Ricky and Rice HOF Class of '09
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:37 am
Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were both elected to the Hall of Fame today. Henderson got in on his first ballot - although 27 voters somehow didn't vote for him (2 didn't vote for anyone in a steroid protest). Rice got in on his last ballot, and in my opinion his election gives a lot of borderline candidates a much better argument than they had previously. Bert Blyleven got screwed again and didn't gain much ground. Tommy John failed in his last try on the writers ballot. Andre Dawson inched upward slightly to 67% and must take solace in the fact that no one who has ever received that high of a percentage has not been ultimately voted in. Lee Smith, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell didn't move much and Tim Raines got an embarrassing low 22% (122 votes). Best new names on the ballot for 2010 include: Robby Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff and Barry Larkin.