This past week, the doors to Cooperstown, the Baseball Hall of Fame opened for what many considered the greatest lead-off hitter of all-time and for a Boston Red Sox who got in on his final chance of eligibility.
On July 26, 2009, Rickey Henderson, who received 511 votes out of 539 (94.8 percent) in his first year on the ballot and Jim Rice, who in is final year of eligibility received 412 votes (76.4 percent) will be inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
In both players cases, each individually put up mind blowing numbers that gave them the opportunity to be the first left fielders in more than 20 years to be immortalized forever in the profession that they gave everything that they had.
In his 25-year playing career where he played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels (now the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim), New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, the 50-year old became MLB’s all-time leader in runs scored with 2, 295, stolen bases with 1,406 and lead-off home runs with 81. He finished his career second in walks with 2,190 and is 21st in hits with 3,055.
“I think as a kid, as a ball player, you look at some of the greatest players that played the game and what they went through and then when they was finished with their career, how well they was honored,” says Henderson, who retired from baseball at age 44.
“So the Hall of Fame means a great deal to me. I’m just happy that I got chosen the first round in the Hall of Fame.”
While he did put up strong numbers, Henderson also did it with great efficiency by averaging per season as a hitter, with a .401 on base percentage and hit 297 career home runs.
More than anything he had a knack of making big plays in the biggest of moments. In 1993, he was part of a 3-run walk-off home run that was hit by Joe Carter in the bottom of the ninth inning that helped the Toronto Blue Jays to a 8-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies and gave Blue Jays back-to-back World Series titles.
On Aug. 27, 1982, he broke the single-season steals record, finishing that season with 130, which surpassed Lou Brock’s 118 in 1974. On May 1, 1991, Henderson set the all-time record in MLB for career steals with 939 stolen base as an Athletic against of all teams the Bronx Bombers, better known as the Yankees. He embraced that mild stone by pulling the base out of the ground and held it in the air.
In 2001, Henderson recorded two milestones when he was with the Padres. On Oct. 4, he surpassed Ty Cobb as the league’s all-time leader in runs scored and on Oct. 7, recorded the 3, 000 hit of his career.
Along with his great numbers and milestone moments, he managed to garner some individual recognition. He was an all-star 10 times, won three Silver Slugger Awards (1981, 1982 and 1985); was the 1990 American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), the 1989 American League Championship Series MVP and in the late stages of his career was the 1999 National League (NL) Comeback Player of the Year.
When we think of Jim Rice, the name that comes to mind of someone who waited a long time to be immortalized as a Hall of Famer in the sport where the number say he should have been in a lot sooner is former Washington Redskins’ wide receiver Art Monk.
In his career as a Red Sox, Rice had a .298 batting average, hit 382 homers, had 1, 451 runs batted in (RBIs) and a .502 slugging percentage. In the time period from 1975-86, what many considered the greatest time of baseball, Rice lead all AL players with 350 home runs, 1, 276 RBI’s and 2,145 hits. He led the AL in homers on three occasions (1977, 1978 and 1983), RBIs in 1978 and 1983 and in total bases four times (1977-79 and 1983).
He was selected to eight AL all-star teams, was Silver Slugger Award recipient back-to-back years in 1983 and 1984 and was AL MVP in 1978.
“It is a crime and I blame my colleagues who are baseball writers as a group for letting this guy go this long,” Michael Wilbon, Washington Post Sports Columnist and co-host of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption.
His real crowning moment came in 1986 when he hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 4th inning in Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS that gave the Red Sox a 7-1 lead over the California Angels that they would never recover from and Boston went on to win the pennant 4-3. The Red Sox though lost to the New York Mets in seven games in the World Series.
While it might have taken a long time, Rice is very thankful for the opportunity to be enshrined forever the greatest of his professional sport.
“It’s a big relief. It just seems like. I did not have any weight on my shoulders per say before that, but when I got the call, it just seem like everything just fell back and so that was a relief there,” Rice said to reporters earlier this week. “I’ m not going to bad mouth the writers on why they waited so long because the numbers are still the same.”
In a sport today that does not have many African Americans in it, these two when they played were one of the best. They achieved greatness individually and made their team great in the biggest of moments. They put up the numbers and made the headlines at the same time. They still have one more headline to make and that is in July when they will be inducted with the greatest to ever play in Major League Baseball.
Statistical Information and quotations are courtesy of ESPN’s Sportscenter, www.wikipedia.org and web.baseballhalloffame.org
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