As the Coronavirus spreads across the world, the Halls of Fame are closing along with it.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, announced today that it is closed as of today, with a potential reopening planned on March 27.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame, located an hour south of the Rock Hall in Akron, will be closed on the 16^thof March, and like the Rock Hall, is pegging March 27 as the day that the doors may open again.

In Cooperstown New York, the Baseball Hall will close its doors tomorrow indefinitely.  

The Country Music Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, closes on the 16^thwith the 31^stslated as a potential date for patronage to resume.

In Toronto, Canada, the Hockey Hall closed today and has a scheduled reopening of April 6.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, was already closed for renovations.  It is not scheduled to reopen until May, 1.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com, remain open!

Coronavirus is affecting our little niche in the Hall of Fame world, as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced that this year’s induction ceremony has been postponed indefinitely. There is no date set for a possible rescheduling.  

In a statement with Rolling Stone, Rock Hall President had this to say:

“We are very disappointed to announce the postponement of this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Our first concern is to the health and safety of our attendees and artists and we are complying to the direction of the local and state authorities and common sense. We look forward to rescheduling the ceremony and will make that announcement at the earliest convenience.”

The virus has caused cancellations of concerts, sports leagues and the shutdown of theme parks.  Wrestlemania is still scheduled next month in Tampa, as is the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. We expect that to be cancelled soon.

It was announced today that Del Shofner passed away in his home.  He was 85 years old.

Playing his college ball at Baylor, the Los Angeles Rams chose Shofner with the 11^thpick overall in the 1957 Draft.  Shofner was used mostly as a Defensive End as a rookie, but he would play a lot more on the offensive side of the ball afterward.  He would be a First Team All-Pro in both 1958 and 1959 and won the Receiving Yards Title in the former year with 1,097 Yards.  

Shofner joined the New York Giants in 1961, and that year, and the two seasons after he was a First Team All-Pro. In all three of those campaigns, he would break the 1,000 Yard mark.  He would go to five Pro Bowls over his career.

Shofner retired in 1967 and would accumulate 6,470 Yards with 51 Touchdowns.  He is ranked #78 on our latest list of those to consider for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family at this time.

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.  We have a new one to unveil today, that of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins were part of the first wave of expansion in 1967, and they were off to a horrible start.  When they did make the playoffs, they were often bounced early, and fans grew tired. By 1983, the Penguins were close to folding or relocation, but then the words happened: 

Mario Lemieux.

Lemieux became an instant superstar and a must-watch team.  His existence saved the franchise, and with the addition of Jaromir Jagr and other stars, the Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. 

Years later, with the Penguins in financial trouble again, Lemieux would buy the team and save it the organization from the same fate it had years before.  With the top pick in 2005, they chose Sidney Crosby, and with him and later Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins would win the Stanley Cup in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

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

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the NHL.

3. Playoff accomplishments.

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

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

This list is updated up until the end of the 2018-19 Season.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Mario Lemieux

2. Sidney Crosby

3. Jaromir Jagr

4. Evgeni Malkin

5. Marc-Andre Fleury

We will continue our adjustments on our existing lists and will continue developing our new lists.  

Look for our All-Time Top 50 Chicago Cubs coming next!

As always we thank you for your support.