It’s on!

The 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is officially out with seventeen returning players and thirteen new first year eligible names.

To return on the ballot, a player must be within their ten years of eligibility and received at least 5% of the vote.

The returning former players are: (with their year of eligibility and last year’s result)

Curt Schilling: 10^th Year, 71.1%

Barry Bonds: 10^th Year, 61.8%

Roger Clemens: 10^th Year, 61.6%

Scott Rolen: 5^th Year, 52.9%

Omar Vizquel, 5^th Year, 49.1%

Billy Wagner, 7^th Year, 46.4%

Todd Helton,4^th Year, 44.9%

Gary Sheffield, 8^th Year, 40.6 %

Andruw Jones, 5^th Year, 33.9%

Jeff Kent, 9^th Year, 32.4%

Manny Ramirez, 6^th Year, 28.2%

Sammy Sosa, 10^th Year, 17.0%

Andy Pettitte, 4^th Year, 13.7%

Mark Buehrle, 2^nd Year, 11.0%

Torii Hunter, 2^nd Year, 9.5%

Bobby Abreu, 3^rd Year, 8.7%

Tim Hudson, 2^nd Year, 5.2%

The new former players are:

Carl Crawford

Prince Fielder

Ryan Howard

Tim Lincecum

Justin Morneau

Joe Nathan

David Ortiz

Jonathan Papelbon

Jake Peavy

A.J. Pierzynski

Alex Rodriguez

Jimmy Rollins

Mark Teixeira

Notably Coco Crisp, Marlon Byrd, Michael Bourn, Kyle Lohse, Angel Pagan, Omar Infante, Matt Thornton, Billy Butler, Colby Lewis, Jeff Francoer, Javier Lopez and Ryan Vogelsong were eligible this year, but were not included on the ballot.

The results will be announced on January 25, 2022. 

One of our pet projects, the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame is pleased to announce the Finalists for the Class of 2021, which will be the 7^th full class.  

The Semi-Finalists were decided by all of you, after being pared down from other 500 Preliminary Nominees.

There are three wings in the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame:

The Fictitious Athlete wing, whose members are: Rocky Balboa (The Rocky series), Roy Hobbs (The Natural), Crash Avis (Bull Durham), Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Major League), Happy Gilmore (Happy Gilmore), Reggie Dunlop (Slap Shot), The Hanson Brothers (Slap Shot), Charlie Conway (The Mighty Ducks) Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (The Sandlot), Apollo Creed (Rocky), Willie “Mays” Hayes (Major League), Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump), Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy), Paul “Wrecking” Crewe (The Longest Yard), Dottie Hinson (A League of Their Own), Daniel LaRusso (The Karate Kid), Clubber Lang (Rocky), Ivan Drago (Rocky), “Fast” Eddie Felson (The Hustler & The Color of Money, Al Bundy (Married...with Children), Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) and Johnny Lawrence (The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai).

The Fictitious Contributor wing, whose members are: Harry Doyle (Major League), Carl Spackler (Caddyshack), Mr. Miyagi (The Karate Kid), Chubbs Peterson (Happy Gilmore), Gordon Bombay (The Mighty Ducks), Mickey Goldmill (Rocky), Morris Buttermaker (The Bad News Bears), Coach Ernie Pantusso (Cheers), Adrian Balboa (Rocky), Jimmy Dugan (A League of Their Own), and the Gopher (Caddyshack)

The Fictitious Veteran wing, whose members are: Andy “Champ” Purcell (The Champ), Dennis Ryan (Take Me Out to the Ball Game), Guffy McGovern (Angels in the Outfield), Huxley College (Horse Feathers), Sport Goofy (Disney) and Joe Hardy/Joe Boyd (Damn Yankees).

The Fictitious Athlete Semi-Finalists are:

Adonis Creed (Creed and Creed II).  The son of former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Apollo Creed, Adonis became the World Heavyweight Champion himself.  This is the most “recent” Finalist, and has returned to last round for the second straight year.

Al Czervik (Caddyshack).  Czervik was a Finalist last year for the first time, and his win over the “snobs” at Bushwood Country Club is still golf legend.

“All the Way” Mae Mordabito (A League of Their Own).  Mordabito played at Centerfield for the Rockford Peaches, and was the team’s leadoff hitter.  This is her first time as a Finalist.

Chazz Michael Michaels (Blades of Glory).  CMM was a star solo figure skater who found a second life as a pair skater with his former adversary.  This is also a former Finalist.

Greg Goldberg (The Mighty Ducks Trilogy).  Every great hockey dynasty needs a great Goalie.  Goldberg was good enough, and great at the one-liners.  Goldberg is a Finalist for the first time.

Jack Elliott (Mr. Baseball).  Elliott was a fading star for the Detroit Tigers and was traded to the Tokyo Giants, where he had last kick at the can.  This is the first time he made it as a Finalist.

Jake Taylor (Major League).  Taylor was the hero with a bunt in the first Major League, where the veteran Catcher of the Cleveland Indians was the on-field leader of the rags to riches story.  He would later become their interim manager, and he is a five-time Semi-Finalist, and now a two-time Finalist.

Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (The Big Lebowski).  A pot smoking slacker who loves bowling?  Sounds good to us!  The Dude has been a Finalist twice before.

Jimmy Chitwood (Hoosiers).  Chitwood was the star basketball player at Hickory High whom without the Norman Dale led team would not have won the Indiana State tournament in 1957.  Chitwood has been a Finalist once before.

Lee (Enter the Dragon).  Lee qualifies as he participates in what was the most unorganized martial arts tournament in memory.  This is his third time as a Finalist.

Peter LaFleur (Dodgeball).  LaFleur led his Average Joe’s Gym team to a win in the Dodgeball Open in Las Vegas.  He is now a three-time Finalist.

Randy “The Ram” Robinson (The Wrestler).  Robinson is an aging pro wrestler barely hanging on.  He was a Finalist three years ago.

Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby).  NASCAR legend, Ricky Bobby has been a Finalist two times before.

Roy McAvoy (Tin Cup):  A three-time Semi-Finalist, and now one-time Finalist, McAvoy is a club pro who finally made it to a PGA event.

Sam Malone (Cheers):  Malone pitched for the Boston Red Sox for five seasons in a relief pitcher capacity.  “Mayday” is now a four-time Finalist. 

You can vote for them here.

The Fictitious Athlete Contributors are:

Annie Savoy (Bull Durham):  Savoy was the longtime muse for many a minor league baseball player who was played for the Durham Bulls.  She is a former Finalist, and had at least been a Semi-Finalist every year.

Caretaker (The Longest Yard ’05):  The Chris Rock version is a Finalist for the first time after four straight years as a Semi-Finalist.

Frank Drebin (The Naked Gun):  The. Detective from the Police Squad in L.A. pretended to be a Major League Umpire, while on the case.  He was a Semi-Finalist last year, and a first-time Finalist.

Frankie Dunn (Million Dollar Baby):  Dunn trained many a boxer, and he broke his own rules to coach his first female.

Hayden Fox (Coach):  Fox is a four-time Finalist and the former Head Coach at Minnesota State.

Irv Blitzer (Cool Runnings):  While there was a Jamaican Bobsled Team at the 1988 Olympics, there was no Irv Blitzer, but in the world of film, he existed, and coached them to respectability in Calgary.  This is his first time as a Finalist.

Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire):  The most known sports agent in the fictitious world has been a Finalist twice before.   

Lou Brown (Major League):  Brown went from managing the Toledo Mudhens and landed the job as the Cleveland Indians Manager.  He has been a Finalist once before.

Norman Dale (Hoosiers):  Dale is a four-time Finalist and he led the small town Hickory High to a state championship in 1957.

Paulie Pennino (Rocky):  Paulie is a friend, cornerman and brother-in-law to former Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Rocky Balboa.  He is now a three-time Finalist.

Terrence Mann (Field of Dreams):  An important counter-culture writer of the 1960s, Mann is a disaffected baseball fan who travels with Kinsella to his Iowa baseball diamond.  This is his first time as a Finalist.

You can vote for them here.

The Fictitious Athlete Veterans are:

Harold Lamb (The Freshman):  Lamb played college football for Tate University, and the undersized talent got the girl at the end.

Greta Muller (One in a Million):  Muller was an Olympic figure skater, which had to be a stretch for Sonja Henie to play.

Velvet Brown (National Velvet):  Brown won the steeplechase but sexism of her day meant she had to pretend to be male.

You can vote for them here.

When you can, please support our site and cast your vote for the Class of 2020!

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support.

August 31 – September 20, 1963

The Angels

My Boyfriends Back

Where was her boyfriend anyway?

Back from where?

Because of the tone and era, I imagine he was a year or two older than the damsel in distress, and maybe he was coming back from college.  I would prefer to envision that he was returning after a stint in jail where he brutally murdered a prostitute in a seedy motel, after making a shocking Crying Game like discovery during the dirty deed.

What’s wrong with me?

Let’s return to the innocence and the song, but as this is the only time we will see the Angels, with “My Boyfriends Back”, which is arguably one of the most successful and remembered girl group songs of the 60s.  That is the case for the song, though not for the Angels.

“My Boyfriends Back” was not the first hit by the Angels, as in 1961 they had a #14 hit with ‘Til in 1961.  From New Jersey, the group initially consisted of sisters, Barbara and Phyllis Allbut^[1], who flanked their lead singer Linda Jansen.  Jansen left to pursue a solo career, and she would be replaced with Peggy Santiglia.^[2]  

This was a better move for the group, as Santiglia has a more marketable voice, that could also serve multiple purposes.  Under their new label, Smash Records, the group recorded a demo of “My Boyfriends Back”, a song penned by the songwriting trio of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer.  This group was interesting enough in their own right, as the trio from New York City would later create a band called “The Strangeloves”.  They would even create a fictional backstory that they were Australian sheep farmers, and it was their way of keeping up (or countering) with the British Invasion.  Their biggest hit, was “I Want Candy”, which went to #11 in 1965.  

Anyway, the demo, which was originally meant to be shopped to the Shirelles, was considered good enough to release as a single, which is exactly what they did.  It checked so many of the boxes, to make it a hit.  With the hand clapping, easy to follow lyrics and story, harmonies and horn infused arrangement, girls everywhere could sing along to it.  

It opened with a verbal warning, which told any listener exactly everything you needed to know:

He went away,^[3] and you hung around

And bothered me, every night

And when I wouldn’t go out with you

You said things that weren’t very nice

Simple right?

It continued, with the most recognized part and most repeated part:

My boyfriend’s back, and you’re gonna be in trouble

Hey-la-day-la my boyfriend’s back

While the song was so easy for anyone to sing (especially girls), the message of someone of a man/boy spreading bullshit about bedding (or whatever innocent or non-innocent idea) and getting what was coming to them was something that women of any day, and really any age can understand.  We all know many men who have lied about their amount of sexual conquests, and while women are stereotyped as gossipers, that attribute can be found in any gender, even the non-binary ones that nobody in 1963 could envision.

Even if you were a young girl who had yet to have a boyfriend, that individual could easy long for the day where they had a man in their life who would protect that them that way.  That seems a little (a lot) antiquated now, but if you strip away the gender roles, it is still about your significant other having your back and righting a wrong at your expense.  This seems relatable, and remains a fun song to sing, regardless of the era.

Other Notable Songs that charted but did not go to number one in this time period: August 31, 1963 – September 20, 1963.

8/31/63: Be My Baby by the Ronettes went to #2 and reached #4 on the R&B Chart.^[4]  

9/7/63: Monkey Time by Major Lance reached #8, but went as high as #2 on the R&B Chart.  

9/14/63: Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals went to #6 but went to #8 on the R&B Chart.^[5]  

9/14/63: Lonely Surfer by Jack Nitzsche hit #39.  

^[1] Apparently, the sisters had the nicknames of “Jiggs and Bibs”.  Sounds like bad stripper names to me.

^[2] How did her solo career go?  As well, as you think it went.

^[3] Again, where the fuck did he go?

^[4] For what it is worth, I consider “Be My Baby” to be one of the greatest songs, not only of its kind but ever.  If I had Doc’s DeLorean, I would go back in time to try to date Ronnie Spector.

^[5] I don’t feel as strong as I do about this song as I do about the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby”, but this also would have been a great one to have talked about.

The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame announced three new members to their institution with Malcom Floyd, Mike Iupati and Tom Kaulukukui.

Floyd, who is part Samoan, was a two-time All-Mountain West at Wyoming.  Professionally, he played 11 years with San Diego, accumulating 321 Receptions for 5,550 Yards and 34 Touchdowns.

Iupati, who liked Floyd had Samoan Ancestry, was an All-American Guard at Idaho, and went on to play 11 years in the NFL with San Francisco, Arizona and Seattle.  He went to four consecutive Pro Bowls (2012-15).

Kaulukukui, who is Hawaiian, played his college ball at Hawaii, would later coach the Rainbow Warriors in 1941 and from 1946 to 1950.  He also won three Pineapple Bowls.

We here a Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.