A pair of players opposite in both approach and personality achieved baseball immortality as the Class of 2009.
It was really no shock that the greatest base stealer of all-time was bestowed first ballot enshrinement into the Hall at Cooperstown. That it took 15 tries for one of the game's most intense RBI machines is another thing.
Love him or hate him, Rickey Henderson always put on a show and was always in the middle of the action. He arrived at the major league level in 1979, hit the ground running, and when the dust settled 25 seasons later the man they lovingly referred to as the "Man of Steal" sat atop several major offensive categories: 1,406 stolen bases (1st), 2,295 runs scored (1st), 2,190 bases on balls (2nd) and 3,055 hits (20th). Along the way, Rickey strutted his stuff in nine different uniforms; including a three-month stint with the Blue Jays in 1993 when he helped the team to its second consecutive World Series championship.
My fondest memory of Henderson's time with the Jays was in the bowels of Yankee Stadium, where he was formally introduced to the assembled media. When asked how he felt he could do in Toronto, he responded, "I'll be successful at Skydome" (pronounced "Sigh-Dough"), which was vintage Henderson, equal parts English and Rickey-speak. After years of tormenting Blue Jays catchers on the bases - specifically Ernie Whitt - the hated base stealer was now welcomed as a Blue Jay. His lead-off walk in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6 of the '93 World Series against the Phillies set the table for Joe Carter's walk-off home run, the greatest moment in Blue Jays' history.
Thanks to 20-plus years of being the most-colourful character in an era that lacked it; Rickey stories are a dime-a-dozen. Three come to mind: 1) The accounting department for the Oakland Athletics had to track him down to inquire why a million dollar cheque had not been cashed, which was causing problems with the team balance sheets. Rickey had framed the unused cheque in his house; 2) In 1999, Henderson signed with the Mets and at spring training that year, he encountered John Olerud and mentioned to him that he'd played with a guy earlier in his career that also wore a batting helmet on defence. He was right, of course. It was Olerud in 1993 with the Jays; 3) And while riding on the bus to a spring training game, Rickey took a seat in the back, which caused a fellow veteran to exclaim, "Rickey, you should be sitting up front with us, you've got tenure". Rickey shot back, "Tenure? Rickey got 15 year".
Also invited into the Hall of Fame, in his 15th and final year of eligibility is veteran Red Soxslugger Jim Rice. By current standards, Rice's 382 career home runs would seem somewhat low, but during his day he was an RBI machine. Between 1975 and 1986, no one drove in more runs (1,276). When I think of Rice, the vision of an extremely driven professional comes to mind. Never one to cozy up to the media, it's probably the main reason why it took him so long to be elected into the Hall. Unfortunately, it's the writers that cast the ballots and being frosty to those who never actually played the game can come back to haunt players after they retire.
I have a couple lasting images of Rice. The first came about on the night of August 5, 1976. I was sitting in the first row behind the Detroit bullpen down the left field line at Tiger Stadium, listening to some leather lunged individual mouth off at Rice the entire game. Rice took it like a pro, glancing at the guy occasionally. In the eighth inning, he stepped up and broke open a one-run game with a line drive home run into the second deck in left field. When he returned to the field to play defence in the bottom of the inning, Rice spied the fan asked him if he had, "Anything else to say?"
He didn't.
The other memory of Rice is that he was one of the few players that never showed up a plate umpire. If he didn't like the way a pitch was called, he never turned around to jaw at the ump, instead continuing to look out at the pitcher while letting the umpire know, in no uncertain terms, that he didn't agree with the call. This is something that current players should embrace, instead of going through all the histrionics and forcing the ump to peel off the mask and confront the player. It's a little thing, but something that always stuck with me about Rice.
Two players, two different styles and two different ways of playing the great game. Congratulations to both men and well deserved recognition for their brilliant careers.
