Not in Hall of Fame News
Todd Helton also retiring
Sep 15, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Helton played his entire career with the Colorado Rockies, where he posted excellent numbers and made five All Star games and won a Batting Title. His career Batting Average of .317, 367 Home Runs and 2,505 career Hits have a traditionalist happy, but as always the Sabremetrics tell a different story. His career OPS of .954 is excellent and good for 20th overall and his JAWS (53.8) while under the average for First Basemen (55.7) is sandwiched between Willie McCovey and Eddie Murray. However the statistic that takes into account the ballpark in which you play, OPS+ is 131, which…
Vladimir Guerrerro Officially Retires
Sep 15, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Lost amidst the return of Football and the exciting Wild Card chase was another major retirement. Quietly after failing to latch on to an MLB team this year, he told a radio station in his native Dominican Republic that he was calling it a career. Guerrero had his best seasons with the Montreal Expos and the Anaheim Angels and won the 2004 AL MVP with the latter. In looking at his overall statistics, it would appear that he is a decent candidate, though far from a lock. On the radio interview, he mentioned that his biggest regret was failing to…
Miikka Kiprusoff
Sep 10, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Today, Calgary Flames Goalie, Miikka Kiprusoff announced his retirement from the National Hockey League. Born in Finland, Kiprusoff first entered the NHL with the San Jose Sharks in 2001 where he would become the first Finnish Goalie to win a playoff game. Kiprusoff however could not crack the starter’s role, and was traded to the Calgary Flames which proved to be beneficial. He became the main guy between the pipes and anchored the Flames to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004. Two years later, he had his best season, where he was a Hart Trophy finalist and won…
Basketball HOF Weekend
Sep 08, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Lost in the hoopla that is NFL Opening Week, is the Basketball Hall of Fame weekend, where the Class of 2013 is being inducted in Massachusetts. We are always critical of the process of the Hall, and considering the timing of the induction weekend we think it is correct. The American sporting world is fixated on the National Football League, and thus there will be little attention paid to the inductions of Gary Payton and his brethren. Football does their Hall of Fame announcement during the Super Bowl weekend, and does their ceremony to kick off the pre-season.…
Hockey List revised, Dominik Hasek #1
Aug 28, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Revisions, Revisions, Revisions. The Hockey list has been revised, and it what seems to be an annual tradition, a new number one has been crowned and a major overhaul in the top ten has occurred. Last year, three of our top ten were selected (Chris Chelios #2, Brendan Shanahan #5, Scott Niedermayer #6) and there are many new eligible players who are top ten worthy; including our new number one selection. The new Number one selection is Czech Goaltender, Dominik Hasek. The “Dominator” won the Hart Trophy in 1997 and the Vezina Trophy six times. There is no logical…
Tracy McGrady retires from the NBA
Aug 26, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
And just like that, we have another major retirement in the NBA that received little fanfare. Tracy McGrady has announced that he is officially done with playing in the National Basketball Association. “T-Mac” leaves behind what many consider to be a cluttered legacy, as he is a two time scoring champion, but his critics constantly point to his inability to lead his team past the first round of the NBA playoffs (and no, last year with the Spurs doesn’t count). Statistically, McGrady has the credentials. Not only is he a two time scoring champion as earlier mentioned, he eclipsed the…
Allen Iverson set to retire
Aug 24, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
The answer is, with a whimper. That is the Jeopardy question to “How did Allen Iverson retire, which a decade ago seemed impossible. It was reported that Iverson was going to announce an official retirement, which considering he has not played professionally in two years (three in North America) is a little anti-climactic. That is not how we will remember A.I., as we will think of him as the Shooting Guard who redefined the culture of the National Basketball Association, and brought an urban grit that really did not exist before. We remember him as the man who carried…
The 1984 Hockey HOF Class is up
Aug 21, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
Our work on the existing Hockey Hall of Fame Classes continue. We have now made our way to the year of 1984 (which for the record is easily among our favourite Classes). The Class of 1984 contains:Bernie ParentJacques LemaireJake MilfordPhil EspositoPunch ImlachGang you know the drill. Check it out, and cast your votes and let us know whether you think they deserved their Hall of Fame induction. Look for upcoming classes soon!
Gaylord Perry comments on the HOF
Aug 17, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
We almost missed this one. Finding Baseball Hall of Fame players who rally against the steroids era superstars entering Cooperstown is easy. We have written about it here, and the internet is littered with stories about it. However, we found something interesting on the pennlive.com Sports section whereby Gaylord Perry said he would honor those players should they got in. He added that he believed that some of them would get in; but that is as much as we would learn from the former master of the “Spitball”. Perry never said (or at least the piece didn’t) whether he thought…
Ken Griffey Jr. to the Mariners HOF
Aug 11, 2013
Written by
Committee Chairman
With all the talk of Performance Enhancing Drugs in the world of Baseball, it is nice to look at a genuine superstar of the last twenty five years who has never been linked to a syringe. This weekend, the Seattle Mariners will honor Ken Griffey Jr., and make him the seventh man to enter their Hall of Fame. “Junior” spent his entire 20’s (and one teen year) in a Mariners uniform and easily had his best seasons while playing in the Pacific Northwest. He was a statistical juggernaut there, winning the AL MVP in 1997 and leading the League in…