Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice: Baseball HoFer's
 

Congrats.


Mark McGwires votes are actually going down. ROFL


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3827833

NEW YORK -- Rickey Henderson sped his way into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot Monday, and Jim Rice made it in on his 15th and final try.


Hall of Fame voting
Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday. At least 75 percent of the vote is needed for election.

Henderson, baseball's career leader in runs scored and stolen bases, received 94.8 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, well above the 75 percent needed.

Rice, among baseball's most feared hitters in the late 1970s and early 1980s, got 76.4 percent of the vote after falling just shy with 72.2 percent last year.

Henderson became the 44th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Rice was only the third elected by the BBWAA in his final year, joining Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975).

The pair will be inducted into the Hall during ceremonies on July 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y. They will be joined by former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, elected posthumously last month by the Veterans Committee.

Henderson was picked on 511 of 539 ballots and Rice was selected on 412, just more than the 405 needed.

Rice received only 29.8 percent of the vote in 1995, when he appeared on the ballot for the first time. He topped 50 percent for the first time in 2000 and reached 64.8 percent in 2006 -- the highest percentage for a player who wasn't elected in a later year was 63.4 by Gil Hodges in 1983, his final time on the ballot.

Andre Dawson fell 44 votes short with 67 percent. He was followed by Bert Blyleven (62.7 percent), Lee Smith (44.5), Jack Morris (44.0), Tommy John (31.7) and Tim Raines (22.6). John appeared on the ballot for the final time.

Mark McGwire, stigmatized by accusations he used performance-enhancing drugs, received 118 votes (21.9 percent) in his third year of eligibility, down from the 128 votes he got in each of his first two tries.

Henderson, the 1990 AL MVP, was a 10-time All-Star who swiped 1,406 bases, just one shy of 50 percent more than Lou Brock, who is in second place with 938. Henderson batted .279 with 297 homers, 1,115 RBIs, 2,190 walks and 2,295 runs. He owns the modern-day, single-season record with 130 steals in 1982, and the career mark with 81 leadoff homers. He played 25 seasons for Oakland, the Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, the Mets, Seattle, Boston and the Dodgers.

Rice, the 1978 AL MVP, was an eight-time All-Star who hit 382 home runs in 16 seasons with the Red Sox from 1974-89. He had a .298 career batting average and 1,451 RBIs and from 1977-79 averaged .320 with 41 homers and 128 RBIs.

Congrats to them.

3 of my favorite moments that I got to witness in person were:

1. Rickey Hendersons 3000th career hit
2. Rickey Henderson breaking Babe Ruth's all time Walks Record (since has been broken by Barry Bonds)
3. Rickey Henderson setting the all time record for runs scored. He hit a home run and slid into home.

Henderson played so long it was hard to express how good he was. He would steal second, then for some reason he had a knack of stealing 3rd as good or better as he could steal second, he got on base a ton, then he had great power for a lead off guy. His fielding wasn't great but ok. I can hear his speach now

Today, ricky is the best, thank you ricky for the memories

I don't have the stats but hendersons stats would have been better if the a's staduim didn't have so much foul ground

Henderson was deadly back in the mid 80's early 90's with the Yanks and A's.

I remember he stole 100 bases a year multiple times.

Do guys still steal bases or get even close to those totals anymore??

I think the High 60's has been pretty much the highest as of late, at least in this decade.

I have pages and pages of Ricky Henderson baseball cards.

Looks like Jose Reyes had 78 back in 2007, and Tony Womack had 72 about 10 years ago, and Scot Podsednik had 70 a few years back.

But other than that high 60's for the most part.

"Henderson was picked on 511 of 539 ballots"

what a joke, how 28 voters didn't put Rickey Henderson on their ballot is just crazy!?

Yea, ive noticed guys dont steal bases like they used to.

Wonder why that is?

Congrats to both. Henderson was a no brainer. He was a true game changer. Deadly on the bases and striking ridiculous fear into opposing pitchers and catchers.

Rice was the best right-handed hitter in baseball for 10 years. While I understand his stats weren't as good as some (no 400 HRs etc.) he played in an era mostly dominated by pitchers, and I think overall does deserve to be in the Hall. I do understand why it took so long, but I'm glad he's in.

It's all about waiting for the long ball and not "giving away outs".

I remember when Cal Ripken JR and Tony Gwynn went in on the same year and Cal had like 99.4% of the vote and Tony Gwynn had 98.2% or something like that.

Who the hell left either of these guys off their ballot? And who put Ripken in but not Gwynn? How can you say one is deserving and not the other one.

Yea, pretty funny he made it in before Mark McRoider.

Who's % dropped this year.