The return of Rickey?

[yendi]

Rickey Henderson, newly-elected to the Hall of Fame, still wants to play baseball.

My favorite part of the article:

"What is [the WBC], wrestling?" Rickey said when asked if he would like to play in the WBC. Told it was the World Baseball Classic and games will be played in March, Rickey said, "Can I get in?"

Comments

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Ah, this sounds like the Rickey Henderson who stole third base late in a game with a heavy lead just to get his personal numbers up.

[yendi]

Rickey? Never! He'd also never play cards in the clubhouse during a playoff game.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Oh, stop it. Rickey Henderson made every team he was on better just by being on the team, and that remained true into his 40s, which is more than 99% of baseball players can say.

So he's eccentric and self-centered. Ty Cobb was a bigot and a thug, and he's one of the greatest ballplayers who ever lived. Rickey was one of the greats, and he made his teams better. The rest of it's bullshit.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm just ragging on him. I fully credit Rickey Henderson's year in a Red Sox uniform with teaching the entire franchise how to steal. (With some exceptions in the late 1940s, the history of the Red Sox contains very little speed on the base-paths.)

You are perfectly correct about Henderson's effect on a club-house. If he pulled a few self-centered stunts (and he did), this should not detract from his deserved first-eligible-year selection into the Hall.

(And after the steroid scandal, I'm now willing to support getting Pete Rose into the Hall, given that even his bookies claim that he never bet against a team that he was playing for.)

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I'm not in support of Rose in the HOF because he's been banned from baseball. If that ban is reversed -- and there's arguments both ways -- then, he absolutely should be inducted, but the reversal has to happen first.

[yendi]

Why? The HoF isn't owned or run by MLB.

[slitterst.livejournal.com]

I'd rather they reopen the book on Joe Jackson and readmit him to Baseball and the Hall. I think he's more deserving of redemption than Rose.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

I'd vote Joe Jackson into the Hall of Fame. I've always liked listening to "Steppin' Out."