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, coaches and executives.  As such, it is news to us that the St. Louis Cardinals have announced that they will be retiring the number 23 of Ted Simmons, and unveiling a statue in his honor.

The Cardinals have specific guidelines as to whose numbers they will retire, specifically those who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who spent time in St. Louis for a significant part of their career.

Simmons was elected via the Veteran’s Committee Class of 2020.

Playing for St. Louis for 13 of his 21 years, Simmons went to six All-Star Games, collected 1,704 Hits, belted 172 Home Runs and batted .298.  

Simmons joins Ozzie Smith (#1), Red Schoendienst (#2), Stan Musial (#6), Enos Slaughter (#9), Tony LaRussa (#10), Ken Boyer (#14), Dizzy Dean *#17), Lou Brock (#20), Whitey Herzog (#24), Jackie Robinson (#42), Bruce Sutter (#42), Bob Gibson (#45) and August Busch (#85).  

We would like to congratulate the Ted Simmons for earning this prestigious honor.

The Toronto Blue Jays are bidding for their first World Series title since 1993. There is confidence within the Canadian city that their long wait for the major prize could end this year.

The Blue Jays, the only team from Canada playing in the Major League Baseball (MLB), have been performing impressively in the American League (AL). They have a winning record of 45-42 (.517), which gives them a strong chance of reaching the playoffs.

Toronto supporters will be hoping their team can go further than they did in 2020. Their World Series dream fell at the first hurdle in the postseason as they were beaten by the number one seeds in the AL, Tampa Bay. The team from Florida went all the way to the World Series where they lost to the LA Dodgers.

The regular season is now well underway and the Blue Jays have MLB odds on bet365 of +2200. Those odds indicate Toronto are not one of the frontrunners for the title. The Dodgers are the favorites in the betting to defend their crown, however, as recent results show, it is no easy feat.

Toronto may enjoy being the underdogs this year. There will be less pressure on their shoulders if they do reach the playoffs. When successful in 1992 and 1993, they were the fourth seeds in the AL, so maybe avoiding one of the top seeds could prove advantageous.

Stats Suggest Toronto Are Better Than Record Indicates

Home runs have not been a problem for the Blue Jays so far in 2021. As of the halfway stage in the regular season, no team in the AL has scored more. If that continues, they are going to prove a dangerous match for any team in the MLB.

Another strong guide for assessing a team's performance on the field is the difference between home runs scored and conceded. Toronto has a +79 record. This would indicate they are a little unfortunate to have a .517 record. If they continue to score so strongly, that percentage should improve.

Their first aim will be to try to win the AL East division. They currently trail Boston Red Sox (604) and Tampa Bay (.589). The series against those two rivals will prove crucial in determining who lands the title.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr Is the Man Who Can Fire Toronto To Success

The standout performer for Toronto in 2021 has been Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He has had an outstanding season with the bat. He was named in the AL’s All-Star team where he was the starting first baseman.

Guerrero Jr, a son of the MLB’s Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr, leads the league in On-Base Plug Slugging (OBS). He is one of only three players who are over 1.0 in 2021 along with Shohei Ohtani and Fernando Tatis Jr.

The 22-year-old has an exciting future in the league. Blue Jays fans will be hoping he helps deliver a lot of success with the Canadian franchise, including at the end of the current campaign.

This year’s World Series begins on October 26 and if a seventh game of the series is needed, that will take place on November 3. 

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 pre-2021-22 revision of our top 50 Minnesota Timberwolves of all-time.

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 NBA. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

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

After looking at the 2020-21 Season, we have no new entries, nor any changes, but there are notes worth discussing.

As always, we present our top five immediately, though nothing has changed in this upper-tier.

1. Kevin Garnett

2. Karl-Anthony Towns

3. Kevin Love

4. Wally Szczerbiak

5. Terrell Brandon

You can find the entire list here.

Towns has a long way to go, if he can ever, unseat Garnett.

Despite winning the Rookie of the Year, Anthony Edwards’ poor advanced stats held him from obtaining a spot on this list.  Malik Beasley and D’Angelo Russell also missed out.

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

You may be wondering what a professional footballer does with their free time, when they spend the majority of their days on the pitch or at the training ground. Well, it turns out, many of them are just like the rest of us, enjoying their downtime by playing games. Be it video games, PC or even casino games, here’s our list of 5 pro footballers who absolutely love gaming.

1.     Jesse Lingard

Kicking off the list (no pun intended) is Jesse Lingard. The England and West Ham midfielder is an avid video gamer who spends a major portion of his free time playing console games like FIFA and Call of Duty. In an interview at his parent club, Manchester United, Lingard reported that he only got into gaming after a disappointing cup final defeat in 2018. He also revealed that he isn’t the only Red Devil to enjoy online gaming, as Marcus Rashford, Dan James and Paul Pogba regularly join him to play Call of Duty: Warzone.

2.     Neymar

PSG superstar Neymar is one of the biggest gamers in world football, playing on both consoles and PC. In fact, he even has custom computers built for him. The left-winger has a whole host of games in his repertoire, including Pro Evolution Soccer, GTA and Fortnite. Recently, he actually became a playable character in the viral battle royale game! This collaboration comes as little surprise, as Neymar has always been a huge fan of the game, even playing on live streams with professional gamers like Ninja.

3.     Cristiano Ronaldo

Yes, that’s right, one of the greatest footballers of all time is a huge fan of games. Not the type you of games you might be thinking of, however. While others may spend their time on a PC or console, Cristiano Ronaldo is much more comfortable at the poker table. While he generally keeps his love of casino games private, the Juventus forward is known for promoting events and tournaments for popular poker companies. If you want to give similar casino games a try, check out online casino Canada for a variety of exciting options.

4.     Antoine Griezmann

Another player with a knack for video games is FC Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann. The French international is an enthusiastic console gamer, and has even become a part of Team Xbox. As part of the collaboration, Griezmann was given a personalized Xbox Series X, which he used to play games like FIFA and Fortnite.

5.     Gerard Piqué

Another player who loves to try his hand at the poker table is Spanish defender Gerard Piqué. In fact, he’s actually very skilled at the game. He is said to be as adept as some professionals, often taking part in high-level events like the World Series of Poker. He truly demonstrated his prowess by winning over £300,000 (over $400,000) at the European Poker Tour in Barcelona – a high-stakes game with a considerable £22k buy-in. 

So, there you have it. Professionals on the field, but definitely amateurs on a console, these five footballers are living proof that gaming is for anyone and everyone.