Welcome to Cooperstown Rice and Ricky

Unlike the Veterans committee the Baseball Writers of America got it right yesterday with the election of Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice to the Hall of Fame. In addition Andre Dawson, a player I was on the fence about received 67% of the vote which means the chances are very good next year. As for Ricky its hard to believe 20 something writers out there do not believe he belongs in the HOF. These must be the same people that don't vote for anyone on the first ballot. Henderson is the gold standard for leadoff hitters. Simply put he is the best leadoff hitter in baseball history. No one created havoc like Ricky. And he was not shy about telling everyone just how good he was. As for Jim Rice it took him until his last year of eligibility to get voted in. He has a good point when he said my numbers have not changed in 15 years. He must be more relieved than happy. I definitely think he belongs. So we close the book on the class of 2009. The top four players who become eligible in 2010 are Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff.