Our baseball hearts are being broken again today.

The Field of Dreams on the Kinsella Farm in Iowa added its third Hall of Famer in roughly two weeks as Joe Morgan passed away.  He was 77 Years Old.

Considered to be one of the greatest Second Baseman in the game’s history, Morgan first appeared in the Majors for the Houston Colt .45s in 1963, and in 1965 he was Houston’s starting Second Baseman, finishing second for the Rookie of the Year, and leading the National League in Walks.  Morgan played with Houston until 1971, where he was a two-time All-Star. The Astros dealt him to the Cincinnati Reds after the 1971 Season, and it was at Riverfront where he truly became Cooperstown worthy.

Morgan was the engine that drove the “Big Red Machine” leading them to the 1975 and 1976 World Series Championship.  He won the MVP in both of those years, earned five Gold Gloves, four OBP Titles, one Slugging Title and was named an All-Star every year as a Red (1972-79).  

He played another year in Houston (1980), two in San Francisco (1981-82), and in 1983, he reunited with Pete Rose in Philadelphia, and the two elder statesmen helped the Phillies win the Pennant.  Morgan played one final season in Oakland before retiring in 1984.

Morgan’s career stats included 2,517 Hits, 268 Home Runs, 1,133 RBIs and 689 Stolen Bases.  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Joe Morgan.

Roughly a week after the death of Hall of Fame Pitcher, Bob Gibson, another legendary Cooperstown hurler passed away.

Whitey Ford died last night at his home at the age of 91.  No specific cause of death was given.

Ford broke into the Majors in 1950 with the New York Yankees, which would be the only team he ever played for on the Major League level.  After finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting, Ford missed the next two years due to military service, but he returned to become the ace of the Yankees staff for years.  

Over the course of his career, Ford helped lead New York to 11 American League Pennants where they won six World Series Titles.  The southpaw was an eight-time All-Star, won the 1961 Cy Young, was a two-time leader in ERA, and an all-time record of 236-106 with 1,956 Strikeouts.

Ford was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, family and fans of Whitey Ford.

Is Derrick Rose a Hall of Famer?

Derrick Rose was on the path to superstardom in the NBA after being named the MVP of the 2010/11 campaign. The point guard was irrepressible, averaging 25 points per game to become, at the age of 22, the youngest recipient of the award in the history of the game. Rose’s talent brought back shades of Michael Jordan for Chicago Bulls supporters that had been starved of success since the departure of Air Mike and Phil Jackson in 1998.

The Bulls won 62 games in that campaign and were on the path to the NBA Finals, only to be crushed by the big three; LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, at the Miami Heat 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Rose performed well throughout the postseason, averaging 27.1 points per game to take the fight to the dominance of the Heat, but even the MVP was overwhelmed on the court in the end. However, given Rose's young age there was great hope for his future along with that of the Bulls – with the point guard subsequently signing a five-year $94.8m contract extension in the middle of the following campaign.

Chicago overlooked early injuries that limited Rose to only 39 regular-season games in the 2011/12 season. Disaster then loomed in the first game of the playoffs as the point guard suffered a torn ACL, ruling him out of action for 18 months. He returned for the start of the 2013/14 campaign, but his struggles were evident on the court. No one expected Rose to be dominant straight away and accepted there would a settling in period once again. Luck was to torment the former MVP just when it appeared he was on the right track, falling victim to another serious knee injury. It would be the blow that would end the notion of Rose becoming one of the NBA’s all-time greats.

The Bulls have not recovered since losing the dominance of their point guard. In contrast to the team that lost to the Heat in 2011 in the Eastern Conference Finals, Chicago have not sniffed the Finals since. Miami are competing in the Finals, ironically against LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers, who are the leading contenders in the odds on NBA betting with bet365 for the title. It was not meant to be for Chicago, who saw a potential all-time talent snatched away due to the cruel fate of injury.

Rose has managed to remain at the court, but not at the standard of the early stages of his career. He has been a useful operator for the Minnesota Timberwolves and last season with the Detroit Pistons in a limited role. He has made the most out of his minutes, notching 18 points per game and using his intelligence and guile to increase the level of his assists. It remains a sad state of affairs that a generational talent has been sidelined to a role off the bench at middling outfits.

The debate whether he will be in the Hall of Fame will be an interesting one. He certainly had an outstanding three-year run that was at the standard required to qualify for the Hall, winning the MVP and three All-Star berths. However, the injuries prevented him from sustaining that level. Perhaps if he could have stretched out a five-year tilt with a couple more All-Star nods then maybe it might have been enough. But on the basis of his current career – Rose will just fall short. It’s an injustice to his talent, but availability and longevity are valuable attributes just as much as quality.

This is a punch to the gut.

Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso who was considered one of the greatest players of all-time died after a long battle with cancer.  He was 65.

Born in the Netherlands and raided in California, Van Halen formed a band with his brother Alex (drums), Michael Anthony (bass) and David Lee Roth (lead vocals) that bore his last name.  The band caught attention from their gigs in the Los Angeles scene, and they were signed by Warner Brothers.

In 1978, they put out their first album, eponymously named, “Van Halen” that opened with “Eruption”, a solo by Eddie that was not just the intro of what the band was but who was now the top axe man on the planet.  The Van Halen/Roth pairing was rock and roll poetry.  While Roth might have been the front man, it was Eddie who was the band’s leader and the one responsible for the bands’ direction.  Hit album after hit album came out, each with signature Eddie licks that every kid with long hair tried to mimic.  

Van Halen was not just the envy of every aspiring guitar player but of just young men in general when he married actress, Valerie Bertenelli. They would have a child, Wolfgang, who later replaced Anthony in the group, but before that, it was Roth, who left first, as he and Van Halen constantly clashed.

What should have been a decimation of the group, led to their longest run of commercial success. Sammy Hagar took over the front man gig, and under Van Halen’s direction, they had four number one albums.  Hagar too what be let go, as would Anthony, and despite a new lead singer (Gary Cherone), the band was done as a relevant act.  That being said, Van Halen’s 20 year run as a top and influential group has few equals, and there is no musician in the world who did not respect the skills of Eddie Van Halen.

We don’t know about you, but we are about to blast some Eddie solos right now.  I expect many of you will do the same.