The Baseball Writer's Association today released the ballot for election to the Hall of Fame. For those of you who are confused by all of the ballots now, this is the main one that is a big deal to get voted in on (It's a big deal to get voted in on any one, but this one is that ballot you go on after 5 years out of baseball) and headlining this year's ballot is Rickey Henderson.
When you look at the ballot as a whole, Henderson seems like the only one who can really go in. I feel Rice should be in, and only being 16 votes shy last year, he will probably get in, but I also feel that if no one deserves to go in, then no one goes in on the ballot. (I believe it was 1970 when the Writers felt that no one on the ballot should go in). In my personal opinion, Henderson should go in. He is a ten time allstar, a 3 time silver slugger and an MVP. He is most famous for his Stolen Bases, 1406, which is about 500 more than the second place holder. That might be a record that stands the test of time.
The argument against Henderson is that he was a one trick pony. All he could do was steal bases. Before I attempt to refute how accurate that statement is,. that argument can be used on people like Thome, who has a lot of homers, but he does not lead in that category. If he had 500 more homers than Bonds, and that was all he could do, he would make it into the Hall no problem because he dominated that category. In other words, there is a line that gets crossed when talking about one trick ponies. If they dominate a statistic like Henderson has, that is more than note worthy.
He is number 4 on the games played list, 20 on singles, 56 on OBP, 40 on doubles (just about everyone ahead of him on that list is in the hall or is still active), had over 1100 RBI's, and is number one in Runs all time. So mainly, his games played, Stolen Bases and Runs should be enough to get him besides the fact that he wrecked havock on the basepaths and was a feared player when on the bags.
