Congrats to Rich “Goose” Gossage on his election into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.  This was well deserved since Gossage was able to succeed in at a time when when relievers when 2-3 innings per outing. 

I commend the Committee for keeping the election to the Baseball Hall of Fame very difficult.  I look at the rest of the list and see several very good players on this list that were not elected.  Other thane maybe Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, and Jack Morris I do not see any player that put together great numbers consistantly throughout their careers.  I think Jack Morris is one of the best “big game” pitchers ever and he has 4 Wrold Series rings to show for it.  Despite pitching in some of the biggest games in the postseason, he never won the Cy Young award and yet still fell short of election this year.

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/voting_year.jsp?year=2008

Eric Lindros has announced his retirement from the NHL today.   This is an ending to what I would call a disappointing career with so much potential and hype that went unfulfilled and cut short because of injuries.  For most NHL players, this would be considered a successful career, but not in my eyes given all that was expected from Lindros.  Before playing a single game in the NHL, Lindros was hailed the next can’t miss NFL superstar and was given the nicknames “The Big E” and “the Next One” as he was destined to follow the footsteps of NHL greatness of “The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky while still playing in the junior leagues in his native Canada because of his incredible scoring and play-making ability.  After all the hype and drama that transpired with his drafting by the Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) in 1991 and his refusal to play for them, then a massive bidding war for his NHL services eventually won by the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Early on, Lindros looked like he was headed to greatness winning the Hart Trophy as the MVP in 1995 and leading the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997. Once those concussions started to occur starting in 1998, it was downhill for Lindros and it was obvious that he was never going to be able to stay healthy enough to play at that same high level that was so incredible to watch.

Before Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins came along recently, I did not think there would be another player entering the NHL with as much hype as Lindros.  Lets hope nothing happens to Crosby as we would all like to see his greatness for the next 20 years in the NHL.