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Henderson runaway Hall of Fame choice
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January 21, 2009 - Speedster Rickey Henderson and slugger Jim Rice were this year's picks for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but the two were at extremes of unofficial online voting on our site.

Henderson, who spent his prime years with the Oakland A's, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays and is baseball's all-time steals leader, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer both with 10-year members of the Baseball Writers Association of America and with RiverHawks fans. He received 93 (30 percent) of 305 total votes.

Rice, who reached Cooperstown in his 15th and final year of eligibility, received just two votes from fans.

The BBWAA allows voters to pick up to 10 players on each year's ballot. An eligible player must be named by 75 percent of the voters to be elected. In our unscientific poll, fans can vote as often as they like, but for only one player at a time.

A surprising second in our poll is former Milwaukee reliever Dan Plesac, with 65 votes (21 percent).

Lee Smith, a dominant 1980s closer for the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals among other teams, was third, with 45 votes (15 percent). No other eligible player received more than 12 votes.

Just for fun, we threw in Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, both banned for life and, under rules adopted by the HOF in the early 1990s, currently ineligible for election to the Hall. Each got 18 votes (6 percent).

Votes for Chicago-area candidates were somewhat lacking. Tim Raines, a former Chicago White Sox outfielder and coach, got 12 votes; ex Cub Mark Grace had 10; Andre Dawson, who won the 1987 NL MVP with the Cubs, had nine; Sox DH Harold Baines had just two votes.

Totals are below.

Harold Baines 2 vote(s)
0.66%
Jay Bell 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Bert Blyleven 0 vote(s)
0.00%
David Cone 1 vote(s)
0.33%
Andre Dawson 9 vote(s)
2.95%
Ron Gant 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Mark Grace 10 vote(s)
3.28%
Rickey Henderson 93 vote(s)
30.49%
Shoeless Joe Jackson 18 vote(s)
5.90%
Tommy John 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Don Mattingly 4 vote(s)
1.31%
Mark McGwire 6 vote(s)
1.97%
Jack Morris 2 vote(s)
0.66%
Dale Murphy 2 vote(s)
0.66%
Jesse Orosco 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Dave Parker 1 vote(s)
0.33%
Dan Plesac 65 vote(s)
21.31%
Tim Raines 12 vote(s)
3.93%
Jim Rice 2 vote(s)
0.66%
Pete Rose 18 vote(s)
5.90%
Lee Smith 45 vote(s)
14.75%
Darryl Strawberry 3 vote(s)
0.98%
Alan Trammell 12 vote(s)
3.93%
Greg Vaughn 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Mo Vaughn 0 vote(s)
0.00%
Matt Williams 0 vote(s)
0.00%

 

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