Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
January 10, 2003, Washington Post

Many Claims to Fame

Former Baltimore Orioles slugger Eddie Murray was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this week.

Murray blasted 504 home runs and had more than 3,200 hits in his 21-year major league career. So he was a shoo-in for Cooperstown.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is one of the oldest and probably the most famous of the sports Halls of Fame. But it is far from the only one. There's the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The Redskins' Darrell Green seems sure to get inducted into Canton in a few years. And everybody knows about the Basketball Hall of Fame. It's in Springfield, Massachusetts, where James Naismith invented the game more than 100 years ago.

But just about every sport has its own Hall of Fame. The Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame is in Baltimore. It's right near Johns Hopkins University, where the Blue Jays have been a college lacrosse powerhouse for years.

Or maybe you're stoked about wrestling. No, not that silly stuff with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin on TV. I mean the real sport. There's a Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, though I'm not sure you want to make the trip. The Web site says that you will be able to "feel the heat, smell the sweat and experience the excitement of ancient and modern wrestling." No thanks. I don't think I want to smell a wrestler.

If you like soccer, you're out of luck. Believe it or not, the world's most popular game does not have a Hall of Fame. A group is raising money to build an "International Football Hall of Fame." But right now, if Mia Hamm retires, she won't get the same treatment as Eddie Murray.

Or hey, maybe you're sick of sports and you want to go fly a kite or throw a Frisbee or just clown around. Surprise! Even kite-fliers, Frisbee fanatics and clowns have their own Halls of Fame.

The World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame is in a little cottage in Long Beach, Washington. It boasts a collection of more than 1,300 kites. The International Frisbee Hall of Fame is in the Houghton County Historical Museum in Lake Linden, Michigan, and has been honoring Frisbee greats since 1978.

Finally, the International Clown Hall of Fame is located in the Grand Avenue Mall in that laugh-a-minute city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No joke.

So, see, you don't have to hit 500 home runs to be a Hall of Famer. Maybe all you have to do is be a clown.