The World Golf Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2024 (yeah, this seems early, doesn’t it), which includes one of the most historic classes in recent memory.

The 2024 Class of is:

Johnny Farrell, U.S.A.:  Farrell won 22 tournaments, including the 1928 U.S. Open.  He also won three Ryder Cups (1927, 1929 & 1931).

Beverly Hanson, U.S.A.:  Hanson held 17 tournament wins, the most notable being the 1955 LPGA Championship.  She also won the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

Padraig Harrington, Ireland:  Harrington won 21 tournaments (15 on the European Tour) and was the 2007 & 2008 Open Championship winner as well as the 2008 PGA winner.  A seven-time Ryder Cup Captain, Harrington was named the PGA Player of the Year in 2008.

Sandra Palmer, U.S.A.:  Palmer had 19 wins, including the 1975 U.S. Women’s Open.  That year, she won the LPGA Player of the Year.

Tom Weiskopf, U.S.A.:  Weiskopf holds 18 wins, including the 1973 Open Championship.  He is also a two-time Ryder Cup competitor.

13 Founders of the LPGA:  This group included six women who are already inducted (Patty Berg, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Betty Jameson, Marilynn Smith, Louis Suggs and Babe Zaharias) and Alice Bauer, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Sally Sessions and Shirley Spark.

First established in 1974, the Florida-based institution will induct this group in June.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the impending World Golf Hall of Fame inductees.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top Colorado Rockies.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following:

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National League.

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Colorado had another abysmal year, but there was a new entry and some fluctuation.

As always, we present our top five, which had one change.

1. Todd Helton

2. Larry Walker                     

3. Nolan Arenado

4. Troy Tulowitzki

5. Charlie Blackmon

You can find the entire list here.

Blackmon just did enough to make it into the top five, moving from #6 to #5.

Pitchers, German Marquez moved up one spot to #15, and Kyle Freeland, advanced two ranks to #17.

The biggest jump was by Infielder, Ryan McMahon, who advanced ten spots to #32.

First Baseman, C.J. Cron, is the lone new entrant, debuting at #50.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

If you are a regular visitor at Notinhalloffame.com, you know that we created the Notinhalloffame NBA Cup, where in every regular season game, we award points (5-4-3-2-1) to the top five performers.  This is the third year that we have done this, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic won the first two.

To keep everyone regularly in the loop this time, we have decided to give regular updates, starting at when the first player cracked 100 Points, and tell all of you the top ten.  We will this going forward with every update as the first player breaches the elevated ten-point threshold afterward.

Here is the current top ten, based on the first player to breach 230 Notinhalloffame Cup Points:

1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets, 232 Cup Points:  58 Games, 24.3 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 10.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 31.3 PER, 12.6 WS.  (#1 on last ranking)

The two-time defending MVP (and NIHOF Cup Champion) remains at the top, despite the pleas of Kendrick Perkins. Jokic is leading the league in PER (31.3), Win Shares (12.6), VORP (7.4) and Box Plus/Minus (13.0).  He is also averaging a triple-double, leading the NBA in that stat, and is third in Rebounds per Game.

2. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, 227 Cup Points:  57 Games, 33.0 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 8.0 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 29.6 PER, 9.4 WS.  (#2 on last ranking)

Doncic holds at #2, but that spot appears to be in jeopardy as he was recently injured with a thigh injury and is second in scoring (33.0), VORP (6.0) and Box Plus/Minus (9.5) while currently placing third in PER (29.6) and fourth in Win Shares (9.4).  He was an early MVP contender, but that might not be the case anymore.

3 (TIE). Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics, 225 Cup Points:  62 Games, 30.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 23.7 PER, 8.7 WS.  (#4 on last ranking)

Tatum climbed back into the top three.  He is still a huge threat to win this award, as well as the MVP, though some of his advanced statistics are lacking.  He should finish over 30 Points per Game (he is currently sixth).

3 (TIE). Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers, 225 Cup Points:  52 Games, 33.3 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.6 BPG, 30.8 PER, 9.4 WS.  (#5 on last ranking)

Embiid gets back to the top three, and is a bona fide MVP contender.  He is currently the scoring leader (33.3) and is second in PER (30.8).  Embiid is also in the top five in Wins Shares, VORP and Box Plus/Minus.  Could this be the season he takes Philadelphia all the way?

5. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, 219 Cup Points:  52 Games, 31.2 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 5.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 28.5 PER, 7.1 WS. (#3 on last ranking)

The two-time MVP would have probably been on the top had he not missed a series of Games earlier in the season, and he is now dealing with another ailment, which caused him to drop two spots.  He is now a six-time All-Star, and is in the top five in both Points and Rebounds per Game.

6. Julius Randle, New York Knicks, 208 Cup Points:  67 Games, 25.3 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 4.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 21.0 PER, 7.9 WS. (#6 on last ranking)

Randle continues to climb the list, and currently has a higher PPG (25.3), than his first All-Star year two years ago (24.1).

7. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder, 207 Cup Points:  57 Games, 31.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 5.7 APG, 1.6 SPG, 1.1 BPG, 27.3 PER, 9.4 WS. (#8 on last ranking)

Gilgeous-Alexander went to his first All-Star Game, and is shattering last year’s averages, which were already good.  He is currently dealing with some nagging injuries, but you have to imagine just how pathetic the Thunder would be without SGA.

8. Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies, 205 Cup Points:  53 Games, 27.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 8.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 23.8 PER, 5.6 WS. (#6 on last ranking)

The last two weeks of Morant’s life has been a disaster, with a bevy of poor personal decisions that has led to a suspension.  Currently away from the Grizzlies, he has dropped two spots in Cup Point standings from the last update.  This is a man with serious growing up to do.

9. Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks, 198 Cup Points:  59 Games, 26.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 10.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 22.3 PER, 5.4 WS. (#9 on last ranking)

Young is the face of an intriguing Hawks squad, but was unable to make the NBA All-Star Team.  

10. Lauri Markkanen, Utah Jazz, 189 Cup Points:  59 Games, 25.3 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 22.5 PER, 7.8 WS.  (#10 on last ranking)

Markkanen is now the first player from Finland to be an All-Star and after two months, he returns to the top ten in Cup Points.  This the year of his life.

Our next update will happen after the first player breaches 240 Cup Points.

C.J. Cron was an average player (at best) for years, first making the Majors with the Angels in 2014, but faltering by 2020 with Detroit, where they had no problem letting him go.  Cron was signed to a Minor League deal by the Rockies to little fanfare, and most people in the Mile High City likely didn’t notice.  That would eventually change.

Cron won the starting job at First for the Rockies in 2021, showing his usual power (28 Home Runs) but batting .281, his highest to date.  He got off to a great start in 2022, earning his first trip to the All-Star Game, an unlikely achievement considering where he was two years before.  He finished the year with career-highs in Hits (148) and RBIs (102) with 29 Home Runs. 

Cron regressed in 2023, and dealt with injuries.  With the Angels desperate to try t make the playoffs in a bid to keep Shohei Ohtani, the Rockies dealt Cron there, ending his run in Colorado.  Overall, Cron had 334 Hits and the best run of his career.