Committee Chairman

Zinedine Zidane to the Goal HOF

Nov 10, 2014

The largest soccer website in the world, Goal.com, is unleashing the first five men of their fan voted Hall of Fame. Every day this week, the international web juggernaut will announce one of the men who will enter what we think will be a very respected Hall of Fame.

The first one chosen was former French superstar, Zinedene Zidane.

Zidane was born in Marseille, France to Algerian immigrants in 1972 where he grew up poor. Quickly showing skill for the game, he was scouted by Cannes and was signed by them and would make his professional debut for the team at the age of 16. Even at such a young age, it was clear to the French soccer pundits that they had something special, and he would help take the team to their first ever UEFA Cup appearance and finish fourth in the French league, which to this day is the highest that Cannes has ever finished.

After being transferred to the much larger Bordeaux team, and now playing nationally for France, Zidane became a national star. In 1996, Bordeaux would be the runner up for the UEFA Cup and Zidane would be named the French Ligue 1 Player of the Year.

It was on to even bigger things for “Zizou” as not only France knew they had a star, the rest of Europe knew there was something special about this young and aggressive player and he was signed by Juventus the defending UEFA Champions League winners. He would help take them to the finals again the next two seasons and he would be named the FIFA Player of the Year in 1998.

That would be considered secondary to what he did Internationally as he would take France to the World Cup Finals where the French would win their first World Cup title cementing Zidane as a national hero for the rest of his life.

Zidane would move on to Real Madrid in 2001 and the following season he finally captured the elusive Champions League Final in an exciting contest over Bayer Leverkusen. He would win the FIFA Player of the Year again 2003, which was his third such honor. He would again take the French to the World Cup Final in 2002, but the headbutt heard around to world aided the Italians in winning the championship.

He would retire in 2006, and take his place as the most decorated player in the history of France. Not bad for a kid who was teased for not being “French” enough.

We would like to congratulate Zinedine Zidane for this honor and Goal.com for creating what we think will become very special.

Guy Lapointe's number retired tonight.

Nov 09, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Tonight will be a special night for Guy Lapointe, the former Defenceman of the Montreal Canadians and current Scout for the Minnesota Wild. At the Bell Center in Montreal, where the Canadians are hosting the Wild, Lapointe’s #5 will be officially hung to the rafters and retired.

The number 5 has already been retired, when in 2006, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion saw that number retired in his honor, and this is not out of the ordinary in Montreal as the numbers 12 and 16 have also been retired twice; the 12 for both Dickie Moore and Yvon Cournoyer and the 16 for Elmer Lach and Henri Richard.

Lapointe debuted for the Montreal Canadians in 1968 and in a couple of years he would become a stalwart on the Habs blueline. Lapointe was a part of the Canadians’ “Big Three”, which also included Serge Savard and Larry Robinson, easily making this triumvirate the best group of Defencemen in the 1970’s. This was a powerful and well-rounded team and won that would win the Stanley Cup six times.

Lapointe’s defensive acumen was complimented by his offensive skill. He would have 572 Points as a Canadian and would finish in the top five in Norris Trophy voting six times and earn four spots in post season NHL All Star teams. He would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.

We would like to congratulate both the Montreal Canadians for adding to their stellar history and Guy Lapointe for adding the final punctuation mark on his career.

Toy Hall of Fame Class Announced

Nov 07, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

As we have mentioned before, we don’t have future plans to do a Notinhalloffame list for the Toy Hall of Fame, we can’t help but be intrigued by what they are doing and the memories they constantly invoke in us.

Today they have announced the three new toys that will be part of the Toy Hall of Fame and represent the Class of 2015.

The Rubik’s Cube, Bubbles, and Little Green Army Men have been named as the new toys that will be honored at the Hall of Fame. The 80’s fad of the Rubik’s Cube has been a finalist for the past five years.

Somehow, we feel the need to go through our basement and find those plastic army men; even the ones that look like they are surrendering. Incidentally, we never could solve that stupid cube!

Alfonso Soriano Retires

Nov 06, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

It was announced today that seven time All Star Alfonso Soriano has officially retired from Major League Baseball. The 38 year old Dominican born player spent sixteen seasons in the Majors, predominantly with the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs.

Soriano had a rough start to his professional career, electing to begin in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, only playing nine games and seeking an out to his distaste of the Japanese style of discipline and play. After legal red tape was cut through, he would sign as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees, where in 2001 he would win the starting Second Baseman’s job and finish third in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

The season after, Soriano would have what would be regarded as his best season, leading the American League in Runs Scored, Hits and Stolen Bases with a career high .300 Batting Average. This was the season that he finished third in AL MVP voting. Soriano, would execute significant power and speed numbers in his career, contributing a tally of 412 Home Runs with 289 Stolen Bases.

Soriano would be part of the trade for Alex Rodriguez and find a new home with the Texas Rangers where he would stay for two seasons remaining productive on the offense. He would be traded to Washington, and though he had another good season with his bat, Manager Frank Robinson inserted him into Left Field, a position he initially refused to go to.

As a Free Agent, Soriano signed with the Chicago Cubs where he continued to execute power and speed. In his second year with Chicago, he made his seventh consecutive All Star Game and he would play there another five years before returning to play for the Yankees in 2013.

Soriano would be released in July of this year and would not latch onto another team. Citing that his desire for the game was not the same, he announced his retirement.

Although the four time Silver Slugger put up good numbers, his lack of defensive skill gave him a career bWAR of 27.2, and overall it is unlikely that he will gain admission to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Still, this was a very good career and one that Yankees and Cubs fans likely have fond memories of.