With the start of the Major League Baseball season we here at Notinhalloffame.com thought it would be fun to look at some of the milestones that could be achieved by future/potential Hall of Fame inductees. There is no sport more than baseball where statistics and thereby compiling said digits can help you enter a Hall of Fame. As such, there are some significant plateaus in six key statistics that could be reached this year.

Home Runs:

Is there a sexier stat in Baseball?

Of course not!

Albert Pujols is already stamped for Cooperstown but he still has some more milestones to collect and hall of famers to exceed. The Angel has 614 career Home Runs, which is good enough for 7th all-time and is 16 away from Ken Griffey Jr. Pujols is certainly in decline but he still puts up decent power numbers so a change in the top ten should take place this year.

Adrian Beltre and Miguel Cabrera are both 38 Home Runs away from the magical 500 number. Both should be able to make it eventually, but it is unlikely that either will go yard enough to make that this year. Edwin Encarnacion is only 2 away from 350. Giancarlo Stanton, who is now with the New York Yankees hit 59 last year. He only needs 33 this year to reach 300.

Hits:

Two active players and future Cooperstown residents, Ichiro Suzuki (3,080) and Adrian Beltre (3,048) have collected over 3,000 Hits and Albert Pujols is 32 away from joining them. While we are not sure about seeing Miguel Cabrera get his 500th Home Run this season he is 114 Hits away from 2,750. With the exception of Pete Rose (banned) and Barry Bonds (PED) the only eligible players who have hit that mark and have not received a Hall of Fame call are Harold Baines (2,866), Johnny Damon (2,769) and Vada Pinson are not in. Cabrera already has a better resume than those three.

Robinson Cano needs 124 Hits to reach 2,500 and Joe Mauer is 14 away from 2,000.

bWAR for Position Players:

Like it or not traditionalists, this a statistic that matters, even though nobody will talk about where they were the day their favorite player accrued a three digit career bWAR.

Coincidentally we could see that happen this year as Albert Pujols has a career bWAR of 99.4, just a fraction away…however he was already there before the last year began as his 2017 output was -1.8!   Basically he already was the 31st member of the 100 bWAR club only to have his membership rescinded.

In more specific terms of the average bWAR for Hall of Famers in relation to their position only Robinson Cano can hit a significant mark. At present he has a 65.9 bWAR, which is lower than the 69.5 average of Hall of Fame Second Basemen. A 3.6 bWAR in 2018 is not out of the realm for Cano, though it is worth noting that he already has a higher JAWS than the average Second Baseman (58.2 to 57.0).

Wins:

Arguably, this traditional metric means less and less but in terms of accumulating stats this is still highly regarded, though it may be a long time before we see another 300 game winner. We might however see a new 250 game winner this year.

It is unlikely that it will happen from the active Wins leader, Bartolo Colon. At present, he has 240 Wins but is struggling to latch on to any team. C.C. Sabathia however has a good shot as he has 237 career Wins and is playing for a loaded New York Yankees team. If he equals his output from last year (14) he is there.

If 200 is the new 300 as it has been suggested in some circles than recent World Series winner Justin Verlander should be the next to join what is now an elite club. He only needs 12 more Wins and with a full season in Houston he should get there this season.

Strikeouts:

While 300 Wins seems unattainable, 3,000 Strikeouts does not. At present there are 24 300 game winners and only 16 members of the 3K Strikeouts Club, with all but Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling who are enshrined. A 17th member could happen this year. C.C. Sabathia is 156 Ks from the club though based on his recent production in that metric it could take until 2019 for him to reach it.

The 2,500 Strikeout plateau sees Justin Verlander 84 away. Another former Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez is 158 away but that he will have to return to All Star form for it to occur this year.

bWAR for Pitchers:

The average bWAR for a Hall of Fame Starting Pitcher is 73.4. The highest for any active hurler is Sabathia at 59.8, so it can safely be stated that this is not being equalled in 2018.   The one to watch here is Clayton Kershaw who in seven seasons less than Sabathia has a 58.8 bWAR. He could easily take over as the active bWAR for Pitchers leader and considering that the three time Cy Young winner was the runner-up for the award last year he is still in his prime, while Sabathia is not. Whether or not Kershaw gets to 200 Wins (he is at 144 now) he is very close to being a sabremetric lock.

The only other interesting potential Pitching milestone of note appears to have limited chance of happening as Francisco Rodriguez, who has 437 career Saves (fourth overall) has just been cut by the Philadelphia Phillies so reaching 450 might prove difficult.

These are the milestones we will be looking at this season. Are there any that you are looking for?

Either way, Hall of Fame career will be made this year.

We really love what the Strong Museum in Rochester has put together and from that facility we have the announcement of the Finalists for their Video Game Hall of Fame Class of 2018 as 12 Finalists have been announced:

Asteroids

Call of Duty

Dance Dance Revolution

Final Fantasy VII

Half-Life

John Madden Football

King’s Quest

Metroid

Minecraft

Ms. Pacman

Spacewar!

Tomb Raider

In addition to the 27 member panel, the Hall is allowing an online ballot (up until April 4) which will assist in determining the next Class.

The winners will be announced on May 3.

Again, did we ever say this would be fast?

We here at Notinhalloffame.com have completed our next all-time top 50, this time that of the Cincinnati Reds.

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

1. 1. Sabremetric tallies while with that team, mostly WAR.

2. 2. Traditional metrics and how they finished in their respective league overall.

3. 3. Playoff accomplishment.

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

Remember, this is ONLY based on what a player does on that particular team and not what he accomplished elsewhere and also note that we have placed an increased importance on the first two categories.

Saying all of that, as.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in our news. They are:

1. 1. Pete Rose

2. 2. Johnny Bench

3. 3. Frank Robinson

4. 4. Joe Morgan

5. 5. Barry Larkin

This is a solid top five with four Hall of Famers and one who should be.

So which team is up next?

We go back to the ice and look at the top 50 Dallas Stars of all time.

Look for that in a couple of months.

As always, we here at Notinhalloffame.com thank you for your support.

‘Tis the season for retirements in the world of Professional Football and today brought us another significant one as Tight End Martellus Bennett is calling it a career.

From Texas A&M Bennett was drafted in 2008 in the second round by the Dallas Cowboys and was used to backup Jason Witten. With Witten on the roster, Bennett was never going to be the primary threat at Tight End for Dallas but he showcased exceptional blocking skills and gained quite the following for his outspoken and occasionally controversial comments.

After his four year contract expired, Bennett signed with the New York Giants where he became a starter for the first time. It was a good season for the Tight End, but he signed in 2013 with the Chicago Bears and continued to increase his production. He would have his best season in 2014 where he was named a Pro Bowl and recorded 90 Receptions for 916 Yards.

Prior to the 2016 season, Bennett signed with the New England Patriots where he complimented Rob Gronkowski perfectly and would help the Patriots win the Super Bowl in their come from behind win over the Atlanta Falcons. He would finish his career with the Packers and after being waived he resigned with New England and went to the Super Bowl again albeit in a loss against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Martellus Bennett would accrue 433 Receptions for 4,573 Receiving Yards and 30 Touchdowns. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023, though he is unlikely to get any consideration.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Martellus Bennett on a wonderful career and wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.