Hall of Fame inductions are subjective and don't seem to budge in the face of public scrutiny. Whether it's the International Frisbee Hall of Fame or the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame ("midget" refers to car size, not driver size), talent, accolades, popularity and amount of world records aren't determining factors.
Of the dozens of officially recognized Hall of Fame organizations in the U.S., the Major League Baseball and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames are the most mainstream and receive the most notoriety. Both are also political, whether they admit it or not and do not have to answer to anyone.
When the MLB and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames reveal inductees, it's always big news, many times accompanied by clusters of highly opinionated background chatter and controversy that points out all the deserving names that aren't on the list.
One former baseball player's name that consistently appears during any MLB Hall of Fame inductee talk is Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose, who picked up a record 4,256 hits over his 20-plus year career. There isn't one current player who comes close to that number—Albert Pujols is the closest active player, and he's still over 1,000 hits short, with 3,215.
Rose became formally ineligible to be inducted into the Hall due to betting on games. At the same time, he was both manager and player-manager of the Cincinnati Reds—he was banned from participating in MLB in any capacity.
The debate surrounding Rose's HOF eligibility has been an ongoing op-ed for three decades and will continue to be so. But it's unlikely that the Hall will change its mind.
Meanwhile, baseball.org revealed the Hall's Class of 2020 inductees: Derek Jeter, Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons and Larry Walker. Due to the pandemic, the induction in Cooperstown was rescheduled for Sunday, July 25, 2021, and will simultaneously include the Hall of Fame Class of 2021's induction.
Then there's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's a whole other creature that many times has no rhyme or reason for dismissing obvious candidates who deserve to be inducted, from androgynous punk rockers The New York Dolls to Joe Cocker, who is believed to have been cock-blocked based on a career fueled mainly by performing material he didn't write himself—the reason that has kept many Motown acts from inductions. But, the Hall's 2020 Class includes Whitney Houston, whose biggest hit of her career was penned by Dolly Parton. The internet is flooded with pieces about bands and musicians overlooked by the Rock Hall.
In addition to Houston, the 2020 inductees included Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T-Rex.
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