A different kind of Hall of Fame post

The Baseball Hall of Fame voting is always a hot topic among fans and bloggers, and I usually enjoy sharing my thoughts on the eligible players. However this year's candidates don't appeal to me at all. I'll be glad to see Ted Simmons get his due, but his career was before my time (and I would have preferred Lou Whitaker and/or Dwight Evans). Marvin Miller is undoubtedly an iconic figure in the game's history and a deserving inductee. 

Derek Jeter is the headliner. He'll obviously be voted in, probably unanimously now that the "100%" seal has been broken. I never liked Jeter but you have to respect what he did on the field. Then there's the PED guys, Curt Schilling, and about a dozen borderline candidates. I've already shared my thoughts on these players in comments, so instead I want to celebrate another Hall of Fame class:

The 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees were announced today, and Depeche Mode is (are?) among them. Many of my favorite bands from the 1980s were ignored by the Rock hall, until The Cure were elected last year. This year Dave Gahan, Martin Gore & co. get the call. Finally!

I've seen Depeche Mode in concert three times, twice on the Exciter tour and once for Playing The Angel. They are an absolutely amazing live band. It would be impossible for me to choose my favorite DM track; it changes based on my mood. The first one I heard, and the one they're perhaps best know for, is "Enjoy The Silence". Lately I've been playing the Black Celebration album and song. 

 

Nine Inch Nails were also elected. I'm less of a NIN fan but they (and by "they" I mean Trent Reznor) spawned a lot of great tracks. I remember when "Head Like A Hole" got regular airplay on MTV. The Downward Spiral was a masterpiece, and With Teeth had "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" and "The Collector", either one of which could be my personal theme song.

Trent Reznor introduced The Cure at last year's HOF ceremony, and I'll be interested to see who introduces him this year. 

My favorite NIN track might be the instrumental "A Warm Place", which feels like a perfect song for the ending credits of earth.

The Notorious B.I.G. was also part of this years Hall class. I was never much of a hip-hop fan but I did get down to some Biggie once in a while.

 

Bringing this back to sports.. the Pro Football Hall of Fame revealed their latest list of inductees including Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, and Paul Tagliabue. The centennial class includes many great players from before I was born. I know of Harold Carmichael, Donnie Shell, and Alex Karras but I never saw them play. Actually, I did see Alex Karras play Webster's dad. Does that count?

My knowledge of pre-1980s football players isn't nearly on par with my knowledge of baseball history. I spent the first eleven days of this month trying to find the best way to spend $41 in eBay bucks and almost all of my searches were for vintage baseball cards.

I strongly considered these two pre-war singles. Neither are HOFers but I could tell you more about them than about Bobby Dillon (and he was a Packer.)  These cards are still available, because I chose to spend my free money on an autograph of a Hall of Famer:

This Warren Spahn autographed 8 x 10 arrived today. I was able to negotiate the price down a bit, to $27.50 + tax. I've wanted a Spahn auto for quite a while, but his on-card signatures are shaky (understandably so) and most of the cards I've seen were from the end of his career when he started to resemble Max Patkin.

I chose this classic image of a young Spahn mostly because of the Boston Braves hat. There was one from his Milwaukee days that I considered but I liked this pose a bit better. That one came with a COA from PSA, while this one was guaranteed by a shop in Las Vegas called Play Ball - which is no longer in business. (Hopefully not due to fraud!) I did compare this signature to other Spahn autos and it looks legit. I'm not an autograph expert though-and I probably wouldn't have purchased this were it not for the cash back bucks.



I've got a couple more maildays to share before the big game on Sunday. Some are purchases and some are very generous care packages. Stay tuned ;)


Thanks for reading!

 


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