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 and executive.  As such it is news to us that yesterday the Minnesota Twins retired the number 7 of Joe Mauer.

Mauer was the number one pick in 2001 and he would make the Twins roster in 2004 where he would play until his retirement in 2018.

Spending the first half of his career as a Catcher and the second half as a First Baseman, Mauer was one of the best hitters for a time winning the American League Batting Title (2006, 2008 & 2009) had seven .300 seasons and a career Batting Average of .306.  Mauer would win the 2009 MVP with AL leading sweep of the Slash Line (.365/.444/.587).  He retired with 2,123 Hits and a bWAR of 55.0.  His JAWS of 47.0 puts him above the average HOF Catcher (44.7) and he is a strong Hall of Fame contender.  He is eligible in 2024.

Mauer’s #7 joins Harmon Killebrew (#3), Tony Oliva (#6), Tom Kelly (#10), Kent Hrbek (#14), Bert Blyleven (#24), Rod Carew (#39) and Kirby Puckett (#34). 

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Joe Mauer and the late Steve McNair for earning this very prestigious honor.

Now that the NBA Finals are over and the 2018/19 Season has officially been brought to a close, we can turn our attention to what we always do here at Notinhalloffame.com, look at the next Basketball Hall of Fame Class!

People who thought the 2018 Hall of Fame class was stacked, with Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Ray Allen, will gawk at the 2020 eligibles say Paruk from SBD. The top-three players in this class -- Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett -- are arguably the three most-accomplished players ever to become eligible at the same time. The trio has 11 NBA titles and 48 All-Star Game nods between them, and they are all 100%, iron-clad locks to be inducted in their first year of eligibility.

Every single one of them is bona fide headliners but if you are looking for a quadruple threat like 2018 remember that the forced end of Chris Bosh’s career in 2016 makes him also Hall of Fame eligible for 2020 and he too has a first ballot resume.

Even with the retirements this year of Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker (all of whom will be eligible for the Class of 2023) we may never see a more loaded group in any Basketball Hall of Fame Class.

We will go one step further and state that this is the most star-studded group of any North American Athletic Hall of Fame Class in the 21^stCentury.

One thing is for sure is that this will be the hottest Hall of Fame ticket of any kind in the year of 2020!

It is a very sad day in Denver and the world of Football at large as Pat Bowlen, the owner of the Denver Broncos passed away at the age of 75 after a long bout with Alzheimer’s.  He was 75 years old.

Bowlen purchased the team in 1984 and under his ownership the team went from mediocre to one of the flagships of the National Football League.  The Broncos went to seven Super Bowls winning three of them and he would become the first owner to see his team win 300 Games under his/her/their first 30 years of ownership.  He would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past February and his August induction will now be posthumous.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Pat Bowlen at this time.  

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 and executive.  As such it is news to us that the Tennessee Titans will be retiring the numbers of both Eddie George and Steve McNair.

Eddie George was drafted 14^thOverall in 1996, which would be the final season the organization was in Houston.  George rushed for 1,368 Yards as a rookie and in the next three seasons he would not fall below 1,294 Yards in Rushing but would also be more of a receiving threat and was named to the Pro Bowl in all three of those seasons.  He would go his fourth (and fourth straight) tight after with a career high 1,509 Rushing Yards, 14 Rushing Touchdowns and would be chosen for what would be his only First Team All-Pro roster spot.  He would have two more 1,000 rushing campaigns and in his eight years as an Oiler/Titan he would accumulate 10,009 Rushing Yards and another 2,992 in the air with 74 Touchdowns.

Steve McNair was drafted 3^rdOverall in 1995 and he would be cemented as the starting Quarterback in 1997, the first year the franchise was entrenched in the state of Tennessee.  McNair would be a Pro Bowl Selection three times (2000, 2003 & 2005) and he would throw for 27,141 Yards and 156 Touchdowns while rushing for another 3,439 Yards and 36 TDs.  McNair was shot and killed by his mistress in a murder-suicide in 2009.

George (#23) and McNair (#9) become the seventh and eighth numbers retired by the franchise.  They join Warren Moon (#1), Earl Campbell (#34), Jim Norton (#43), Mike Munchak (#63), Elvin Bethea (#65) and Bruce Matthews (#74). 

The official ceremony will take place during the Titans home opener against the Indianapolis Colts on September 15.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Eddie George and the late Steve McNair for earning this very prestigious honor.