Committee Chairman

Fictitious Athlete HOF Finalists Announced!

Sep 02, 2014

Last November, The Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame announced Rocky Balboa as their inaugural inductee. The Class of 2014 will be decided on an online vote, which will conclude on November 30th of this year.

The opening round began with over 300 Athletes and 100 Contributors in the Preliminary Round, which was reduced to 50 Fictitious Athletes and 30 Fictitious Contributors in the Semi-Finalist Round.

After three months of voting open during the Semi-Finalist Round, the 15 Athletes and the 11 Contributors with the most votes have advanced to become the Finalists for the Fictitious Hall of Fame Class of 2014.

All previous votes have been wiped clean, and one ballot can be entered per person. This vote will be open to the public until November 30, 2014, when the top three vote getting Athletes and top vote getting Contributor will enter the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame.

The 15 Fictitious Athlete Semi-Finalists are:

Al Bundy (Married…With Children)

Apollo Creed (Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III & Rocky IV)

Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy)

Crash Davis (Bull Durham)

“Fast” Eddie Felson (The Hustler & The Color of Money)

Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump)

Jimmy Chitwood (Hoosiers)

Happy Gilmore (Happy Gilmore)

Hanson Brothers, The (Slap Shot)

Paul “Wrecking” Crewe ’74 (Burt Reynolds) (The Longest Yard)

Reggie Dunlop (Slap Shot)

Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Major League and Major League II)

Roy Hobbs (The Natural)

Sam Malone (Cheers)

Willie “Mays” Hays (Major League)

The 30 Fictitious Contributors Semi-Finalists are:

Carl Spackler (Caddyshack

Chubbs Peterson (Happy Gilmore)

Gordon Bombay (The Mighty Ducks Trilogy)

Harry Doyle (Major League & Major League 2)

Hayden Fox (Coach)

Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire)

Jimmy Dugan (A League of Their Own)

Mickey Goldmill (Rocky, Rocky II & Rocky III)

Morris Buttermaker (The Bad News Bears) ‘76

Mr. Miyagi (The Karate Kid)

Norman Dale (Hoosiers)

The 1989 Baseball film, Major League had three Finalists, the most of any movie. Adam Sandler (The Waterboy & Happy Gilmore) is the only actor to have two characters who made the Finalist Ballot.

Narrowly missing the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame Final Round were such notables as Daniel LaRusso (The Karate Kid trilogy), Al Czervik (Caddyshack), Randy “The Ram” Robinson (The Wrestler), Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (The Sandlot), Clubber Lang (Rocky III), Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights) and Jesus Shuttlesworth (He Got Game).

Gang, you know what we want you do! Click on the links and let us here your votes!

The direct voting on the Athletic Finalists can be found here, and for the Contributor Finalists can be found here:

Adam Dunn to retire

Sep 01, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Chasing his first berth in the Major League Baseball Playoffs, Adam Dunn, who was just traded to the Oakland A’s has announced that this will be his final season in the game. Dunn, who currently has 460 career Home Runs, and hit the 40 Home Run mark in a season five consecutive years (2004-2008) currently is 36th all-time and fifth among active players.

Dunn, an All Star twice in his career (2002 & 2012) may possess a low career Batting Average of .237, but he did lead have two seasons leading his respective League in Walks twice and has a more than respectable On Base Percentage of .365, though this is countered with four seasons leading in the category of Strikeouts.

As potent as Adam Dunn could be with his bat, he was far from equal with his glove. He would never have a positive number in Defensive bWAR and has a career number in that regard and plummeted his overall bWAR to 16.6, which is not exactly a number that would get him off of the first ballot for Hall of Fame voting.

Still, the fans of Adam Dunn paid to see him hit the long ball, which he was one of the best at. We thank him for the Homers and the memories and will have a soft spot for Oakland this September.

Trevor Hoffman enters the Padres HOF

Sep 01, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Shortly after the San Diego Padres controversially renamed their area where they honor past stars, “Selig Hall of Fame Park”, a very uncontroversial moment occurred today for Baseball fans in Southern California.

Trevor Hoffman, one of the most accomplished Relief Pitchers in Baseball’s history, officially became the ninth man inducted into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame today. Hoffman, who is second all time in career Saves, had 552 of his 601 as a Member of the Padres, a team in which he spent sixteen seasons with.

Hoffman would represent the Padres six times as an All Star, twice leading the National League in Saves, the both of which saw him as the runner up for the Cy Young Award. Hoffman had a 1.043 WHIP and 1,029 Strikeouts over 952.1 Innings as a Padre. He would become a fan favorite, not just for his lights out closing skills but his entrance to the mound to AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”.

Mariano Rivera the only man who has more career Saves than Hoffman retired last season is considered a strong candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, however Relief Pitchers have not always seen the kind of respect afforded to Starters. Hoffman, whose career bWAR is 28.3 is well below Rivera in both that stat and in JAWS, the sabremetric used most commonly to evaluate Hall of Fame potential.

As such, Trevor Hoffman may not necessarily be a lock for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but nobody can deny his place in the San Diego Padres Hall, where he will likely be regarded as the greatest closer of their franchise’s history for decades to come.

James Harrison Retires

Aug 31, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

A major retirement in the world of Football took place as Linebacker, James Harrison has announced that his playing career is over.

Harrison went undrafted in 2002 after his College career at Kent State, but would be signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers. It would be a struggle for him to stick on the team as he floated on and off the practice squad, and only saw one game that season in a Special Teams role.

The following year, Harrison would try his hand with the Baltimore Ravens and after being assigned to the Rhein Fire of the World Football League, he was again cut when he returned to Baltimore. Harrison would resign (for a fourth time) with the Pittsburgh Steelers though this time with different results. He would play 43 Games for the Steelers from 2004 to 2006, starting eight of them at Linebacker and performing well on Special Teams, though it would be in the following season that he would breakout and become a star.

Harrison would become the starting Right Outside Linebacker after the surprise release of Joey Porter and at the age of 29, would become a star in the National Football League. He would make his first of five consecutive Pro Bowls and in 2008 would be the Defensive Player of the Year, making him the first undrafted player to ever receive that honor. Harrison also is a two time Super Bowl winner, the second of which saw him set the record for the longest Interception Return (100 Yards) in Super Bowl History.

Twice a First Time All-Pro, James Harrison had a five year stretch where he was not just considered one of the best Linebackers, he was also considered the meanest and one of the most controversial. As the NFL pushed towards a safer environment, Harrison would become one of the most fined players in the League. He would openly criticize the NFL for cracking down on punishing hits and in an interview with Men’s Journal called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “a crook and a liar” and that he hated him. Harrison has also openly publically criticized other NFL players, including his own Quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. In his personal life, Harrison was charged with Domestic Violence, an offence that the NFL now suspends a player for.

Controversy or not, five very strong years and not much else might make his Hall of Fame induction difficult. Still, anyone who once won the Defensive Player of the Year will garner a look, and we are very curious to see if the Steelers will honor him in the future.