Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB.  Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives.  As such, it is important to us that the

Boston Red Sox have announced that three new former players; Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon and Trot Nixon will be inducted into their franchise Hall of Fame as the Class of 2024.

Pedroia played his entire career in Boston where he was the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year, 2008 AL MVP and was a four-time All-Star.  He won two World Series Rings and smacked 1,805 Hits for the team.

Papelbon was a four-time All-Star in Boston and recorded 219 Saves for the team.  He was also their closer in their 2007 World Series Championship.

Nixon was a member of the 2004 Word Series Championship Team and played ten years with Boston. He had 912 Hits and 133 Home Runs for the Red Sox.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

On a ballot packed with qualified candidates for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is it possible that none of them will be elected this year?

If that happens, as it did last year, it would be the third time in the last decade that the qualified voters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) have thrown a shutout at the Hall of Fame. This is an odd paradox considering that after the Big Zilch of 2013, the BBWAA in subsequent years went on to elect 22 players across the next seven ballots, with the various guises of the veterans committee voting in another five players (and six non-players) during that seven-year span. (In 2013, the veterans committee did elect three candidates to the Hall.)

Last year, Curt Schilling, who had garnered 70 percent of the vote on the previous ballot, seemed to be a lock for election. Instead, he stalled with a negligible increase in support, then threw a social-media Trumper tantrum declaring that he wanted to be removed from this year's ballot. The Hall of Fame quickly responded that it would not do so.

In a tumultuous year that was not normal for anything and everything including baseball, one thing that might be back to normal is voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Granted, the 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot has 14 returning candidates, with just about every one of them owning cases for induction that range from borderline to compelling.

Let’s forget about his fight with Bryce Harper shall we?

While Papelbon’s fiery demeanor did not always win him the admiration of some of his teammates, the longtime closer did earn a lot of fans with his patented four seam fastball.  Papelbon dominated with the Boston Red Sox and was a vital member of the Red Sox World Series Championship team of 2007.  Papelbon may never have led the Majors in Saves in his career but he was a six time All Star who was in the top five in Saves five times and has 368 career Saves; an excellent number.