I know my ass is getting old when I start seeing my childhood heroes voted into the various Halls of Fame. The MLB Hall Of Fame has selected two of my favorite players to be inducted during this year’s ceremony.
JIM RICE – The quintessential slugger and Boston Red Sox outfielder. Think of ALBERT BELLE, before ALBERT BELLE. The Boston press corps hated RICE like he had broken into their house and stole their Christmas presents. All RICE did was hit the ball. Far, and a lot. RICE was part of the great hittting outfielders of this era who could hit for power and placement. He didn’t simply slug home runs but he hit singles, doubles and the rarest triples all with aplomb.
Way before steroids had infiltrated baseball you would find that the best hitters were multi-dimensional. VLAD GUERRERO is a throwback to JIM RICE, ANDRE DAWSON, DALE MURPHY and DAVE PARKER. I wonder what these players numbers might have been if they had access to the cream and the clear?
RICKEY HENDERSON – This man needs no introduction whatsoever. If you were making an all-time fantasy league team you would definitely have to select RICKEY HENDERSON without reservation. His numbers are undeniable. He ranks first in stolen bases, first in runs scored, second overall in walks and fourth all time in games played. HENDERSON did log in 25 seasons.
HENDERSON was so fun to watch early in his career with Oakland. He definitely is the O.G. baseball player with swagger. HENDERSON knew that he pwned the game back then. Some of RICKEY’s reported antics have tarnished his legacy among a few of his fans, but for the rest of us I think we can separate the player from the propaganda of the press. What I respect about RICKEY and JIM RICE is that they played the game of baseball with no apologies despite how poorly they may have been described by the sportswriters.
Now let’s see if these sphincter hat sportswriters can get the big homey Hawk in next year…
