Monday, January 12, 2009

Jim Rice finally reaches the Hall of Fame

In a long-overdue development, one of the Boston Red Sox' all time great players, Jim Rice, finally received enough votes to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

He will be joined by all-time steals leader Rickey Henderson at the July 26 induction ceremony.

While at 15 years his career wasn't quite long enough to produce the eye-popping totals that some HOF voters prefer, during his prime seasons he was as dominanting as any player in history.

His MVP-winning season in 1978 stands as one of the greatest ever. He hit .315, with 46 home runs and 139 RBIs. He also led the league with 15 triples that year, making him the only player to lead baseball in triples, HRs, and RBIs in the same season. Defensively that year, he even had 13 outfield assists while playing left field for the Sox.

This year's balloting was his 15th and last year of eligibility for the Hall's ballot.

The HOF worthiness of his career has long been debated, partly due to the relative brevity of his career and partly due to the contentious relationship that he had with sportswriters (who, not coincidently, vote for HOF candidates). However, when baseball's steroids scandals came to light a few years back, his accomplisments gained stature, culminating in this year's selection.

Congratulations to Jim Rice.

It's about time.

Rice's career stats are available here from ESPN.

1 comment:

Patricia Haley said...

I knew I could count on you to blog about this right away.