I also think, seriously, that eveyone who left Henderson off their ballot should be prohibited from ever voting again. Ridiculous morons.
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.
I wonder if Rickey Henderson will be the first person to induct himself into Cooperstown, and conduct his entire induction speech in the 3rd person.
You mean Bert “Be Home” Blyleven?
How can they call it a hall of fame if the greatest player ever keeps getting passed over? I’m talking about Pete Rose, since Ty Cobb is already in.
Glad to see that sportswriters finally got over their “He was meeeeean to me, waaahhh” feelings and voted Jim Rice into his proper spot in Cooperstown.
Well, I’ll disagree. I think Blyleven belongs. I didn’t collect or even look at baseball cards, I watched baseball.
It seems that Blyleven is inching ever so closer to getting into the Hall. It’s a crying shame that he hasn’t been recognized so far. A truly great pitcher who had to play for years on some truly bad teams. He would have won at least 330 games if he had had some better run support.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/96851-why-bert-blyleven-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame
Yeah, I have to wonder about the sanity of the 5% who didn’t vote for Ricky Henderson — but then I see that Babe Ruth and Willie Mays “only” received around 95% too, when they went in. GEESH..... if those 3 don’t automatically belong in the HofF then it’s hard to know who does.
I know some people just like to be contrarian, but who could really try to justify not voting Ricky Henderson into the HofF?????
I’m glad to see Jim Rice get in, finally (OK, biased Red Sox fan here). I know the arguments against, but still, for a decade he was the premier hitter in the American League and even if his career stats did not end up huge he was just a phenomenal hitter. Surly guy with reporters, yeah. Well, a lot of reporters probably deserve some surliness. :^)
Andre Dawson - aka: The Hawk. Hope he makes it in next year. Always a great player at the top of the HR list every season, a gold glover, and as far as I can remember, a good all around role-model. He never played on a WS team (because he stayed with the Cubs) but he OWNED the outfield at Wrigley!
Good. Both deserving.
As a major Red Sox fan during all of the Rice years, I do NOT think he deserved to be in the HOF. In fact, I think Fred Lynn belongs there before Rice.
Also, I don’t think Wade Boggs belongs, either, but that’s another discussion.
Rice had great talent, but never put himself out for the team. He was not a good clutch performer — not like Yaz, or Ortiz, or Manny, for instance. Rice could not bear down and deliver a hit or a sacrifice fly when the team absolutely needed it. He got his homers, and his singles, but I’ll bet that a disproportionately large number of his homers came with no men on base, or when the game was not on the line.
Rice made himself into an average left fielder — he began his career as a poor left fielder — as compared to the incomparable fielding of Lynn (and Yaz).
Rice’s career ended in a hurry, too. He never really worked hard on his skills — he was more interested in golf than baseball. And when his bat speed began to fade, his career crashed, seemingly overnight.
And don’t get me started on Boggs! You had to be at Fenway, not just reading stats, to realize that Boggs was a bum.
Rickey didn’t want to retire. Even after no major league club was interested in him, he played for an unaffiliated minor league team called the San Diego Surf Dawgs, hoping to get back in. He was 46 and his teammates were mostly about 23. That didn’t count against his five-year waiting period after leaving the major leagues before he was eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Some "sportswriters" just like being jerks, and they feel that no one should get a unanimous ballot, so they will specifically not vote for a player because they know that they will get so many other votes.
Look at these numbers:
Ty Cobb 222 of 226 ballots
98.2%
Babe Ruth 215 of 226 ballots
95.1%
Cy Young 153 of 201 ballots
76.1%
Ted Williams 282 of 302 ballots
93.4%
Mickey Mantle 322 of 365 ballots
88.2%
Willie Mays 409 of 432 ballots
94.7%
Hank Aaron 406 of 415 ballots
97.8%
Tom Seaver 425 of 430 ballots
98.8%
Nolan Ryan 491 of 497 ballots
98.8%
Cal Ripken Jr 537 of 545 ballots
98.5%
The Cy Young vote boggles my mind, but even the last three votes are ridiculous. Are we to believe that there were 8 "sportswriters" who didn't think Cal Ripken Jr deserved to be in the HoF? Or 6 "sportswriters" who didn't think Nolan Ryan deserved to be there? Or 5 who felt that Tom Seaver didn't measure up?
No, there is all sorts of games and politics that go along with the HoF voting.
Beg to differ. If Rice is in, the Hawk definitely should be.
Rice: 16 seasons, .298 BA, 2452 H, 382 HR, 1451 RBI.
Dawson: 21 seasons, .279 BA, 2774 H, 438 HR, 1591 RBI.
Rice was only as good a fielder as he was because he knew how to play the Green Monster. He was not an asset on the road. Dawson played center and left, and had much better range before Montreal’s turf ruined his knees and he had a much better arm.
Your memory of Dawson is clouded by seeing him in his last few seasons. From 1977 to 1992, nobody was feared more than the Hawk. Had a friend who was a pitcher in the Reds organization and finally made a brief stop in the majors. He was called to face Dawson in 1st major league appearance in 1987. The Reds were nursing a one run lead with two runners on in the 7th. Three pitches later the one run lead was a two run deficit. I remember saying “Oh Mike...you had to face Dawson...”
Henderson is the greatest baseball player I have ever seen in the game. Period. If ever there were a unanimous selection he should be it. I don’t think his record for stolen bases is even approachable, especially in today’s power-hungry game, and especially when you consider that Brock is 500 back in second place. My congratulations.
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 don’t think a player’s accumulated stats are nearly as important as looking at their peak years. If a player is dominant for a significant period (10-12 years) then he is HOF worthy.
Compare his numbers with a contemporary like George Brett and you realize that he should have been in the hall long ago.
I’m a Yankee fan and he was definitely one of the hitters I feared most.
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.
Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson, two former Boston Red Sox players, make it into the Baseball HOF! Way to go! :)
Henderson is easily one of my favorite players of all time next to Tony Gwynn