I remember them. I watched them play. Well, not all of them. I am old, but not that old! Sunday, July 26, 2009, three more players will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson and Joe Gordon gain baseball immortality. I never saw Joe Gordon play, and he died at the age of 63 back in 1978. Jim Rice was voted in on the 15th and final year of eligibility. Rickey Henderson made it on his first try. It is an interesting class of inductees.
Judy Gordon, a daughter of Joe Gordon, will give her father’s acceptance speech. She lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Quite a distance to Cooperstown, but it IS quite an honor. Joe Gordon played for the Yankees from 1938 – 1943. He played for the Indians from 1946 – 1950. He served his country during World War II in 1944 and 1945. He was the first 2nd baseman in history to hit 20 homeruns. In 1948, he led the Indians to their most recent World Series Championship with 32 homeruns and 124 runs batted in. His career stats included 1566 games played, 253 career homers, 975 RBI’s, 6 post season appearances, handled 8816 chances in the field and had a 970 fielding percentage, was part of 1160 double plays and was the one and only manager traded for another in 1960, when Indians owner Frank Lane traded managers with the Detroit Tigers. He was a nine time all star and a league MVP.
Jim Rice had the distinction of playing for one team, the Boston Redsox for 16 years, 1974-1989. He had a horrible relationship with the media, one time ripping the shirt off a writer’s shirt during a scuffle in the club house. It MAY have had something to do wit h the long delay of his election into the Hall of Fame. Rice was the American league MVP in 1978 when he batted.315 and had 213 hits, 25 doubles, 15 triples, 46 homeruns and 139 rbis, and only made 3 errors with a fielding percentage of .989. He went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons, and join Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row His legacy is having played left field in front of the famed “Green Monster”. That MVP year, 40% of his hits were for extra bases. He played in 2089 games and had a lifetime batting average of 298 with 382 homers and 1451 rbis. Rice led the AL in home runs three times and in RBI twice.
Rickey Henderson played 25 seasons, from 1979 until 2003. He played on nine different teams and 14 of those seasons were spent as a member of the Oakland Athletics. His career stats are impressive. But then again, he is a member of approximately only 1 percent of all who ever played in the major leagues that got elected to Cooperstown. In 1990, he was the American League MVP when as a member of the Athletics; he had a year to remember. He batted 325 with 33 doubles, 3 triples, 28 homeruns with 61 rbis AND amazingly had 119 runs scored and 65 steals, while drawing 97 walks to only 60 strikeouts. He wants to be remembered for scoring more runs than any other player in the game, period. He was referred to as the greatest lead off hitter in the game and made it his mission to score more runs than anyone else could. In 1982, with Oakland, he stole 130 bases. He was a 10 time all star and was in the post season 8 times. He played in 3081 career games and is the all time leader in stolen bases with 1406 and in runs scored with 2295. He had a nick name of “The Man of Steal”. Get it? Steal ; not Steel.
These are three very deserving players and there will be many tears shed on Sunday. But they will be from joy, not sadness. It is the special talents of these men that get recognized, it is the men themselves that are special. Gordon was a humble man, Rice was fiercely proud and Henderson was a what you see is what you get type person. I am fortunate that I got to see 
