The
2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballots were mailed today to all members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America with ten or more consecutive years of service. It's the smallest HOF ballot since the current election system was instituted, with only 23 players listed as eligible.
The most notable newcomer to the list is
Rickey Henderson, the longtime outfielder who owns baseball's career records for runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases, and is second all-time in walks with 2,190. Henderson played with nine teams during his 25 years in the major leagues, but is best remembered as a member of the Oakland Athletics, with whom he began his career and served four discrete tours of duty.
Rickey's a dead-solid lock for first-ballot election to the Hall, and deservedly so. He hung around far longer than he should have — he really wasn't much of a player his last four seasons, though he had as good a year as a 40-year-old guy could ask while playing for the New York Mets in 1999. But for the first dozen years of his career, Henderson was one of baseball's marquee superstars, and he was still a quality player for seven or eight years after that.
None of the rest of the incoming class of eligibles seems likely to make the cut. Power-hitting
Mo Vaughn might have been a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate had his career not been shortened by injuries.
Matt Williams, the Giants' best third baseman during their San Francisco tenure, had some fine years, but not enough of them to earn a ticket to Cooperstown.
Mark Grace and
Ron Gant were pretty good players, and 1994 American League Cy Young Award winner
David Cone was a pretty good pitcher, but we aren't talking about the Hall of the Pretty Good. The remaining newbies —
Jay Bell,
Jesse Orosco,
Dan Plesac, and Mo's cousin
Greg Vaughn — net a collective "meh."
Of the holdovers from last year's ballot, Boston Red Sox outfielder
Jim Rice should score a long-overdue Cooperstown call in his final year of eligibility. Rice, the American League's best offensive player in the late 1970s and early , just missed the Hall by 16 votes last time. He deserves those last few check marks that would push him over the hump. Were I a ten-year member of the BBWAA, I'd also throw votes to slugging outfielder
Andre "The Hawk" Dawson, starting pitcher
Jack Morris, and reliever
Lee Smith — all of whom, like Rice, should have been inducted years ago.
So, anyway, here's my funny Rickey Henderson story.
I was sitting down the left field line at an Oakland A's home game in the early '80s, when Rickey was the lone megastar on an Athletics club that didn't have much else going for it. Then, as is too often the case now, the A's didn't draw many fans, so the few of us in attendance didn't have any difficulty making our individual voices heard to the players on the field.
One loudmouth in the left field bleachers, who sounded as though he might have been keeping the beer concession in business all by himself, kept shouting,
"Rickey Henderson! Rickey Henderson!" over Rickey's shoulder, at a decibel level that ensured that everyone in the Oakland Coliseum — including, I think, the security guards in the parking lot — could hear him.
Rickey studiously ignored the guy's incessant chatter for about three innings. At long last, he made the fatal error of sneaking a peek back to check out this character who seemed so enamored with his name. The instant Henderson turned around, the guy yelled, "You sissy!" and cackled like a drunken hyena.
Rickey, who always had a lively sense of humor, broke up laughing.
Labels: Hero of the Day, I Love the Giants, My Home Town, Reminiscing, Ripped From the Headlines, Sports Bar
