Admit it; you thought Rickey Henderson's arrival in Cooperstown would be at least as entertaining as the Heinz wedding. But although far from dull Sunday afternoon, Rickey was far from flamboyant in accepting baseball's grandest honor on behalf of Rickey. Truth be told, he didn't slip in a single third-person reference about himself, disappointing so many of us and leaving his brilliant white suit to make the day's boldest statement.
But with the game's greatest leadoff hitter now enshrined, giving him a weekend voters rated as even better than Tour de France winner Alberto Contador's, what about next year's class?
Granted, the real fun begins in two years, with Rafael Palmeiro serving as the opening act for Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds in 2013. Still, a class of 2010 candidates including Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff, all relatively untouched by allegations of performance-enhancing drugs, could make for a good litmus test on how players with more impressive reputations and less impressive numbers may fare moving forward.
And really, who doesn't love a good litmus test?
- Most of SportsNation has never visited Cooperstown.
- Beyond the Nation: Jerry Crasnick writes that Henderson's speech hit right notes.
“Seems to me that if Jim Rice is in the Hall it's going to be hard to justify not voting for Andres Galaragga next year and Larry Walker the year after that.
” -- travo
“The DH is part of Major League Baseball and therefore should be represented in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. To even suggest that Edgar Martinez isn't a Hall of Fame material is absolutely ludacrous
” -- sportswiz56
“East coast bias. Need I say more? How can the DH of the year award be named after a non-hall-of-fame member. Gar will get in and he deserves it. Not only an amazing eye in the batter's box, but a great person outside of the white lines too.
” -- echeerrow
“I really see no way one cannot vote for Alomar and Larkin. They were clearly the best in their leagues at their respective positions for the better part of a decade. McGriff is such a tough case. He'll forever be compared to McGwire, Bagwell, Palmiero, and Thome, but with the exception of Bagwell, when you factor PEDs out of the discussion, I think McGriff was better than all of them. He was a classic power hitter, played a good first base, and was a good postseason hitter. However, with the logjam at his position, it's hard to see him getting in.
” -- ImSmartherThanYou
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