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 news to us that the University of Louisville have announced that they will be retiring the number 8 of former Quarterback, and current Baltimore Ravens star, Lamar Jackson.

Jackson becomes only the second former Cardinal to have his number retired, joining fellow former QB, Johnny Unitas, whose number 16 was taken out of circulation in 2003.

Jackson played three years at Louisville, debuting in 2015 when he led the Cardinals to a win at the Music City Bowl.  He was untouchable as a sophomore, throwing for 3,543 Yards and 30 Touchdowns while rushing for 1,571 Yards and 21 Touchdowns.  Jackson not only won the Heisman, he was the recipient of the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, AP Player of the Year, and the ACC Player of the Year.  He had another good year in 2017, his junior year, with 3,660 Passing Yards, 27 Touchdown Passes, and 1,601 Rushing Yards with 18 Rushing TDs.  Jackson would repeat as the ACC Player of the Year.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Lamar Jackson for earning this prestigious honor.

The process continues.

We here are Notinhalloffame.com have plans to create our own set of post-season awards, which we will look back and retroactively present from 1901 on.  That will take a while, but it has never stopped us before!

Our awards are not be league specific.

Now it is time for our 2021 positional awards.

We will be awarding a positional player of the year, but not only that, offer up the runner-up and second runner-up, meaning that we will have First, Second and Third All-MLB players.

Let’s work our way around the diamond and award the best of the best in Baseball!

*Please note that to qualify, a player must appear in that position at least 50% of the time.

First Team All-MLB: Shortstop of the Year:  Trea Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers & Washington Nationals.  6.5 bWAR, 6.9 fWAR, 195 H, 28 HR, 107 R, 77 RBI, 32 SB, .328/.375/.536/911.

Turner was traded to the Dodgers from the rebuilding Nationals, and he qualifies here, as even though he moved to Second Base in L.A., he played more than 60% of the season at Short.  Turner led the National League in Hits (his second year in a row), Stolen Bases, Batting Average and Total Bases (319).  He was also an All-Star for the first time this year.

Second Team All-MLB: Shortstop:  Carlos Correa, Houston Astros.  7.2 bWAR, 5.8 fWAR, 155 H, 26 HR, 104 R, 92 RBI, 0 SB, .279/.366/.485/850.

Correa easily could have been our winner, and it was a last-minute decision to go with Turner.  The Astro is an All-Star for the second time and set a career-high in Home Runs.

Third Team All-MLB: Shortstop:  Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres.  6.6 bWAR, 6.1 fWAR, 135 H, 42 HR, 99 R, 97 RBI, 25 SB, .282/.364/.611/975.

Like Correa, Tatis was in serious consideration for the Shortstop of the Year, and this year he won his first of what could be many Home Run Titles.  Had he been better defensively, he might have won this.

This was sudden.

David Baker has just announced his immediate resignation as the President of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, citing that it was time to return home, and retire.  He held that post for eight years.

You will have to forgive us, as the timing seems very suspect.  We are a little more than a month away from the announcement of the 2022 Semi-Finalists, and are nearly a third into the NFL Season.  An abrupt retirement at this time, coinciding with the Washington Football Team scandal that saw the NFL go through over 60,000 e-mails raises red flags.

We have been open about our dislike of Baker making himself a star on the NFL programming, and wondered aloud if his desire to be on television elevated former coaches, Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, ahead of others (namely Don Coryell and Tom Flores), as they were pre-game personalities on major networks.

With all of that being said, we hope this is not due to illness, and we do think that the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s stature, has been elevated under his tenure.

He will be replaced by Jim Porter, who previously was the Hall’s chief Marketing and Communications Officer.

The process continues.

We here are Notinhalloffame.com have plans to create our own set of post-season awards, which we will look back and retroactively present from 1901 on.  That will take a while, but it has never stopped us before!

Our awards are not be league specific.

Now it is time for our 2021 positional awards.

We will be awarding a positional player of the year, but not only that, offer up the runner-up and second runner-up, meaning that we will have First, Second and Third All-MLB players.

Let’s work our way around the diamond and award the best of the best in Baseball!

*Please note that to qualify, a player must appear in that position at least 50% of the time.

First Team All-MLB: Second Baseman of the Year:  Marcus Semien, Toronto Blue Jays.  7.1 bWAR, 6.6 fWAR, 173 H, 45 HR, 115 R, 102 RBI, 15 SB, .265/.334/.538/873.

A nine-year veteran, Semien is in his first year north of the border, and the acquisition has thus far proved golden for the Blue Jays.  Semien led the American League in Plate Appearances and Extra Base Hits, went to his first All-Star Game, and threw up career-highs in Home Runs, RBIs and Slugging Percentage.  With all due respect to the other Second Basemen, this was one of the easier positional awards.

Second Team All-MLB: Second Base:  Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays.  4.8 bWAR, 5.2 fWAR, 132 H, 39 HR, 97 R, 99 RBI, 1 SB, .247/.340/.534/863.

Lowe might have been an All-Star two years ago, but arguably this was his breakout year, showing the power numbers he could do in a full season.

Third Team All-MLB: Second Base:  Jose Altuve, Houston Astros.  4.4 bWAR, 5.2 fWAR, 167 H, 31 HR, 117 R, 83 RBI, 5 SB, .278/.350/.489/839.

Altuve went to his seventh All-Star Game this year, and he washed away the poor COVID-2020 season.