Menu
A+ A A-

Kenny Easley Named the Senior Finalist for the PFHOF

The Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn’t waste a lot of time as following their recent induction ceremony last week, the first Finalist for the 2017 Class has already been named.  That man is Senior Candidate, Safety, Kenny Easley.

Easley was the fourth overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks in the 1981 draft class and was an immediate hit capturing the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.  He would follow that with five Pro Bowl Selections over the next six seasons, which also featured three First Team All Pro nods.  His best season was 1984, where he led the NFL in Interceptions and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award.

After the ’87 season, Easley was traded to the Phoenix Cardinals but the trade was negated after a physical found him to have severe kidney problems which would force him to retire.  Easley left Seattle on bad terms following his outspokenness during the ’87 NFL Strike and his belief that the Seahawks medical teams kept his kidney problems to themselves.  To this day he has refused entry to the Seahawks Ring of Honor.

While this is not exactly a controversial choice, Easley’s career was a relatively brief one (7 Seasons) and a former player who did not crack our Notinhalloffame.com Football 100 list and we are sure that we speak for many in that we hoped that this spot would have been allocated to former Green Bay Packer Offensive Lineman, Jerry Kramer. 

As the lone Senior Finalist this year, Easley automatically is a Finalist for the Hall and will be joined by two more Contributors and fifteen players.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Kenny Easley for making it to the Finals and are very intrigued to see if he will be chosen.

Read more...

Prince Fielder Retires

Prince Fielder Retires
Although Prince Fielder did not officially retire, he did announce this week that his career playing professional baseball is over.

Following his second spinal fusion surgery, in an emotional press conference the now former slugger stated that “the doctors told me since I had two spinal fusions” that he couldn’t “play Major League Baseball anymore.”

The son of former Home Run champion, Cecil Fielder, Prince Fielder was drafted 7th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002.  Making the big leagues in 2005, Fielder would have his expected breakout season in 2007, where he would blast 50 Home Runs, winning the Home Run Title.  Named an All Star for the first of six times, Fielder would finish third in MVP voting, also winning the Silver Slugger, which would be one of three that he would win.

Fielder would spend four more seasons with Milwaukee, where he would enjoy two more top five National League MVP top-five finishes, an All Star Game MVP, a Home Run Derby win and an RBI Title.

As a Free Agent, Fielder would sign with the Detroit Tigers in what was then the richest contract in franchise history.  In two years with Detroit he went to two All Star Games and had 55 Home Runs but he was traded to the Texas Rangers after the 2013 Season, as speculation was that he was going to decline.

That was exactly what occurred as back injuries piled up and at the age of 32, we have seen the last of Prince Fielder in MLB.

Prince Fielder will ironically retire with 319 Home Runs, the exact number that his father Cecil had.

While the two have patched up their differences in recent years, the documented acrimony between father and son is certainly part of their intertwined history.  The fact that they finished with the same Home Run title seems to meld them even deeper.

Overall, Prince Fielder retires with traditional numbers of (in addition to his 319 Home Runs) of 1,645 Hits, 1,028 RBIs and a Slash Line of .283/.382/.506. 

While those numbers are solid, Fielder was a somewhat one-dimensional player and was very poor defensively.  He retires with a bWAR of 23.8, hardly a Hall of Fame number.  His JAWS of 24.1 isn’t much better.

Sadly it is safe to say that like his father, Prince Fielder will be known for his blasts but not enough of them to make Cooperstown.

Still, this was an exciting career, and we think one worth celebrating.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Prince Fielder the best in his post-playing career.
Read more...

Craig Janney to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Craig Janney to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame
It has been a pretty busy week for us, so much so, that we almost missed the announcement by the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, who has just announced their Class of 2016, which consists of a 12 year NHL veteran, a four decade plus prep school coach and an entire team.

Entering the Hall will be Craig Janney from Hartford, Connecticut.  A Hobey Baker Finalist from his time at Boston College, Janney was drafted 13th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1986 and helped them reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1988 and 1990.  Janney played 760 Games, scoring 751 Points over a twelve year run that saw him play for Boston, St. Louis, San Jose, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders.  He holds the distinction of holding the record for an American born player with the highest Assists per Game (.741).

Internationally, Janney represented the United States six times scoring 26 Points.  This included the 1988 Olympics, 1991 Canada Cup (where the U.S. finished second) and two World Hockey Championships (1987 & 1994). 

Head Coach, Bill Belisle is entering his 42nd season helming the Rhode Island based, Mount Saint Charles Mounties.  The prep school coach currently has a record of 990-183-37 and has 32 State Championships.  20 of his players have been drafted including two number one overalls (Brian Lawton and Bryan Berard) and Mathieu Schneider.

The final entrant is the 1996 World Cup of Hockey Championship Team.  The team won the Gold Medal in the tournament outscoring opponents 37 to 18.  The standout Americans of the team were Brian Leetch (Team Captain), Brett Hull and Goaltender, Mike Richter, who was named the tournament MVP.

We would like to congratulate the latest United States Hockey Hall of Fame Class at this time.
Read more...
Subscribe to this RSS feed