From Minneapolis, David Backes played the majority of pro career with the St. Louis Blues, a squad he plated the first ten years of his sixteen NHL campaign with.

Backes scored 45 or more Points seven times with St. Louis, with a peak of 62 in 2010/11/.  The Center was not a first line player, but was a very good two-way performer, who had five consecutive Frank J. Selke Trophy finishes (2010-11 to 2011-14), and was the runner-up in 2011-12.  Backes would also be an All-Star in 2011.  He also played professionally for Boston and Anaheim, finishing his career with 561 NHL Points.

Backes also represented the United States multiple times, most notably as a member of the 2010 Olympic Team that won the Silver Medal.

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: First Baseman of the Year:  Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays.  6.8 bWAR, 6.7 fWAR, 188 H, 48 HR, 123 R, 111 RBI, 4 SB, .311/.401/.601/1.002.

Guerrero lost weight entering the 2021 season, and the dedication to fitness yielded the best year of his young career.  Sharing the Home Run Title with Salvador Perez, Guerrero also led the AL in OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+ (169) and Total Bases (363), and was the most explosive offensive player in 2021.  Had it not been for Shohei Ohtani, he would have won our MVP.

Second Team All-MLB First Base:  Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals.  6.2 bWAR, 4.9 fWAR, 177 H, 31 HR, 102 R, 99 RBI, 12 SB, .294/.365/.514/.879.

This is Goldschmidt’s third year in St. Louis, and eleven over all.  Goldschmidt accrued his sixth 30-plus HR year and sixth .500 Slugging season.

Third Team All-MLB First Base:  Matt Olson, Oakland Athletics.  5.8 bWAR, 5.0 fWAR, 153 H, 39 HR, 101 R, 111 RBI, 4 SB, .294/.365/.514/.879.

Olson was an All-Star for the first time this year, and he posted career-bests in Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Batting Average and On Base Percentage.

Look for more awards soon!

Splitting his professional career with Toronto and St. Louis, Carl Gunnarson was a traditional stay-at-home Defenseman who rarely drew penalties.  Gunnarson had three seasons where he received Lady Byng votes, and he only had 179 Penalty Minutes over 629 Games.

A member of the 2019 Stanley Cup Championship Team with the Blues, Gunnarson scored 138 Points with a Plus/Minus of 41 over his career. Internationally, Gunnarson won three World Hockey Championship Medals, two Bronze and one Silver for Sweden.                              

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.

Catcher of the Year (First Team All-MLB):  Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals.  5.3 bWAR, 3.4 fWAR, 169 H, 48 HR, 88 R, 121 RBI, 0 SB, .273/.316/.544/.859.

Advanced metrics show that Perez is declining defensively, but this was the best offensive output of his career.  While we were all watching Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero battle for the American League Home Run Title, it was Perez who snuck past Ohtani to tie Guerrero for the win, also while setting a new Home Run record for Catchers with 48 (though only 33 were accumulated as a Catcher).  Nevertheless, Perez earns this honor, while also again being the unquestioned Royals MVP. 

Catcher: Second Team All-MLB:  Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants.  3.5 bWAR, 4.9 fWAR, 120 H, 18 HR, 68 R, 56 RBI, 0 SB, .304/.390/.499/.889.

Posey could have challenged Perez for First Team, but he missed a lot of Games, only appearing in 113 this year.  He went to his eighth All-Star Game this year, and had his first .300 Season since 2017.

Catcher: Third Team All-MLB:  J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia Phillies.  3.4 bWAR, 4.4 fWAR, 125 H, 17 HR, 64 R, 73 RBI, 13 SB, .263/.343/.449/.782.

Realmuto made his third All-Star Game this year and second with Philadelphia.