gold star for USAHOF
Committee Chairman

Committee Chairman

Kirk Buchner, "The Committee Chairman", is the owner and operator of the site.  Kirk can be contacted at [email protected] .
As we move onward and upward in our slow trudge to naming all of the Top 50 players from the North American “Big Four”, our eventual follow up will be the look at how those organizations honor their former players and executives.

As such it is news to us (somewhat big actually, though completely expected) that the New York Yankees will formally retire the number #2 of their eventual first ballot Hall of Fame infielder, Derek Jeter on May 14, their Mother’s Day home game against the Houston Astros.

Going through the accomplishments of Jeter would be exhausting, but just to recap the tip of his iceberg, he is a member of the 3,000 Hit Club, a five time World Series Champion and a fourteen time All Star

Twenty-one former Yankees have had their number retired, and the retirement of #2 mans that their can never be another New York Yankee who will wear a single digit number as all of the others have been retired.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Derek Jeter for this much deserved honor and the Yankees for doing this is an appropriately timed fashion.  
We have another entrant in to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Annually, the winner of the Ford C. Frick Award gains entry into Cooperstown.  This year, it is the late Bill King, who was the voice of the Oakland Athletics for years. 

King, who had been a finalist six times, also served as the play-by-play voice for the Oakland Raiders and the Golden State Warriors.  Basically, he was the voice of the city of Oakland. 

The Athletics job was his third major role in the city, taking over the full radio broadcasting duties in 1981.  It was his voice that called the A’s World Series win in 1988 and his “Holy Toledo” catch phrase rang throughout the Bay Area. 

This is a posthumous induction as King passed away in 2005.
The International Boxing Hall of Fame has just announced their 2017 nine-member class, of which former World Heavyweight Champion, Evander Holyfield is the undisputed headliner. 

A Bronze Medalist in the Light Heavyweight division at the 1984 Olympics, Holyfield would move up to the Cruiserweight division and defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the WBA Championship and would later unify the division with wins over Ricky Parkey (WBC) and Carlos De Leon (IBF).  This was an incredible accomplishment, but Holyfield had his sights set at the sport’s biggest prize, the Heavyweight Title. 

Following wins over Heavyweight contenders, Pinklon Thomas, James Tillis, Michael Dokes and Alex Stewart, Holyfield would receive the first World Heavyweight Title shot against James “Buster” Douglas, who shocked the world by defeating Mike Tyson by Knockout in Japan.  Holyfield would dispense of Douglas in quick fashion, winning the World Heavyweight Title in 1990.  He would subsequently make successful title defenses against George Foreman, Bert Cooper and Larry Holmes but he would be beat by Riddick Bowe in 1992, a title he would regain one year later, though only to lose it to Michael Moorer in his first defense.

Holyfield would retire due to a heart issue, though would return to have a very successful 1996, one that would culminate in the ling awaited fight with Mike Tyson, who had won the WBA World Championship.  In the anticipated fight, Holyfield would win his third Heavyweight Title by KO in the 11th, and would defeat Tyson by DQ in the rematch when Tyson notoriously gave up and bit a chunk of the champion’s ear off. 

Holyfield would win the title for a fourth time, making him the divisions only four time champion.

He retired with a record of 44-10-2-1 with 29 Knockouts.

Mexican fighter, Marco Antonio Barrea will be joining Holyfield.  Barrea was a champion in three divisions.  Barrea was the WBO Super Bantamweight Champion three times, the WBC Super Featherweight Title and the IBF Super Featherweight Title.  Perhaps most notably, he was the Lineal Featherweight Title from 2001 to 2003.  He retired with a 67-7-0-1 record with 44 Knockouts. 

The late Johnny Tapia will also be inducted.  The native of Albuquerque, New Mexico would win five titles, the WBO Super Flyweight, IBF Super Flyweight, WBA Bantamweight, WBO Bantamweight and IBF Featherweight.  He would have a 5905-2 record with 30 Knockouts. 

They will be joined by:

Johnny Lewis, an Australian trainer who worked with six champions, most notably Jeff Fenech and Kostya Tszyu.

Jerry Roth, a judge.

Steve Farhood, a journalist and broadcaster.

Barry Tompkins, a broadcaster.

Eddie Booker, an African-American boxer who due to his race often struggled to find an opponent.  He competed in the Heavyweight division during the 1930’s and 1940’s and had a record of 66-5-8.

Jimmy Lennon Sr., a ring announcer for years who also announced for Professional Wrestling.  He also appeared in multiple movies.  He passed away in 1992.

The official induction will take place on June 11 in Canastota, New York.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the latest class.
We know for sure that the Baseball Hall of Fame will be adding at least two people to their institution next summer.

The 16 Man “Today’s Game Era” Committee has selected former Commissioner, Bud Selig and Executive, John Schuerholz to Cooperstown, the latter of which received a full 100 percent of the vote. 

To get elected, a candidate needed 75 percent (12 votes) to gain induction.

Bud Selig received all but one of the 16 votes.  A former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Selig is either widely praised or panned depending on your point of view.  Work stoppages and PED growth happened under his watch, but so did substantial revenue growth, interleague play and revenue sharing.  He becomes the fifth former commissioner to get elected.

Schuerholz was considered a lock and based on his record how could he not be?  He was the first General Manager to win the World Series in both leagues (Kansas City in ’85 and Atlnata in ’95) and while Atlanta only one World Series, it was a powerhouse team that won 14 consecutive divisions.

Former player and Manager, Lou Piniella received seven votes.

The other candidates received five for less and as per the rule (though we find that absurd) their exact vote count was not released. 

Those who received five votes or less are George Steinbrenner (Owner), Mark McGwire, Albert Belle, Davey Johnson (Manager), Harold Baines, Orel Hershiser and Will Clark.  They could possibly be nominated again in four years, the next time that the “Today’s Game Era” is scheduled to meet.

Of note, the 16 man committee are owners Bill DeWitt Jr. (Cardinals) and David Glass (Royals), executives Andy MacPhail (Phillies), Kevin Towers (Reds) and Paul Beeston (formerly of the Blue Jays), media members Bill Center, Steve Hirdt and Tim Kurkjian, and Hall of Famers Roberto Alomar, Bobby Cox Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Pat Gillick, Frank Thomas, Ozzie Smith and Don Sutton.

We would like to congratulate the two new entries to the Baseball Hall of Fame and are curious to see who will join Bud Selig and John Schuerholz.