The International Boxing Hall of Fame

Driving west on Route 90 in 2018 on our way to Toronto, we passed The International Boxing Hall of Fame. This year on the way to Toronto, we built in time to stop and tour the HOF.

The hall was really just one big room. Although it is well curated, the amount of memorabilia on display is small.

Boxing or a form of hand-to-hand combat in its simplest form is millennia older than all these other sports. The Boxing HOF website states,"...the shrines to baseball, football, and basketball are located in the ancestral homes to those sports. But boxing has no such geographical origin" or timeline that can be at least traced. Since the other major sports could trace their geographical origins their HOF are much older than boxings. Here is a list of the years the other major sports established their HOF:

Baseball 1939
Hockey 1943
Tennis 1954
Basketball 1959
Football 1963
Boxing 1989

The International Boxing Hall Of Fame

Rocky Marciano

"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler

This is the pavillon used for the induction ceremony

This was a nice touch! The actual 82-year boxing ring from Madison Square Garden.

2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Part V: The Toronto Blue Jays and the Hockey Hall of Fame

Two items I wanted to knock off my list while in Toronto was to attend a Blue Jays game and visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Perverts!

Not a bad view for $20. I made sure I was wearing my Boston Red Sox t-shirt.

The next day, I went back to the Rogers Centre and a took a tour of the ballpark.

The media room where the reporters watch the game.

One of the luxury boxes.

View from the luxury box.

The best part of the tour was going on the field. This is where the Rex Sox would sit.

After I left the Rogers Centre, I walked the 1.3 km (less than a mile) to The Hockey Hall of Fame. As in the case of The Baseball Hall of Fame, The Hockey Hall of Fame is hidden in the middle of downtown Toronto. 

Are my eyes closed? I learned there are two Stanley Cups. One always stays in the Hall and the other one stays with the current champion.

I don't follow hockey very closely, but I still knew Wayne Gretzky was the best player the game has ever seen. During my visit to The Hall, I found just how prolific he really was. The one fact that stunned me was he is involved in over 60 NHL records, personal and team.

They had interactive games where you shoot against a goalie and play goalie.

They have a gallery of the evolution of goalie masks.

Finally they included the classic arcade hockey game. Nice touch!