It took 15 years but Boston Red Sox great Jim Rice has finally been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Rice will join Rickey Henderson and Veteran’s Committee pick Joe Gordon.
Rice received 412 of a possible 539 votes (76.4%). He needed 405 votes to be elected and got 7 more than needed. Henderson received 511 votes (94.8%). Henderson and Rice become the first left fielders elected to the Hall of Fame since Carl Yastrzemski in 1989.
Unfortunately for Tommy John, who was in his 15th and final season, he fell short receiving 31.7% (171) of the votes. John will now be eligible for the Veteran’s Committee ballot since he received over 5% of the votes in each of his 15 seasons.
Andre Dawson fell short again receiving 361 (67%) of the vote as did Bert Blyleven who got 338 (62.7%) votes. Dawson’s total was up from last season when he received 65.9% of the votes and Blyleven’s went up as well (61.9% last year).
There was 9 players who didn’t receive the required 5% of the vote to stay on the ballot for next year. They are Mark Grace, David Cone, Matt Williams, Mo Vaughn, Jay Bell, Jesse Orosco, Ron Gant, Dan Plesac and Greg Vaughn. Gant, Plesac and Vaughn didn’t receive a single vote.
Not to be forgotten, Tony Kubek, who won the Ford C. Frick Award, and Nick Peters, who won J.G. Spink Award, will also be honored along with Henderson, Rice and Gordon on July 26th at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
A full look at the ballot totals after the jump.
| 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame Results | ||
| Player | Total Votes | Percentage |
| Rickey Henderson | 511 | 94.80% |
| Jim Rice | 412 | 76.40% |
| Andre Dawson | 361 | 67.00% |
| Bert Blyleven | 338 | 62.70% |
| Lee Smith | 240 | 44.50% |
| Jack Morris | 237 | 44.00% |
| Tommy John | 171 | 31.70% |
| Tim Raines | 122 | 22.60% |
| Mark McGwire | 118 | 21.90% |
| Alan Trammell | 94 | 17.40% |
| Dave Parker | 81 | 15.00% |
| Don Mattingly | 64 | 11.90% |
| Dale Murphy | 62 | 11.50% |
| Harold Baines | 32 | 5.90% |
| Mark Grace | 22 | 4.10% |
| David Cone | 21 | 3.90% |
| Matt Williams | 7 | 1.30% |
| Mo Vaughn | 6 | 1.10% |
| Jay Bell | 2 | 0.40% |
| Jesse Orosco | 1 | 0.20% |
| Ron Gant | 0 | 0% |
| Dan Plesac | 0 | 0% |
| Greg Vaughn | 0 | 0% |
Glad to see Jim got in. Very deserving. Also happy to see the writers finally vote him Jim Ed into the Hall. July 26 will be a happy day in Red Sox Nation.
Cooperstown, NY should start preparing for the invasion of Red Sox Nation. The town will be overrun with red.
I may have let out a scream or two when I heard the announcement. And yes July 26th will be a great day in Red Sox Nation but so is TODAY!!!
I can’t wait to hear his reaction either.
I just looked on NESN’s website and it says that Jim Rice will be chatting with Jerry Remy at 3:45 and there will be a live news conference at Fenway at 4 PM. I have to assume NESN will be covering both live.
i want to say thank you barry bonds and mark mcguire for doing steriods…..because jim rice made the hall of fame finally …what a wonderful gift to wake up to today…the speech just shows what a selfless player he was …and i’m so thrilled it finally happened….
I liked what he said about the 1% of players making the Hall of Fame in his interview with Jerry Remy. And now Jim, you’re a member of that 1%.