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 and executive. As such, it is news to us that the Oakland Athletics have announced that Dave Stewart will have his #34 retired by the team.

This announcement concluded the 30^thanniversary celebration of their 1989 World Series Championship.

Stewart was signed early in the 1986 season after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies and prior to that he had unremarkable statistics over five seasons with the Lod Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers.  Very few fans of the A’s had reason to think that Stewart would do much with Oakland, and frankly most of them likely never noticed he was signed at all, but it was in Oakland where he would live up to everything that the Dodgers originally envisioned when they converted him to a pitcher almost a decade before.

He would finish the season going 9-5, but in 1987 as a fixture in the A’s rotation, he would go on one of the best four-year runs for a Pitcher in franchise history. 

Stewart finished 1987 by leading the AL in Wins (20) and finishing third in Cy Young voting.  He was without a doubt the ace of the Oakland staff and in 1988 he would win 21 Games while leading the league in Innings Pitched (275.2).  More importantly, Stewart took Oakland to the World Series, though they would lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  1989 would again see Stewart win 21 Games and he was the runner-up for the Cy Young.  The A’s returned to the World Series (this time winning) where he won two Games in both the ALCS and the World Series winning the MVP in both.  In 1990, he would win a career high 22 Games, with a third place Cy Young finish.  The A’s returned to the World Series and though they lost to Cincinnati, Stewart was the ALCS MVP on the road to get there.

He would remain with Oakland until he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1992 Season.  As an Athletic, he would post a record of 119-78 and 1,152 Strikeouts.

Stewart becomes the sixth former Athletic to have his number retired as he joins Denis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Dave Stewart for earning this prestigious honor.

This is a stunner.

A couple of weeks ago, The Indianapolis Colts were hopeful that their star Quarterback, Andrew Luck would be able to start Week 1 after dealing with a calc/ankle injury.  A few days ago, they weren’t certain that he would be able to make it for the first regular season game, but would eventually be ready early in the season.  Not only is he not going to play this season, he has announced that he will formally retire for the National Football League at age 29.

Luck was the first overall pick in the 2012 Draft and would be named to the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons. In 2014, he threw for a league leading 40 Touchdown Passes, with a career high 4,761 Yards.

Injuries piled up on the pivot and he was forced to sit out the entire 2017 season, though came back last year to throw for 4,593 Yards and 39 TDs.  He would go to his fourth (and presumably, final) Pro Bowl and was named the Comeback Player of the Year.

Often, when players retire, we assume they will stay retired, despite the fact that players have bucked that and returned shortly after.  Perhaps, because of his age and his citing of “mental” reason as opposed to physical, we think there is a good chance that we will see him again and selfishly we hope so.   This was one of the best QBs at one time, and pundits and fans still felt that there was a lot left in what was pegged once as a future Pro Football Hall of Famer.  

As it stands now, Luck is unlikely to make Canton.

Taking our “Hall of Fame” hat off, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are hopeful that Andrew Luck heals and enjoys his post-playing career.  

The College Baseball Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2019.

The nominees are:

Dave Chalk:  Chalk competed at the University of Texas from 1969 to 1972 where he batted .362 and would lead the Longhorns to three College World Series appearances.  He would later be a two-time All-Star with the California Angels.

Andre Dawson:  Dawson played at Florida A&M, leading the All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs in 1974 and 1975.  He would enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Wally Hood:  Hood played at USC, where in 1948, he went 21-2 in 1948.  He would later have a cup of coffee with the New York Yankees.

Mark Kotsay:  Kotsay was an absolute stud at the Cal-State Fullerton where he was a two-time All-American and took his school to a College World Series Championship in 1995.  That year he won the Golden Spikes Award and was also named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.  A regular Outfielder, he pitched the final five outs to win the title that year. Kotsay would go on to hit 127 Home Runs in the Majors in a career that spanned over eight teams.

Mike Martin:  Martin finished his legendary career this year after helming Florida State since 1980.  He retired with 2,029-736-4 with a tournament record of 142-83.  No manager has more wins in College Baseball and although the Seminoles did not win a championship under his tenure, he never missed the post-season and his teams appeared in 17 College World Series.  He is also a two-time Baseball America Coach of the Year.

Dennis Poppe:  Poppe worked for the NCAA for 39 years, specifically earning this honor for overseeing the College World Series from 1987 to 2013.

Lloyd Simmons:  Simmons won 1,804 Games as the Manager of Seminole State.  He led 13 teams to the NJCAA College World Series.

Billy Wagner:  Wagner played at Division III Ferrum College where he averaged 16 Strikeouts per nine innings.  He would go 17-3 with a 1.63 ERA.

The ceremony will take place on November 1^stand 2^ndin Baton Rouge.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the College Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2019.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame has announced the four Finalists for the Class of 2020.

The nominees are:

Jonas Bjorkman:  As a Singles player, Bjorkman would reach the #4 ranking while winning six titles.  The Swede’s biggest success was in Doubles where he won 54 Titles including 9 Grand Slams.

Sergi Bruguera: From Spain, Brugera won 14 Titles, most notably the French Open in both 1993 and 1994.  He was ranked as high as #3 in 1994.

Goran Ivanisevic: From Croatia, Ivanisevic would reach the Wimbledon Finals three times in the 1990s, and would also win two Bronze Medals at the 1992 Olympic Games, which was extra special because this was the first Olympics for the country.  He will always be best known for his spectacular Wimbledon Championship in 2001, where he entered ranked #125 and entered as a wildcard.  Nobody ever won it before or since as a wildcard.

Conchita Martinez: Conchita Martinez would win the Wimbledon Title in 1994 making her the first Spaniard to do so.  She climbed to #2 in the rankings (1995) and was also a Finalist in the Australian Open (1998) and the French Open (2000). Overall, she would win 13 Titles on the WTA.

The Class of 2020 will be announced in January where the ceremony will take place on July 18 in Newport, Rhode Island.