On ESPN radio today, Baseball Hall of Famer Goose Gossage stated that Roger Clemens should NOT be going to the Hall of Fame. The former reliever adamantly stated that Clemens and other PED users should not be rewarded for “cheating” and stated firmly “there is no place for them in the Hall of Fame”.

This is not the first time that a current Hall of Fame player has gone on record that those caught taking Performance Enhancing Drugs should be banned from Cooperstown, yet it still carries weight every time you hear it. It was one thing when fans and media state it, but when your fellow athletes from the previous generation do, it causes headlines.

For us here at notinhalloffame, this is actually our most eagerly awaited Hall of Fame ballot.

An interesting video has surfaced on YouTube that has significance to the WWE Hall of Fame.   As you may have heard “Leaping” Lanny Poffo (the brother of our number one selection, Randy “Macho Man” Savage) has stated that Savage had turned down the Hall unless his entire family (Lanny and their father, Angelo) were inducted too. Poffo has again taken to YouTube, this time with his mother to corroborate that statement.

As we don’t really have any reason to doubt Lanny, we raise this question: Should it happen?   It can be easily argued that if this is the only way to get Savage in, then so be it, but the obvious counter is that Lanny (who did have a long career in the WWE) was not HOF material, nor was his father who was at best a journeyman wrestler and whose promotion in Kentucky was not exactly successful.

In the video, Poffo states that Savage wanted to do this (inducted as a family) when the Von Erichs were inducted as a unit a few years ago. When that family was inducted, it included the patriarch and promoter of World Class and (very successful wrestler in his day) Fritz Von Erich and his six sons. This included Chris Von Erich, who only had a handful of matches and committed suicide over the fact that his career was not successful. Poffo especially made reference to Chris being in the Hall and how he and his father were more worthy than the youngest member of the Von Erich clan.

Surely the gesture to put Chris (and Mike for that matter) in with the Von Erich Family to the HOF was done out of respect to the family as a whole, but again with all due to respect to the Poffos, it cannot be argued that the Von Erichs controlled a major territory in wrestling and generated far more impact than the Poffos did as a family. Allegedly, Randy crowbarred his father into the WCW Hall of Fame which was not exactly received warmly by other wrestlers, so it is not hard to believe that a similar request was made of the WWE.

One thing we do know….Randy Savage should be in the WWE Hall of Fame. We just don’t know if we will ever see it.

...and you should not be surprised.  From the beginning of the trial, Roger Clemens legal team methodically picked apart the evidence against the multi time Cy Young Award winner and those closely following the trial knew where the decision was likely to go.

With all of this said, Clemens remains guilty of PED use in the court of public opinion and an informal poll on the street would likely paint Clemens as a PED user.  His acquittal won't change this.  Along with Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, Clemens enters the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time under a cloud of controversy.  We rank him at number 2 on our list (behind Bonds) and if we had a vote would cast a yes in his direction.  We do understand why some pwople wouldn't.

LaDainian Tomlinson will be rejoining the San Diego Chargers with the exclusive reasoning of retiring as a member of the team he achieved his greatest success in.  He will be retiring with what we consider Hall of Fame credentials and a potential first ballot entry.

With an MVP award (2006), five Pro Bowls, 13,684 career Rushong Yards, and 162 total Touchdowns, the former Purdue Boilermaker is retiring in the top five of many key career offensive categories.  Considered one of the good guys on oand off the field, we can't imagine that he won't be ranked in our top three when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in five years.  Ww know that once he becomes he ranked by us, he won't stay on the list long.