Before Sunday afternoon, Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson were just Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. By about 2:30 PM, they were officially members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as they were inducted on Sunday afternoon in front of 51 Hall of Famers, numerous friends and guests and a crowd of around 21,000.
Joe Gordon was the first to be inducted, then Rice followed by Henderson. After their speeches, Tony Kubek was presented with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcast excellence and Nick Peters wrapped the ceremony after receiving the J.G. Spink Taylor Award for excellence in baseball writing.
Rice will have his number retired in a ceremony on Tuesday night, July 28th before his Boston Red Sox take on the Oakland A’s.
Here are some videos from the afternoon. First up is the video tribute to Rice:
[flash http://ianbethune.com/ricetribute.flv w=510 h=287]
Rice’s plaque reading and speech video after the jump.
Rice’s plaque reading:
[flash http://ianbethune.com/riceplaque.flv w=510 h=287]
Rice’s speech:
