George Mullins wrote: To be honest, I have at least two fave-raves who I think should be in the Hall.

Firstly is Wynonie Harris, alias "Mr. Blues"; he has to have influenced a number of R&B and Soul artists; he should be there on general principle.

The second act I mention is going to get me some very loud ridicule, yet I feel this artist should be there - she has been an influence on the artist we call "The Material Girl", who even noted this artist's influence when interviewed for a magazine article in 1985.

To put it in her terms, "False eyelashes, blonde hair, mini-skirt, leather boots - she was cool."

I speak, of course, of one Nancy Sandra Sinatra, eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra.

True, she was primarily a pop singer, she did record a whole boatload of songs which are well worth hearing, I think; after all, between 1965 and 1970, she had eight hit songs on the charts.

I welcome your comments.

Wynonie Harris is more likely a candidate for the Early Influences category as his last charting single was in 1952. Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the Early Influence inductee last year, so there is hope for the guy whose "Good Rockin' Tonight" gets anthologized regularly on "roots of rock 'n' roll" collections. But then again, there are going to be adherents for a host of mid-level artists from Harris's period--Roy Brown, Big Mama Thornton, the Clovers, Billy Ward and the Dominos, Sonny Till and the Orioles, and others.

The case for Nancy Sinatra is thin despite those hit singles and a passing mention from Madonna. Not a great voice or stylist, working with Lee Hazlewood was a terrific boost, and--let's face it--having daddy sign you to his own record label (Reprise) is a leg up that most are not going to have. I'm not laughing, though. At this point, I think anyone whose name carries over a few decades is worth a mention. And the Rock Hall is so ballsed up and has bitten off far more than it is capable of chewing that I don't know that the Rock Hall has much meaning beyond having the _Rolling Stone_ Baby Boomer contingent behind Jann Wenner trying to define the "rock and roll" canon for everyone else.

And by now, nearly everything I hear is "pop." If people are listening to it, buying it, downloading it, pirating it, etc., it's "pop."

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On Saturday, July 23, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced changes to the structure of the veterans committee. There will now be four separate committees, each responsible for a specific baseball era:

-- Early Baseball, 1871-1949. Will vote once every 10 years.
-- Golden Days, 1950-1969. Will vote once every five years.
-- Modern Baseball, 1970-1987. Will vote twice every five years.
-- Today’s Game, 1988-2016. Will vote twice every five years.

This is a strong first step to redress the logjam of recent players who have fallen off the writers' ballot while recognizing that players from baseball's earliest days have been examined for many years now. Of course, the Hall contributed to this logjam by reducing the amount of time a retired player can remain on the writers' ballot from 15 years to 10 years. At least it has recognized that there has been insufficient consideration given to players from the last few decades. An encouraging sign.

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