Nerf gets squished out of Hall of Fame again

Nerf continues to get squished by the National Toy Hall of Fame and we should be angry.

No offense to Matchbox Cars and coloring book, but 2019 is another year, another snub for Nerf.

The National Toy Hall of Fame announced its inductions last month, adding Matchbox Cards, the coloring book and what it called "the popular collectible card game," Magic: The Gathering from a field of 12 nominees.

No Nerf.

Again.

It's outrageous and voters for the Toy Hall of Fame should be embarrassed.  This is worse than Pete Rose and Barry Bonds being left out of the Baseball Hall of Fame, because Nerf didn't bet on games nor (allegedly) use performance-enhancing drugs. All Nerf has done is be one of the greatest toys for 50 consecutive years.

Yet there it is, sitting on the outside looking in while other toys waltz into the national toy shrine.

Nerf was introduced in 1970 as "the world's first official indoor ball" and immediately became a favorite due to the fact that you could throw a Nerf ball in the house (perhaps – and this is purely speculation – you could throw it at any of your three sisters, causing them to flinch).

I owned an original Nerf ball as well as early advancements– the Nerf basketball (with a hoop that hangs on a door) and the Nerf football (you could use it outside, too). Through the decades, Nerf continued to add new products, including the Nerf blaster, which was a nominee for this year's hall of fame.

Somehow the basic Nerf ball hasn't made it into the Toy Hall of Fame.

We thought Nerf was likely to be nominated after its hard-plastic cousin, the Wiffle Ball, earned a spot in 2017, but no luck. The 2018 class (Magic 8 Ball, Pinball and Uno) excluded it and so did this year's class.

Let's discuss that quickly. Two of this year's inductees are obviously worthy.

Matchbox cars are the lower-price rival to 2011 Toy Hall of Fame inductee Hot Wheels and should be enshrined.

The coloring book should have been inducted long ago  with other non-brand-specific toys (perhaps with stick in 2008, blanket in 2011 or bubbles in 2014). That coloring books can be used to teach – and are increasingly used by adults – makes them more versatile. They're a worthy inductee.

I'm not sure about Magic: The Gathering, which is something that I was unaware of until the Hall of Fame announcement. It's apparently a fantasy collector game, which is nowhere near as cool as a Nerf ball.

It's unclear why Nerf has been left out in the cold for the Toy Hall of Fame. Perhaps the voters don't appreciate what an advance Nerf was in toy technology. Perhaps people don't realize there was nothing like Nerf balls before they were introduced. Perhaps the voters take for granted that you can toss around a foamy ball and not break anything.

Or perhaps – and this just came to me – my sisters are among the voters for the Toy Hall of Fame and punishing me for things that happened early in the Nerf world.

Regardless, 2020 is the year to make things right.

Let's make 2020 the year Nerf finally makes it into the Hall of Fame.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.