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One of the great things about any hall of fame is the anticipation that goes along with the buildup leading to the naming of a new class.
An example came earlier this year, when baseball fans had the chance to see the nominees for the Baseball Hall of Fame who appeared on the ballot members of the contemporary era committee would vote from.
Included on the list of managers, executives and umpires were some important names from the last 40 years of baseball: Umpires Joe West and Ed Montague; general manager Hank Peters; former player, broadcaster and National League President Bill White; and managers Lou Pinella, Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson and Jim Leyland.
Leyland spent 22 years as a manager in the big leagues, including stops with the Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers.
While Leyland, whose teams won 1,769 games, won the 1997 World Series with the Marlins and directed the Tigers to American League titles in 2006 and 2012, fans in our region best remember him for the 11 years he spent as manager of Pirates.
The Pirates had some exciting teams during that period, which ran from 1986 through 1996, and won three straight National League East tiles in 1990, 1991 and 1992. In two of those years -- 1990 and 1992 -- he was named manager of the year.
That's why there was a lot of excitement throughout the region when Leyland learned on Dec. 3 that he had been selected into the hall. He appeared on 15 of the 16 ballots -- that's 94 percent -- far exceeding the 75 percent that was needed for enshrinement.
While there has been no decision yet on what uniform Leyland will be depicted in when his plaque is unveiled in Cooperstown, N.Y., fans around the Tri-State Area are more than hopeful it will be the Pirates, though Leyland told Ronald Blum of The Associated Press he might take the hall's advice and go with no logo.
"I do not want to disrespect anybody that I managed for," Leyland said.
That same anticipation surrounded this year's class of the National Toy Hall of Fame. Based at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., the hall has been recognizing the classics -- those toys that have inspired creative play and stood the test of time -- since 1998.
There was a lot of excitement surrounding this class when the nominees were introduced in September. It's a list that included baseball cards, Battleship, bingo, Bop It, Cabbage Patch Kids, Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, Connect 4, the Little Tykes Cozy Coupe, the Ken doll, Nerf foam toys, slime and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Each was a solid nominee, but Ken, who joined the Mattel line in 1961, appeared to have an inside track to earning a coveted spot in the hall, especially after this year's success of the "Barbie" movie. Barbie was a member of the hall's first class in 1998.
That's why it was a little bit of a surprise when the hall's complicated selection process -- a panel of 22 experts each voted for the top three, and the three toys receiving the most public votes made up a single ballot -- was completed, and Ken had again failed to make the cut.
The toys that earned induction this year were baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and Nerf, with the Fisher Price Corn Popper joining the hall through a special ballot that marked the hall's 25th anniversary. Fans had the opportunity to choose from five toys that had been to the finals more than once but had never been selected. The corn popper earned the most votes among the Forgotten Five, a list that included the pogo stick, My Little Pony, Pez dispensers and Transformers.
Missing, again, were two of my all-time favorites, Tudor Electric Football and the Strat-O-Matic sports simulation games. They seem to meet the criteria to be considered for enshrinement: They are widely recognized and remembered; they have enjoyed popularity across generations; they help to foster learning, creativity or discovery through play; and they have profoundly changed play or toy design.
They'd be great additions to the hall -- but that they never seem to be able to gain enough support just adds to the anticipation of the next group of nominees and the discussions that will surely come after the next class is selected. That's the beauty of a hall of fame -- whether it sits in Cooperstown and holds the legends of America's national pastime or resides in Rochester and contains the iconic items that we fondly remember as helping us to pass the time.
Toys of all shapes and sizes will be found under trees around the world on Monday morning. Some will be played with for just a few minutes and then be put away and quickly forgotten. Others, though, will be played with again and again. They will find that magical high note, spark imaginations and create hours after hours of enjoyment and play that will be shared across generations.
Those toys are the special ones -- and sometime, many years from now, they will earn their spots in the National Toy Hall of Fame.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)