Rickey and Rice

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So the Hall of Fame Class of 2009 is Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice. No Bert Blyleven, no Alan Trammel, no Tim Raines, no Mark McGwire. Twenty-six members who bothered to put at least one name on a ballot (two sent in blanks), including this genius, did not think that the all-time record holder for runs scored, one of the twenty or so greatest players ever, was worthy of enshrinement. That and Jim Rice gets in, while Raines sees his support drop. I usually keep the language pretty clean around here, but I can’t think of any better way to say this: What a fucking joke.

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7 Responses to Rickey and Rice

  1. JJ Baskin says:
    January 12, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    And where is Deshaies?

  2. Mike says:
    January 12, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    Mark McGwire’s problem is self-inflicted at this point. Are you saying that Jim Rice does not deserve to be in the HOF? Rickey Henderson certainly deserves to be there.

  3. freddyrun says:
    January 13, 2009 at 12:54 am

    Got to agree. I hit .270 and drive in 85 with Pudge, Yaz, Lynn and Dewey Evans around me in the line-up. And I’m 50. Failure to put Blyleven in also makes 0 sense.

  4. Charles Kuffner says:
    January 13, 2009 at 5:44 am

    Mike – Yes, I am saying that Rice doesn’t belong. His career and his peak were too short, and most HOFers weren’t washed up by age 34. There was this myth that sprung up about Rice being “the most feared hitter of his day”, which carried him across the finish line.

    But even if you think Rice is worthy, I want to know how anyone could vote for him and not for Tim Raines. For that matter, if Rice is Hall-worthy, why aren’t Andre Dawson, Dave Parker, and Dale Murphy as well? Hell, what about Dwight Evans? Why wasn’t Albert Belle, whose career numbers are very similar to Rice’s and whose peak was much higher, voted in? How do you keep all those guys out when you let Jim Rice in? It makes no sense.

  5. Nicholas Beaudrot says:
    January 13, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Forget Trammel, Lou Whitaker got bounced from HoF voting after two years. That’s a joke.

  6. Alex Rotenberry says:
    January 13, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Where is Santo? The real travesty is that he isn’t in the hall! Granted, he isn’t on the ballot, but still!

  7. Mike says:
    January 13, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    Hmm, Rice had more HR, RBI, a higher lifetime BA, and nearly as many career hits (around 2500 versus Raines’ 2600) as Raines in a career that was 7 seasons shorter.

    Raines had a .294 average and 808 steals which is impressive – I agree he should likely be in the HOF as well.

    Still, it’s hard for me to argue that a guy like Rice with a .298 lifetime batting average, 2450 hits, and 380 homeruns doesn’t belong in the hall – I know it’s not the best numbers out there but I think that’s what a borderline case looks like.

    Craig Biggio I’d like to see in the HOF and he had 3000 hits, 291 HR and 414 steals, and 4 Golden Gloves and a .281 average – I think he’s a sure thing but it’s hard to compare these guys with each other – they all have different strengths!

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