Henderson & Rice Newest Hall of Fame Members!

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by Digger

Baseball Hall of Fame’s newest members were announced Monday. All Time Stolen Base leader Rickey Henderson and former Red Sox slugger Jim Rice will forever reside with baseball’s greatest players. Anyone who had the thrill of watching these two tear up opposing teams was treated to two players who dominated their era.

Rickey Henderson (career stats):

Henderson was arguably baseball’s all time greatest leadoff hitter. 10 All-Star selections, three Silver Slugger Awards, the 1990 American League Most Valuable Player, the 1989 AL Championship Series MVP and 12 seasons as the AL leader in stolen bases. Single season (130) and career (1406) stolen base record holder. He’s also baseball’s all time runs scored record holder (2295).

Everyone knew the flamboyant Henderson would become a first time ballot winner. There was never any doubt. Only one question was floated regarding his candidacy. Was Rickey to become the first ever unanimous selection? No. Henderson received 94.8% of ballots cast. There will be plenty of talk in the following years as to how it’s conceivable the games greatest leadoff hitter wasn’t named on all ballots.

Henderson’s early career was a sight to see. Every pitcher/catcher battery attempted to slow down Rickey’s base stealing ability. Not many succeeded. He stole at will. Perhaps one of the least talked about attributes Henderson possessed was his ability to make teammates better hitters while he was on the base paths. Pitchers, managers, coaches and catchers were always on guard doing whatever possible to disrupt his skills. More often than not, pitch counts would advantage hitters over pitchers due to so many pitchouts, bad pitches, and throws designed to keep Rickey off balance. Countless times batters hitting with Henderson on base were soon swinging away in comfortable 2-0 & 3-1 counts or getting a few mistakes right down broadway. There may never be another player of his calibur ever to play baseball again. His 130 single season stolen base record seems forever out of reach.

Jim Rice (career stats):

Jim Rice was often called the American Leagues most feared hitter of his generation. And yet, for some strange reason, it took Rice 14 long years before he was finally elected into Cooperstown’s shrine. Hall of Fame Class of 2009 was the last time Rice’s name would be on a HOF ballot. He garnered 76.4% of the vote which makes him one of three players elected on final season eligibility voting joining Ralph Kiner and Red Ruffing.

An 8 time All Star, 382 career HR, 1978 MVP, 8 100-RBI seasons, .298 career hitter. Rice will now hopefully get his Red Sox #14 jersey retired and hung with former Boston LF greats Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.

1975 World Series was one of baseball’s greatest ever. Outside of Boston, there’s one tremendously overlooked ingredient which was missing as the Red Sox lost the epic Series 4 games to 3. There was no Jim Rice. ‘75 was his 1st full season and any Yankees fan will tell you his arrival made quite an impact. During his rookie year he was beating up pitchers to a .309 tune with 55 extra base hits and 102 rbi’s before breaking his wrist late in the season. We’ll never know if his injury was the difference maker? But, the Reds had to breathe a sigh of relief knowing their weaker junk ball starting pitchers didn’t have to face slugger Jim Rice.

Baseball has many players on the bubble who deserve Hall of Fame recognition after tremendous careers. All have been the focus of great debate which I’ll get to in future blogs. Here are a few names which spark fierce reactions: Burt Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Mark McGwire, Lee Smith, Dale Murphy & Alan Trammell.