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!
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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Nice looking Spahn! I would've found it hard to pass up the 206 and Goudey. Except for Depeche Mode, I'm not familiar with most of the bands mentioned other than by name. I don't pay too much attention to the RnR HOF but do love music.
ReplyDeleteSome day I will add a Goudey to my collection and what a wonderful day that will be.
ReplyDeleteNine inch nails? Man, that's a good band. I like Depeche Mode and Biggie Smalls, too! I'm all over the place when it comes to music.
No mention of Whitney or the Doobies? Those two, along with Depeche Mode, are my era. Never was much of a Whitney fan except for a handful of songs but her presence was undeniable. Doobies were everywhere when I was a kid, and I go back to "Some Great Reward" with Depeche Mode.
ReplyDeleteNIN and Biggie came around right at the time when I started thinking, "I don't think I get pop music anymore." Neither has done anything for me. Can name 1 song for both. But to each their own. Unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame, I think anyone who has made 1 decent song deserves mention in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. It's music. It's ALL good.
My brother was stoked about the Doobie Brothers... and I was equally excited about Biggie. I guess it shows the age difference between us.
ReplyDeleteHa! With all the MLB news, I completely missed the Rock Hall nominations! Glad to see Depeche Mode get their due, along with the others. Am I the only one who still finds it weird when non-rock musicians get elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Seriously, they should just call it the Music Hall of Fame and embrace all forms of it.
ReplyDelete