The Hall of Fame season continues with the Baseball Hall’s announcement that Jim Leyland has been named to the Hall via the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Managers/Executives/Umpires.   The former Manager received 15 of 16 voted for the ballot, making him the only person selected from this group.

Leyland is a three-time Manager of the Year (1990, 1992 & 2006), and led the Florida Marlins to their improbable 1997 World Series title.  With a career record of 1,769-1,728 and helmed the United States to victory in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Missing out was Lou Piniella who received 11 votes and Bill White who had 10.  Also on the ballot were Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Ed Montague, Hank Peters and Joe West.

We here at Notinhllloffame.com would like to congratulate Jim Leyland for his impending honor.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022/23 revision of our top 50 Toronto Raptors.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Toronto only made it to the play-in round, but when you have a franchise this young, you will see fluctuation in a top 50, even in a mediocre year.

As always, we present our top five, which saw a new number five:

1. Kyle Lowry

2. Chris Bosh

3. Vince Carter

4. DeMar DeRozan

5. Pascal Siakam

You can find the entire list here.

Siakam continues his climb, and has done enough to breach the top five.

Fred VanVleet, who is now with the Houston Rockets, climbed to #8 from #12.

Shooting Guard, O.G. Anunoby moved up to #14 from #20.

Former Rookie of the Year, Scottie Barnes, advanced ten spots to #26.

Center, Jakob Poeltl, who returned last year, shot up nine spots to #31.  This jump, despite only 24 more Games was a testament to Poeltl’s efficiency and Toronto’s overall brevity in length.

The lone new entry was Gary Trent, who debuts at #33.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

Traded from the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2020/21 Season for Norman Powell, Gary Trent who became Toronto’s starting Shooting Guard.

Trent had his best year with the Raptors in his first full season with the North, finishing third in Steals per Game (1.7), and what is currently a career-high in Points per Game (18.3), and he followed that with a similar season (17.4 Points and 1.6 Steals per Game).  Going into 2023-24, Trent will lost starting minutes to O.G. Anunoby, and it would be his last season in a Raptors uniform as he joined the Milwaukee Bucks in 2024 as a free agent.

1952 Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project Class.

Here we are!  Again!!

If you have been following our Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Project, you know that we have asked the rhetorical question…what if the PFHOF began in January of 1946?

After soliciting and obtaining a passionate group of football fans and historians, we sent out a ballot for a Preliminary Vote, which we asked each voter to give us 25 names as their semi-finalists, and 5 in the Senior Pool. Following that, we asked the group to vote for their 15 Finalists in the Modern Era, and 3 in the Senior Category. The final stage was to vote for their five Modern Era inductee, one Senior inductee and one Coaches/Contributor inductee.

This is the result of the seventh official class;

Below, are the final results of this project based on 31 votes:

This is for the “Modern Era”

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1952:

This is for the “Senior Era”

This is the third year where a Senior Candidate had to get at least 50% of the vote and the first time that someone did.

This is for the Coaches/Contributors

*Bold indicates they have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Revisited Class of 1952:

About the 1952 Inductees:

Ox Emerson G-C, PRT 1931-33, DET 1934-37, BKN 1938: Inducted in 1952 on his 7^th Ballot (technically his 9^th year of eligibility)..  Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A member of the NFL All-Decade 1930's Team, Ox Emerson began his pro career in 1931 with the Portsmouth Spartans, and in his second season, he would be selected to his first of five straight First Team All-Pros.  The Spartans relocated to Detroit, and the team was renamed the Lions.  Emerson was an integral part of their Championship win in 1935.  His work in the trenches was a vital part of the team's rushing success throughout the years, and he is one of the best Linemen that Detroit ever had. 

Arnie Herber TB-HB-DB-QB-BB, GNB 1930-40, NYG 1944-45: Inducted in 1952 on his 2^nd Ballot. Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

As the passing game evolved in the 1930s, Arnie Herber emerged as one of the top Quarterbacks in the changing sport.  When the National Football League officially kept accurate passing statistics in 1932, it was Herber who won the first passing title, and he did so again in 1934 and 1936.  The pivot would lead Green Bay to four NFL Championships in the 1930s.

George Musso G-T, CHI 1933-44: Inducted in 1952 on his 3^rd Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

A four-sport star at tiny Millikin, George Halas gave George Musso an opportunity, but despite Musso’s size (6’ 2”, 265 LBS), Halas did not think he had the collegiate chops to make it in the NFL.  Halas had never been so happy to be proven wrong.  Musso played for Halas and the Bears for a dozen years, and he anchored Chicago to seven NFL Championship Games, winning four of them.  A Tackle for the first four years of his career, Musso moved to Guard afterward, and he was dominant at both positions, earning All-Pro honors in both slots.  He was also a natural leader, and served as Chicago’s captain for nine years.

Dutch Sternaman HB-QB-FB, CHI 1920-27: Inducted in 1952 on his 7^th Ballot (technically his 20^th year of eligibility). Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966.

A teammate of George Halas at the University of Illinois, Edward “Dutch” Sternaman was the first player signed by Halas when he took over the Decatur Staleys, which would eventually become the Chicago Bears.  Sternaman served as the team’s primary rusher early in his career, helped them win the 1921 NFL Championship, and later would be a partner of Halas in the team, though poor investments led him to sell his interest to Halas.

Joe Stydahar T, CHI 1936-42 & 1945-46: Inducted in 1952 on his 1^st Ballot.  Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Joe Stydahar was part of Chicago’s first ever draft in 1936, and the product of West Virginia was not expected to become a superstar Tackle on the NFL level.  As was often the case, George Halas knew what others did not.  Stydahar became one of the game’s top two-way Tackles, and played his entire career with the Bears, winning three NFL Championships and earning four consecutive First Team All-Pros (1937-40). 

Blondy Wallace: Inducted in 1952 on the 7^th Senior Contributor Ballot. Was never inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Wallace was the face of professional football from 1902 to 1907, having played for and dominated for teams like the Philadelphia Athletic Club, Philadelphia Athletics, Syracuse Athletic Club, Franklin Athletic Club, Canton Athleitic Club and Canton Bulldogs.

Jimmy Conzelman: Inducted in 1952 on the 3^nd Coaches/Contributor Ballot. Was inducted into the actual Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964.

Conzelman enters the Hall for his coaching accomplishments, though he was pretty good player in his own rights, scoring 26 Touchdowns over his career.  Conzelman first played in the NFL in 1921, and was also a Coach.  Conzelman won the NFL Championship in 1928 with Providence, and he would later coach the Chicago Cardinals to a title in 1947.