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Committee Chairman

Kirk Buchner, "The Committee Chairman", is the owner and operator of the site.  Kirk can be contacted at [email protected] .

49. Zack Littell

When Zack Littell arrived in St. Petersburg in mid-2023 as a waiver claim from the Red Sox, he was seen as a journeyman middle reliever. Having bounced through Minnesota and San Francisco, few expected him to become a Tampa Bay pitching success. Yet, the Rays saw elite strike-throwing potential they could develop into more.

Faced with a severe influx of injuries to their starting rotation, the coaching staff asked Littell to step up and take a starting role—a challenge he accepted with notable efficiency. Throughout the latter half of 2023, he stabilized an underperforming pitching staff, delivering precise, high-leverage strikes to achieve a 3.93 ERA across 14 starts, thereby providing Tampa Bay with the essential mid-season boost necessary to secure a wild-card position.

He demonstrated that the transition was not merely a transient occurrence by consistently occupying the role of a full-time starting pitcher throughout a resilient and highly reliable campaign in 2024. Utilizing a precisely aimed four-seam fastball, a formidable slider, and a newly refined splitter, Littell established himself as the definitive "strike-zone filler" for a team that emphasizes pitching efficiency. He made a career-high 29 appearances, covering 156.1 vital innings, and achieved 141 strikeouts while only issuing 31 walks, resulting in an impressive record of 8–10 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.63.

Littell returned to the Tampa Bay rotation for the 2025 season, maintaining his role as a reliable strike-thrower. As the Rays began retooling, they traded Littell to the Cincinnati Reds before the July deadline, ending his productive stint in the American League East. With the Rays, he posted a 16–21 record, 3.76 ERA, and 1.20 WHIP. He ate up 299.1 innings, striking out 257 batters while walking only 51.

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 will examine how each team honors its past players, coaches, and executives. We will eventually extend that to the major universities, and thus it is important to us that the University of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame has announced its 2026 Class. 

The six-person class will be inducted on September 25.

The inductees are:

Paul Calhoun, Football, 1981-84.  Calhoun played at Defensive Back and Punter and was an All-SEC Selection twice.  He helped lead the Wildcats to two straight Hall of Fame Bowls and was selected to the All-Time Kentucky Team in 1990.

Tim Duckworth, Men’s Track & Field, 2015-18.  Duckworth was a two-time NCAA Champion, winning the 2018 Indoor Heptathlon and 2018 Outdoor Decathlon.  A three-time All-American, Duckworth was the 2018 SEC Indoor and Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.

Leah Edmond, Women’s Volleyball, 2016-19.  A four-year All-American and two-time SEC Player of the Year, Edmond holds the school record for most kills with 1,978.  While she played at UK, the Wildcats had a 103-28 record and won three SEC Championships.

Patty Jo Hedges-Ward, Women’s Basketball, 1980-83.  Hedges-Ward is still the all-time Wildcats leader in Assists (731) and had 1,176 points over her collegiate career.  Her teams had a combined 85-33 record and won the 1982 SEC Tournament.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Men’s Basketball, 2012.  Kidd Gilchrist was a significant member of the 2012 National Championship Team and, individually, an All-SEC Selection.  He went on to play eight years in the NBA.

Asia Seidt, Women’s Swimming & Diving, 2017-20.  Seidt collected a staggering 21 All-American honors, eight of which were First Team.  She won 15 SEC Medals (four Gold, five Silver, and six Bronze), and in 2020, Seidt was named the NCAA Woman of the Year.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending members of the University of Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

Last January, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2026, and for us at Notinhalloffame.com, this means it is time to revise the list of those to consider for the Hall.

At present, it is a work in progress, as we have multiple projects underway (including prepping the ballot for the 2026 United States Athletic Hall of Fame), but we are also slowly working on the Baseball Hall revision.

Our revisions take into account the following:

  • Removing those who were inducted and including those who are now eligible.
  • Taking in your votes and comments and adjusting accordingly.

Simple, right?

As this is a work in progress, the section is under construction, but we will keep you apprised of the changes as we go.

The entire list (again, it is under construction) is here,  but in the meantime, here is the revised 226-250:

226. Harvey Haddix
227. Tony Phillips
228. Magglio Ordonez
229. Dick Groat
230. Art Fletcher
231. Guy Hecker
232. Eddie Rommell
233. Will White
234. Rudy York
235. Harry Breechen
236. Ed Konetchy
237. Davey Lopes
238. Jim Perry
239. Joe Judge
240. Pedro Guerrero
241. Tommy Henrich
242. Bill White
243. Nap Rucker
244. Charlie Root
245. Bob Welch
246. Mel Stottlemyre
247. Amos Otis
248. Frank Viola
249. Larry French
250. Paul O’Neill

Look for more updates soon.

Modern sports analytics has transformed the way fans, analysts, and bettors evaluate athletic performance. Rather than relying solely on reputation or memorable highlights, today's predictive models combine historical statistics, advanced performance metrics, and long-term trends to build a more complete picture of a player's career. These analytical tools help identify athletes whose consistency, impact, and achievements may eventually earn them a place in the Hall of Fame. The same evidence-based approach has also influenced modern sports betting, where informed decisions are increasingly driven by research instead of intuition. 

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