never finished in the top five in any major statistic in a season, and was rarely in the top ten. He also does not have an outstanding college career that the Hall cannot overlook (ie: Ralph Sampson)

We believe that Wallace will be in our top 100, but Springfield bound? We don’t think so.

The 1973 Hockey HOF Class is up

Apr 16, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Our work on the existing Hockey Hall of Fame Classes continue. We have now made our way to the year of 1973. It may not be as spectacular as the previous Class (really how could it be), but with Doug Harvey headlining it, at least we have a great name on the top. The complete Class of 1973 was:

Chuck Rayner

Doug Harvey

Hartland Molson

Tommy Smith

Gang you know the drill. Check it out, and cast your votes and let us know whether you think they deserved their Hall of Fame induction. Look for upcoming classes soon!

Roy Halladay to 200 wins

Apr 15, 2013

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

As we get older, we are desperately trying to convince ourselves that “40 is the new 30”. Perhaps we should transfer that thinking to Baseball, where 200 is the new 300.

The number we are referring to is “Wins”, and the 200 came to mind when likely Hall of Fame pitcher, Roy Halladay hit that milestone today. The pitching win in Baseball might very well be the most antiquated stat in the game. Even before the sabremetrical revolution, fans often looked at a pitching win as a stat that could easily be dissected. As there are anywhere from thirteen to fifteen games in a typical day, you can count on at least one pitcher’s win or loss to be a victim of circumstance. How many times we have a seen a pitcher post a gem, only to be denied of a win because he had no run support, or conversely a player stink up the mound and still generate a win, because his batters were on fire?

Even the fans of generation gone by, knew that the won/loss record was not a stat that solely represented a pitcher’s worth. Remember the story of Harvey Haddix who in 1959 pitched twelve perfect innings, and finished with a line of twelve and two thirds innings pitched with one hit allowed. Some have called that the greatest pitching performance in the modern era, and he still recorded a loss. You think there weren’t statisticians complaining about giving Haddix the “L”?

Still, any pitcher who takes the mound wants the Win, but not only is this a stat that does not hold as much weight as it used to, it is one that is harder for a starting pitcher to come by.

Starters go a lot less innings than they used to, making it harder for them to obtain the win. With Halladay getting his 200^th win, he becomes only the second active player to hit that mark, though Tim Hudson and CC Sabathia should join him this season.

So what about 300? In looking at the current pitchers, there is not that many who you can look at who seem to have a shot. Sabathia may be one, who at the age of 32 currently has 193 wins, but our basis for this piece, Roy Halladay, is 36 years old, and has shown some serious decline over the past year making the triple century mark unlikely. Outside possibilities may be Justin Verlander (126 wins, 30 yrs old) and Felix Hernandez (99 wins, 27 years old), but beyond those two, we can’t think of anyone else we would bet on.

Basically we are saying this: We don’t hold the win in the same regard we used to, but we will celebrate the 200 mark, which is still impressive no matter how you slice it. Congrats Roy, but please forgive us for not putting in an order for you on the “300” banner. We may not need it for anyone for a long time.