The Hall of Fame Gets it Right (mostly)

The most frequently heard line from HOF voters to defend their not voting someone is is "It's not the Hall of the Very Good." It's a fair statement, and you can't justify putting more marginal layers in just because there are already a few. But today's inductees were well chosen, even if there were a couple more who ought to have gotten in.

There's nobody in baseball today to compare to Rickey Henderson. Somebody once asked Bill James, probably the best known statistical analyst of the game, whether Henderson was a Hall of Famer, and he replied that Henderson was so good you could cut him in half and have 2 hall of famers. He was the most dominant offensive player of the 1980s and early 1990s and man oh man was he fun to watch.
Here are some of his statistics from 1985 with the Yankees: 146 runs in 143 games, 28 doubles, 5 triples, 24 homers, 72 RBIs, 99 walks, 80 stolen bases (caught 10 times) .419 OBP and .516 SLG. He's baseball's all time leader in runs scored and stolen bases (he stole 130 bases one year) and is second all time in bases on balls. He's the best leadoff hitter ever. Nobody else is close.

Jim Rice was never just thought of as very good. He was feared as a hitter and he hit the ball as hard as anyone I've ever seen. Amazing power. He wasn't one of my favorites like Rickey, but I always respected what he could do.