As training camp begins in the National Football League, we have another retirement to look at in Pro Football as Quarterback, Mark Sanchez has announced his retirement to pursue a career as a college football analyst.  

It was in college, specifically USC where he had his best success.  As a Senior, Sanchez took the Trojans to a 12 and 1 record and a Rose Bowl win over Penn State.  The New York Jets would draft him 5^thoverall in 2009 where he would be their starter but he would throw more Interceptions than Touchdowns in his four seasons in Gotham though as a rookie he did take the Jets to the NFC Championship Game. He would repeat that feat in 2010, making him the second Quarterback after Ben Roethlisberger to do that in his first two seasons.

Sanchez would never be a starter after 2013 and he would bounce as a backup Quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins.  He retires with 15,357 Passing Yards and 68 Touchdown Passes.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Mark Sanchez the best in his post-playing career.

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 intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive.  Eventually, this will extend to the major programs in the NCAA and as such it is news to us that LSU Basketball has announced that the #35 of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf will be retired this season.

As a Tiger, Abdul-Rauf was named Chris Jackson, the name he had before he converted to Islam in 1991.  The Point Guard played two years at LSU and was a Consensus All-American and SEC Player of the Year both years.  He would set records as a freshman for Points (965) and Points per Game (30.2).  

He would go on to have a long career in pro basketball, both in the NBA and abroad.

Abdul-Rauf becomes the fifth former Tiger to have his number retired. He joins “Pistol” Pete Maravich (#23), Shaquille O’Neal (#33), Durand “Rudy” Macklin (#40) and Bob Pettit (#50).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf for earning this very prestigious honor.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com thought it would be fun to take a look at the major awards in North American team sports and see how it translates into Hall of Fame potential.

Needless to say, different awards in different sports yield hall of fame potential.  In basketball, the team sport with the least number of players on a roster, the dividend for greatness much higher.  In baseball, it is not as much as a great individual season does not have the same impact.

For our next selection we look at the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.  Created by the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, it is designed to be given annually to the baseball player who is recognized for his work in his community and through his philanthropic work.  Think of this as the Baseball equivalent to the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

So, how many Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winners have been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Let’s find out!

*Please note that as statistics are not as relevant for this award so as opposed to how we normally list players, we will simply just list the winners as opposed to go into that year’s accomplishments.  This is the same position that we took with the Roberto Clemente Award.

The following are the past players who have won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in the MLB who are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and have been enshrined.

Pee Wee Reese, Brooklyn Dodgers (1956)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals (1957)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.

Warren Spahn, Milwaukee Braves (1961)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Robin Roberts, Baltimore Orioles (1962)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976.

Brooks Robinson, Baltimore Orioles (1966)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs (1967)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977.

Al Kaline, Detroit Tigers (1968)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves (1970)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982.

Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins (1971)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Ron Santo, Chicago Cubs (1973)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Willie Stargell, Chicago Cubs (1974)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.

Johnny Bench, Cincinnati Reds (1975)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989.

Don Sutton, Los Angeles Dodgers (1976)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.

Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals (1977)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985.

Phil Niekro, Atlanta Braves (1979)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Tony Perez, Boston Red Sox (1980)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies (1983)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995.

George Brett, Kansas City Royals (1986)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

Ozzie Smith, St. Louis Cardinals (1989)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

Cal Ripken Jr., Baltimore Orioles (1992)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Barry Larkin, Cincinnati Reds (1994)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins (1997)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.

Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres (1998)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

Jim Thome, Philadelphia Phillies (2004)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.

John Smoltz, Atlanta Braves (2005)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.

Trevor Hoffman, San Diego Padres (2006)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.

The following are the players who have won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in MLB who are eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame and have not been selected:

Al Dark, New York Giants (1955)

Dark was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 18.5% in 1979.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Gil McDougald, New York Yankees (1958)

McDougald was on the ballot for nine years and finished as high as 1.7% in 1966.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Gil Hodges, Los Angeles Dodgers (1959)

Hodges was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 63.4% in 1983.  Ranked #11 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Dick Groat, Pittsburgh Pirates (1960)

Groat was on the ballot for nine years and finished as high as 1.8% in 1973.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Bobby Richardson, New York Yankees (1963)

Richardson was on the ballot for three years and finished as high as 2.0% in 1972.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Ken Boyer, St. Louis Cardinals (1964)

Boyer was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 25.5% in 1983.  Ranked #49 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Vern Law, Pittsburgh Pirates (1965)

Law was on the ballot for seven years and finished as high as 2.4% in 1973.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds (1969)

Rose has been banned from the Baseball for gambling and the Baseball Hall of Fame has not allowed him on the ballot.  Ranked #1A on Notinhalloffame.com

Wes Parker, Los Angeles Dodgers (1972)

Parker did not play the mandatory ten seasons to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Don Kessinger, Chicago White Sox (1978)

Kessinger was on the ballot for one year and received 0.5% of the vote.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Tommy John, New York Yankees (1981)

John was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 31.7% in 2009.  Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Ron Cey, Los Angeles Dodgers (1982)

Cey was on the ballot for one years and finished with 1.9% in 1993.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Steve Garvey, San Diego Padres (1984)

Garvey was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 42.6% in 1995.  Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves (1985)

Murphy was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 23.2% in 2000.  Ranked #12 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Rick Sutcliffe, Chicago Cubs (1987)

Sutcliffe was on the ballot for one year and finished with 1.8% in 2000.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Buddy Bell, Texas Rangers (1988)

Bell was on the ballot for one year and finished with 1.7% in 1995.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Glenn Davis, Houston Astros (1990)

While Davis played the minimum 10 years, he was not on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Kent Hrbek, Minnesota Twins (1990)

Hrbek was on the ballot for one year and finished with 1.0% in 2000.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Don Mattingly, New York Yankees (1993)

Murphy was on the ballot for fifteen years and finished as high as 28.2% in 2001.  Ranked #40 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Curt Schilling, Philadelphia Phillies (1995)

Schilling has been on the ballot for seven years and finished as high as 60.9% in 2019.  Ranked #5 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Brett Butler, Los Angeles Dodgers (1996)

Butler was on the ballot for one year and finished with 0.4% in 2003.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals (1999)

McGwire has been on the ballot for ten years and finished as high as 23.7% in 2010.  Ranked #16 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Todd Stottlemyre, Arizona Diamondbacks (2000)

Stottlemyre was on the ballot for one year and finished with 0.2% in 2008.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

John Franco, New York Mets (2001)

Franco was on the ballot for one year and finished with 4.6% in 2011.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Danny Graves, Cincinnati Reds (2002)

Although Graves was eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2012, he was not on the ballot.

Jamie Moyer, Seattle Mariners (2003)

Moyer was on the ballot for one year and finished with 2.4% in 2018.  Ranked #105 on Notinhalloffame.com.

Mike Timlin, Boston Red Sox (2007)

Timlin was on the ballot for one year but did not receive any votes in 2007.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers (2013)

Hamilton did not play the minimum ten years to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Unranked on Notinhalloffame.com.

Let’s update our tally, shall we?

So, who is up next?

The following are the players who have won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in the Major League Baseball who have retired but have not met the mandatory years out of the game to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies (2008)

Eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (2010)

Eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020.

Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants (2012)

Eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers (2014)

Eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

The following are the players who have won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award who are still active.

Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (2009)

39 Years Old, Playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals (2011)

34 Years Old, Playing for the Washington Nationals.

Curtis Granderson, New York Mets (2015)

38 Years Old, Playing for the Miami Marlins.

Jose Altuve, Houston Astros (2016)

29 Years Old, Playing for the Houston Astros.

Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds (2017)

35 Years Old, Playing for the Cincinnati Reds.

Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians (2018)

33 Years Old, Playing for the Cleveland Indians.

The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winners seems to lean toward elite players and we suspect that this will be a pattern to continue.

Up next, we are going to stay within the tertiary Baseball Awards and look at the Hutch Award Winner.

As always, we thank you for that support and look for that soon!

The Hockey Hall of Fame recently had their most bizarre Hockey Hall of Fame Class as for the first time in any of our lists we had NOBODT from our top 25 were chosen for their respective Hall of Fame.  

Now before we unveil our new list, a couple of caveats about the impending Class of 2019 and our list in general:

At present, we don’t rank female players.  This is not because we do not respect the women that have been inducted but at this time there has not been a lot of call for us to do so and we have decided at this time not to merge eligible female players with our core list.  Had we done so, Hayley Wickenheiser, who was chosen this year would have likely been ranked #1 by us.

We also don’t rank builders as of yet.  We do have an exception with Don Cherry, but are looking to create a builders list and migrate him to that one.

As such, only two former players were removed from our list, Guy Carbonneau (#29) and Sergei Zubov (#44) and they are slated to join Wickenheiser as the Class of 2019.

Three new names enter our list, which is now at 131.  There will be a future expansion to 150, which will occur later this year.

Let’s look at our new top ten, and based on our new #1 we feel confident that there will not be a repeat of not having a top ten (let alone a top twenty-five) not make the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Our new Notinhalloffame.com Hockey Top Ten is:

#1. Jarome Iginla:  Iginla is entering his first year of eligibility and point blank he is the reason why we feel confident that there will be a top ten entry entering the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 as he should enter on his first ballot.  The six-time All-Star was named to the First Team All-Star post season squad three times and he is also a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist with Team Canada.

#2. Alexander Mogilny:  Mogilny drops one spot, as he was our top rank last year.  One of the last creations of the Red Army, Alexander Mogilny was the first Soviet player to defect to play in the NHL and he would have a legendary 76 Goal season for the Buffalo Sabres in 1992/93.  Eligible since 2009, Mogilny is a two-time Second Team All-Star.

#3. Theoren Fleury:  Fleury holds firm at #3.  The scrappy native of Saskatchewan went to seven All-Star Games and was a Second Team All-Star in 1994/95.  He is a Stanley Cup winner with the Calgary Flames (1989) and an Olympic Gold Medalist with Team Canada (2002).

#4. Don Cherry:  Cherry drops to his lowest ranking as we take your votes into consideration, and not all of them are kind to Canada’s favorite (or best known) blowhard.  As mentioned earlier, we are likely to take him out completely in favor of a contributors list.

#5. Daniel Alfredsson:  Alfredsson may have received the most concern regarding his snub this year on social media but that hasn’t translated to votes for him on our site.  As such, he has dropped one spot from #4 to #5, but the six-time All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist (Sweden in 2006) may have a better shot than those ahead of him, with the exception of Iginla.

#6. Pierre Turgeon:  Turgeon climbs up from #7 and remains the highest scoring player (1,327 Points) who is not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Turgeon is a former four-time All-Star.

#7. Bernie Nicholls:  Nicholls drops from #5.  He is one of seven players to have a 70 Goal Season and one of five to have a 150 Point Season.  He was chosen for three All-Star Games.

#8. Jeremy Roenick:  Roenick fell two spots to #8.  At present, he is our highest rated American and he is a nine-time All-Star. 

#9. John LeClair:  For a time, LeClair was the best power forward in the NHL and was a five-time post-season NHL All-Star.  That was a great stretch, but he was not close to that level over the rest of his career.

#10. Marian Hossa:  The second of our third new entries, Marian Hossa was a three-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Chicago Blackhawks and a five-time NHL All-Star.  He is also a four-time Olympian with Slovakia.

The third new entry on this list is career Arizona Coyote, Shane Doan who debuts at #56.

The entire list can be found here.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com encourage you to cast your vote, give us your opinion and we thank you for your support!