Posts Tagged ‘Hall of Fame’
January 11th, 2013 | 
Author: 
I lost a dollar this week. A blogger I know bet that no one would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and regrettably, he was right. Even allowing the “punishment” of those who allegedly took performance-enhancing drugs, there were plenty of qualified candidates (starting pitcher Jack Morris, the totally undervalued reliever Lee Smith, for two). This was an unfortunate outcome, and not so incidentally, will be lousy for tourism in Cooperstown this year.
Now, ironically Read the rest of this entry »
The ballot for the 2013 inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame has been announced. Two of the greatest players ever, outfielder Barry Bonds and pitcher Roger Clemens, are on the ballot for the first time; both have been implicated as users of performance enhancing steroids. Sammy Sosa, a great home run hitter, is also in this category.
These are the other first-time nominees: Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Mike Piazza, Kenny Lofton, David Wells, Julio Franco, Shawn Green, Steve Finley, Roberto Hernandez, Jose Mesa, Mike Stanton, Sandy Alomar Jr., Jeff Cirillo, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Conine, Royce Clayton, Ryan Klesko, Aaron Sele, Woody Williams, Rondell White, Todd Walker.
The following players received between 5 and 74 percent of the BBWAA vote in 2012 and have appeared on no more than 14 previous BBWAA ballots, making them eligible to return to the 2013 ballot: Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Rafael Palmeiro, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker and Bernie Williams.
Read the rest of this entry »
War was a long-running funk-rock band from southern California, who was commercially viable, at least into the 1990s. Eric Burdon, formerly of The Animals, was the lead vocalist on their first hit, Spill the Wine, back in 1970, but others took the reins shortly after that.
On the Billboard 100, the very peaceful tune called Summer, which was appropriately released on June 21, 1976, debuted on the chart on July 10 and spent 16 weeks there, eventually getting to #7. On the soul charts, it also started moving on July 10, and spent 14 weeks, reaching #4. It was declared a gold record, selling over 500,000 units.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: Hall of Fame, Mark Evanier, Marvin Hamlisch, music, obit, rock and roll, summer, War (group) | 
4 Comments »
When we were in Newport, RI five years ago, we found ourselves at a sandwich shop. I happened to walk around the corner, and there was the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. I swore that next time we were in town we’d go, and in April, the Wife and I did.
From the Wikipedia: “While the modern game of tennis originated in late 19th century England, most historians believe that the games ancient origin is from 12th century France, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand. It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called “tennis”, from the Old French term Tenez, which can be translated as ‘hold!’, ‘receive!’ or ‘take!’” One can play “real” tennis at the Hall, though we did not.
There were plenty of artifacts Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: ABC Wednesday, Andre Agassi, Hall of Fame, Newport, tennis |
28 Comments »
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its nominations in the last month or two. Here’s the nominating process. “Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.” So there’s some vague line about commercial success, but also “importance”.
Invariably, there are those who kvetch about who’s not on the ballot – if I were so inclined, I’d mention the Moody Blues and Yes.
Who will get in? Who SHOULD get in?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Donovan, Freddie King, Hall of Fame, Joan Jett, Laura Nyro, music, rock and roll, Spinners |
4 Comments »
Billy Preston, George Harrison, President Gerald Ford, all deceased.
While I’m less and less caring about who gets selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the performer category, I’ve become more and more interested in categories such as early influences and non-performers. I’m especially intrigued by the sideman category since Leon Russell was inducted in 2011. After all, he was a performer of some commercial success, but not enough to make it as a performer. But he played on a lot of albums for other artists, and was inducted based on that.
The late Billy Preston is similarly situated. He had greater singles success than Russell Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Beatles, Billy Preston, Hall of Fame, Johnny Cash, music, Ray Charles, rock and roll, Rolling Stones |
2 Comments »
“Neil Diamond and Alice Cooper are among the musicians who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Tom Waits, Darlene Love, and Dr. John will also join the class of 2011… Other honorees will include Jac Holzman, Leon Russell and Art Rupe.”
Those nominees who were not chosen for induction this year were Bon Jovi, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J. Laura Nyro, Joe Tex, Chic, Donovan, J. Geils Band, Donna Summer, and Chuck Willis.
And I remember in the early days of the Rock Hall, which I visited in May of 1998 – they had tributes to recently deceased Carls, Wilson and Perkins – that I was actually excited who got in. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: Alice Cooper, Darlene Love, Dr. John, Hall of Fame, Leon Russell, Neil Diamond, rock and roll, Tom Waits |
No Comments »