SURVEY SAYS...
Posted on 01/12/2009 11:24:22 AM PST by GreatOne
Rickey Henderson, baseball's all-time stolen-bases and runs-scored leader, and power-hitting outfielder Jim Rice have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in balloting verified by Ernst & Young. They will be inducted into the Hall on July 26 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Henderson and Rice will be honored along with former New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, who was elected last month by the Veterans Committee. The July 26 Induction Ceremony will also include the presentation of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting to Tony Kubek and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing to Nick Peters.
In the BBWAA election, 539 ballots, including two blanks, were cast by members with 10 or more consecutive years of service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 405 votes were required. Twenty-seven votes were needed to stay on the ballot.
Henderson was listed on 511 ballots (94.8 percent) to win election in his first year on the ballot. He becomes the 44th player to be elected by the BBWAA in his first year of eligibility.
Rice was listed on 412 ballots (76.4 percent) in his 15th and final time on the BBWAA ballot. He becomes the third player elected by the BBWAA in his final year of eligibility, following Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975). Rice received seven votes more than the minimum needed for election.
This marks the 24th time the BBWAA has elected two Hall of Famers in the same year. The two new Hall of Famers bring the total number of elected members of the Hall to 289. Of that total, 202 are former Major League players, of which 108 have been elected through the BBWAA ballot. Henderson and Rice are the 20th and 21st left fielders elected and the first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1989. No other position had gone longer without a new Hall of Famer.
Henderson, 50, is Major League Baseball's career leader in stolen bases (1,406) and runs scored (2,295) and is second all time in walks (2,190). He was named to 10 All-Star teams and was the 1990 American League Most Valuable Player with the Oakland Athletics, with whom he won a World Series title in 1989. Henderson, who played for nine teams over 25 big league seasons, also won a World Series ring in 1993 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. He holds the Major League Baseball record for steals in a season with 130, which he set in 1982 with the A's, and he holds the big league record of 81 home runs leading off games. Henderson received the 13th-highest voting percentage ever, finishing right behind Babe Ruth (95.1 percent) and just ahead of Willie Mays (94.7 percent)
Rice, 55, spent his entire 16-year big league career with the Boston Red Sox. The 1978 AL MVP finished in the top five of the MVP voting five other times, finishing second to teammate Fred Lynn in the 1975 AL Rookie of the Year voting. He led the AL in homers three times, hit .300 or better seven times and was selected to eight All-Star Games. He is the only player in history to post three straight seasons of 35 or more home runs and 200 or more hits. He finished his career with a .298 batting average, 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs.
Andre Dawson (361 votes, 67 percent) and Bert Blyleven (338 votes, 62.7 percent) were the only other players listed on more than half of the ballots. Rounding out the top 10 were: Lee Smith (240 votes, 44.5 percent); Jack Morris (237 votes, 44.0 percent); Tommy John (171 votes, 31.6 percent); Tim Raines (122 votes, 22.6 percent); Mark McGwire (118 votes, 21.9 percent) and Alan Trammell (94 votes, 17.4 percent).
Players remain on the ballot for up to 15 years provided they receive at least 5 percent of the vote. Players who will return to the ballot next year are: Dawson, Blyleven, Smith, Morris, Raines, McGwire, Trammell, Dave Parker, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy and Harold Baines.
Tommy John, who received 31.7 percent of the vote in his 15th-and-final year of BBWAA ballot eligibility, will be eligible for Veterans Committee consideration in the fall of 2010.
Of the 10 newcomers to the ballot, Henderson was elected and the other nine did not receive sufficient support of 5 percent or more to stay on the ballot.
The vote: Rickey Henderson 511 (94.8 percent); Jim Rice 412 (76.4 percent); Andre Dawson 361 (67.0 percent); Bert Blyleven 338 (62.7 percent); Lee Smith 240 (44.5 percent); Jack Morris 237 (44.0 percent); Tommy John 171 (31.7 percent); Tim Raines 122 (22.6 percent); Mark McGwire 118 (21.9 percent); Alan Trammell 94 (17.4 percent); Dave Parker 81 (15.0 percent); Don Mattingly 64 (11.9 percent); Dale Murphy 62 (11.5 percent); Harold Baines 32 (5.9 percent); Mark Grace 22 (4.1 percent); David Cone 21 (3.9 percent); Matt Williams 7 (1.3 percent); Mo Vaughn 6 (1.1 percent); Jay Bell 2 (0.4 percent); Jesse Orosco 1 (0.2 percent); Ron Gant 0; Dan Plesac 0; Greg Vaughn 0.
I look at the fact that Gaylord Perry and Phil Niekro both pitched for worse teams, and did much better.
It was like watching Grogan throw the long bomb on 3rd and 2 ... when Rice came to the plate with a man on first, you just knew what was going to happen.
If Bart Giamatti had not died I believe he would have reinstated Rose. I think a life sentence was too extreme.
I’m a lifelong Orioles fan (an older fan, so I remember when they were a classy organization), and I’m glad that Jim Rice is a hall of famer.
But let’s face it, one sportswriter did not vote for Cal Ripken to be in the hall. That’s way more absurd.
“Kids from the new millenium will have no idea what it meant to be a Red Sox fan. Bucky freakin’ Dent ... Stone Fingers I and II ... the interference call ... the list goes on.”
I was there for all of those years — I was at the game when Bucky hit it out, I was at Fenway for probably 30 games in 1975, when Rice and Lynn emerged.
Loved Yaz, but Lynn will always be my favorite Red Sox player. Nobody has ever had a rookie season like he did, and never will. He almost pulled them through game 7, to “seal the deal” on the greatest season ever. He ran into the wall in left center and nearly knocked himself out going for one of his signature catches, and he had homered earlier to put the Sox ahead.
The day he left the Sox was a crime.
I wouldn't have voted for him. He's a dbag and a cokehead. In my view, there is more than numbers to consider when judging HOF admission.
Career highlights and awards
17x All-Star selection (1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985)
3x World Series champion (1975, 1976, 1980)
2x Gold Glove Award winner (1969, 1970)
Silver Slugger Award winner (1981)
1973 NL MVP
1963 NL Rookie of the Year
1975 World Series MVP
1976 Roberto Clemente Award
1969 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1968 Hutch Award
1975 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
Holds numerous other records and achievements
MLB Records
4,256 career hits
3,562 career games played
14,053 career at-bats
PET ROSE IS THE STANDARD BY WHICH ALL BASEBALL PLAYERS ARE MEASURED!
Bill James tells a story of sitting next to an octagenerian at Fenway one evening, talking to him about who the greatest player he ever saw was. He didn’t answer Yaz, or Teddy or even Smokey Joe Wood. He quickly responded “Fred Lynn. DOn’t think much of him now, but for a while there he was the best I ever saw.”
Why isn’t Tim Raines going in? Over 800 stolen bases, .385 career on base average. He was the second best leadoff hitter of his era after Henderson.
I agree with you on Lynn over Rice but, as a Yankees fan, I hated to see Rice come to the plate with the game on the line, especially when playing in Fenway! Rice had the advantage over Lynn of being a righty in Fenway and more than a couple of that 300 RBI difference in stats can be attributed to that factor alone. Lynn always struck me as more of a “team” guy too.
Henderson was a no brainer.
“It was like watching Grogan throw the long bomb on 3rd and 2 ... when Rice came to the plate with a man on first, you just knew what was going to happen.”
Statistically, what was going to happen was — a strike-out.
You’re not implying that his swing got BETTER with a man on, are you? Because — it notable got worse.
And Boggs — just cause we’re talking. If there was a man on third, with one out, and the Sox needed that run, and the pitcher grooved the first pitch down the middle, what would Boggs do? If you’re a Sox fan, you KNOW what he’d do — he would take that first pitch, watch it right into the catcher’s glove. And then he’d try to hit the ball on the ground for a single after that, rather than hit the sacrifice fly.
Because for Boggs, what mattered was his batting average, and thus what mattered was HIS ROUTINE -— not the team.
Now, Rice wasn’t in Bogg’s league in that department, but he couldn’t/didn’t have a way of digging deep to help the team. His swing never changes — he couldn’t/wouldn’t be situational in his approach.
More than that. He broke the one and only rule which is posted on every single clubhouse wall and has been since long before there was a union or collective bargining.
He probably is the loudest whiner of all-time, if you really need something to hang his hat on.
I’ll never forget seeing Rice check his swing, and his wrist strength was such that the bat snapped in his hands. I could not believe what I just witnessed - it seemed super-human.
maybe no one ever read it to him?
SURVEY SAYS...
It’s a travesty that 28 “sportswriters” did not vote for Rickey Henderson. They need to have their voting rights removed immediately. They probably cover east coast teams (like the Red Sux) and have no clue about players west of the Mississippi River
Ricky says that Ricky played for the Mets, the Yankees and the Red Sox.........Ricky says that Ricky played for teams both north and south of the Mississippi River....
With that “V” shape to him, he did have a HOF physique....
ROTFLMAO is you think Rose was a better ballplayer than Cobb. Cobb played in the dead-ball era when teams had no trainers and torn ligaments were treated with some tobacco juice and horse liniment. Yet Rose never came close to Cobb's averages. Rose played in 500+ more games and had 2500+ more at bats. Yet look at the batting average (+63 points for Cobb) and RBIs (+500 for Cobb).
The only real thing they had in common is that both were dirty players who would intentionally injure others and neither were the kind of people you would want you children to associate with.
And Cobb was not the greatest player in history. There are at least two ahead of him, IMHO.
| Ty Cobb |  |
Pete Rose |
|
|
|
|
| 3,034 | Games | 3,562 |
| 11,434 | AB | 14,053 |
| 4,190 | Hits | 4,256 |
| .366 | BA | .303 |
| 724 | 2B | 746 |
| 294 | 3B | 135 |
| 118 | HR | 160 |
| 1,933 | RBI | 1,314 |
| 2,245 | Runs | 2,165 |
I don't think so, and I grew up in Cincinnati idolizing Pete and the Big Red Machine.
The gambling on baseball is hands-down reason enough why he should never be in the HOF. However, what really gets me is that he not only proclaimed innocence for many years afterward; he did so while slandering the motives and actions of John Dowd (The Dowd Report) and other investigators and witnesses. He finally came mostly clean (while getting a book deal out of it), and his admission proved that Dowd and the others were telling the truth all along...
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