As we eagerly await tomorrow’s announcement of who will be chosen for the Pro Football Hall of Fame we have a possible first ballot Hall of Famer in Julius Peppers, Defensive End from Carolina who announced his retirement today.

A star at the University of North Carolina, Peppers was a unanimous All-American and was the Chuck Bednarik and Lombardi Award winner in 2001. Drafted second overall by the Panthers in 2002, Peppers wasted no time establishing himself as one of the premier stars of the game.  He would win the Defensive Rookie of the Year with a 12 Sack season and in 2004 he would go to his first of what would be nine Pro Bowl selections, and in that year, he was also named a First Team All Pro.  Peppers remained a sacking machine where he would be named a First Team All Pro again in 2006 and in his first eight seasons in Carolina he had double digit sack tallies in six of those campaigns,

Peppers would sign with the Chicago Bears where he would play for four seasons.  The Defensive End was named a First Team All Pro in his first year there (2010) with three of his seasons earning him Pro Bowl accolades.  He would play his final five seasons in Green Bay and a final run back home with the Carolina Panthers.

Julius Peppers retires with 266 Games Played and 159.5 Quarterback Sacks.  He will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2024.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to thank Julius Peppers for is wonderful career and we wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

The St. Louis Cardinals have announced that their franchise Hall of Fame will have six nominees that can be voted on by the public beginning on March 1, which will commence on April 12.  You can vote for those candidates here and they are:

Keith Hernandez 1974-83:  The co-MVP in 1979, Keith Hernandez would win the National League Batting Title that year and was the top finished in On Base Percentage the season after.  Hernandez was a six time Gold Glove winner with St. Louis and he batted .299 with 1,217 Hits and 81 Home Runs for the team.  He would help them win the World Series in 1982.

Jason Isringhausen 2002-08:  Isringhausen is the all-time franchise leader (217) in Saves for the St. Louis Cardinals and he was the league leader in that category in 2004.  He would represent St. Louis in the 2005 All Star Game.

Matt Morris 1997-2005:  Morris would lead the NL in Wins with 22 in 2001where he was an All Star and second runner-up for the Cy Young.  He would be named an All Star again in 2002 and he had a record of 101-62 for the Cards.

Edgar Renteria 1999-2004:  A three time All Star with the Cardinals, Edgar Renteria also was chosen for three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers while he played there.  He would bat .290 with 973 Hits with 71 Home Runs and 148 Stolen Bases.

Scott Rolen 2002-07:  Rolen would help the Redbirds win the 2006 World Series and he was a four time All Star and three time Gold Glove winner for the team.  Rolen finished fourth in National League MVP voting in 2004 and he collected 678 Hits with 111 Home Runs and a .286 Batting Average.

John Tudor 1985-88:  Tudor had a stellar 62-26 record with the Cardinals with a 2.52 ERA and 1.080 WHIP. In 1985, his first season with St. Louis he was the runner-up for the Cy Young and would lead the NL in WHIP.

The announcement of the two winners will be made on April 26 and they will be joined from a player chosen from the Veterans Committee.  The induction of the new class will take place on August 24.

Leading up to Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame vote, we have some developments that we think are very interesting and definitely noteworthy.

Both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have penned letters to the Selection Committee extolling the virtues of Ty Law and Richard Seymour, both former New England Patriots who are among the Finalists this year.

Brady’s letter regarding Ty Law can be found here.

Belichick’s letter regarding Richard Seymour can be found here.

In an ESPN article, Hall of Fame Running Back Curtis Martin endorses former New York Jet teammate, Kevin Mawae for a spot in Canton.

Ed Reed stated in an interview with Bleacher Report that he would rather see the other Safety on the ballot, Steve Atwater get in than himself

We are only 48 hours from finding out who will comprise the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2019 and we can’t wait to find out!

As most of the regular visitors to Notinhalloffame.com are aware we are (very) slowly putting together our top 50 players of every franchise in the “Big 4” of North American sports.  After that is completed we will take a look at how each organization honors their past players and executives.  

As such, it is very newsworthy to us that the Houston Astros have announced during their FanFest that their physical Hall of Fame will open in Home Run Alley at the start of the 2019 season.  The Astros, who have been around for 57 seasons and won their first World Series in 2017.  The first Hall of Fame Class will comprise of 16 members and they will be officially inducted on the weekend of Aug 2-4.  All of the members of the new class will be introduced in a pregame ceremony on August 3, prior to their home game against the Seattle Mariners.

The inaugural Houston Astros Hall of Fame Class consists of:

Bob Aspromonte (1962-67):  Known affectionately in Houston as “Aspro”, Aspromante was taken third overall in the Expansion Draft and was an original Colt 45. With the distinction of being the first ever batter in franchise history, he would also record the first Hit and Stolen Base for the team.  A member of the Colt .45’s/Astros for seven seasons, Aspromante was the team’s starting Third Baseman and recorded 925 Hits and would twice lead all National League Third Basemen in Fielding Percentage.  

Jeff Bagwell (1991-2005):  The Rookie of the Year in 1991, Jeff Bagwell played his entire career with Houston where he would be named to four All Star Games and was named the National League MVP in 1994.  A three time Silver Slugger, the First Baseman crushed 449 Home Runs with 1,401 RBIs and a Slash Line of .297/.408/.540. Bagwell entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017 and became the second person to enter as an Astro.

Craig Biggio (1988-2007):  Craig Biggio made history in many ways for the Houston Astros as he was the first (and only) player to collect 3,000 Hits for the team and in 2015 was the first man to wear a Astros cap in the Hall of Fame. An All Star seven times, Biggio had power (291 Home Runs), speed (414 Stolen Bases) and excellent defensive versatility as he played Catcher, Second Base and Outfield for the team.  He was also a four time Gold Glove recipient.  

Jose Cruz (1975-87):  Cruz played 13 seasons for Houston where in 1983 he would lead the National League in Hits.  He had 1,937 overall for Houston where he also had 138 Home Runs with 288 Stolen Bases and a .292 Batting Average.  Cruz was also an All Star twice, the first of which in 1980 would see him finish third in MVP voting.

Larry Dierker (1964-87):  Dierker pitched for the Astros for 13 years where he went 137 and 117 with 1,487 Strikeouts and two All Star Game appearances.  From 1997 to 2001 Dierker was the Astros’ Manager where he had a record of 435 and 348 and was named the Manager of the Year in 1998.  He also served as a Broadcaster for the team for 18 years.

Gene Elston (1962-86):  Elston was the voice of the team for the first 25 years of the franchise’s existence.  In 2006 he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award by the Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to Baseball broadcasting.

Milo Hamilton (1985-2012):  Like Elston, Hamilton was also recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in Baseball Broadcasting.  

Joe Morgan (1963-71 & 1980):  Morgan was a two time All Star with Houston where he first played from 1963 to 1971.  He would afterward more famously join Cincinnati where he would help them win two World Series and was named the MVP twice before returning in 1980 for one season. Overall with Houston he would be a two time leader in Walks with 972 Hits, 219 Stolen Bases and 72 Home Runs.

Joe Niekro (1975-85):  Niekro is at present the winningest Pitcher in Astros history with 144 Wins.  An Astro for 11 seasons, Niekro would have back to back 20 Win seasons in 1979 and 1980 where his 21 Wins in ’79 would give him the league lead.  He finished 2^ndand 4^thin Cy Young respectively those two seasons and he would also strikeout 1,178 batters with Houston.

Shane Reynolds (1992-2001): Reynolds was named to the All Star Team in 2000 and in the season before he was the NL leader in BB/9 and SO/BB. Reynolds overall record in Houston was 103 and 86 with 1,309 Strikeouts.

J.R. Richard (1971-1980):  Known for his blazing fastball, J.R. Richard led the NL in Strikeouts in both 1978 and 1979 with 1,493 K’s overall in his 10 year career, which was all with Houston.  In those two aforementioned seasons he finished 4^thand 3^rdin Cy Young Award voting and he retired with a 107 and 71 record.

Nolan Ryan (1980-88):  The all-time Strikeout King of Major League Baseball accrued 1,866 of his career 5,714 as a member of the Houston Astros.  While playing there, he would win the ERA title twice and had a record of 106 and 94 with a pair of All Star Games.  Ryan was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 and he serves as an Executive Advisor for the team.

Mike Scott (1983-91):  Scott would win the Cy Young Award in 1986 and he made history by throwing a no-hitter in the team’s division clinching win. While he could not pitch his team into the World Series, he went 2 and 0 over 18 Innings with a 0.50 ERA earning him the NLCS MVP despite Houston failing to beat the New York Mets.  Scott went 110 and 81 with 1,318 Strikeouts over his nine seasons in Houston.

Jim Umbricht (1962-63):  Umbricht was an original Houston Colt .45 after being chosen from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Expansion Draft.  He would finish 21 Games in 1962 but received a cancer diagnosis in the offseason and underwent surgery in March of 1963.  Miraculously, he made the opening day roster and pitched the season but the cancer was never cured and by November of that year it had spread to his chest and was diagnosed as uncurable but showed amazing courage until the end.  He would die on April, 8. 1964.

Don Wilson (1966-74):  Wilson played all nine of his seasons with the Houston Astros where he was an All Star in 1971 and had a record of 104 and 92 with 1,283 Strikeouts.  Wilson passed away in 1975 due to carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage and it is believed that he died while intoxicated and it was not a suicide. 

Jimmy Wynn (1963-73):Arguably the most underrated player in Baseball, Jimmy Winn played the first 11 of his 15 seasons of his career with the Astros.  “The Toy Cannon” was an All Star in 1975 and had 1,291 Hits with 223 Home Runs as an Astro.

In the future, the Astros Hall of Fame Committee will meet annually to determine each new member.  Their plan is to induct one or two members each year.  At present the Committee consists of Reid Ryan (President of Business Operations), Mike Acosta (Team Historian), Craig Biggio (Former player and current Special Assistant to the GM), Bill Brown (Former Broadcaster and current Astros Community Outreach Executive), Gene Dias (VP of Communications), Larry Dierker (Former Player and Broadcaster), Bob Dorrill (President of the Houston Chapter of SABR), Marian Harper (VP of Foundation Development), Alyson Footer (MLB.com National Correspondent), Brian McTaggart (Astros Beat Writer) and Mike Vance (Baseball and Houston Historian).

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate all of the members of the inaugural class of the Houston Astros Hall of Fame for earning this prestigious honor.