Yesterday, Henderson and Rice got elected to the hall of fame. Henderson got 95% of the vote and it was his first time on the ballot. Rice got in by 7 votes and it was his final time on the ballot. Henderson completley deserves to get into the hall. His record for stolen bases will probably never fall and his record for runs will take a long time to fall, if it ever does. Rice is not so clear. The reason he should be in the hall is he really was a feared hitter in his time. What was holding him back? He only had 385 HR, which some say the Green Monster probably prevented him from 50 more homers, but probably added a lot of points to his BA, so its a give and take situation. I personally feel Rice should be in the hall, however, according to my next statement, he shouldn't be in the hall.
What makes the Baseball Hall of Fame better than other sports is that it only puts in worthy players. All other Halls have to have a minimum amount of players going in. For Baseball, there was a year when no one got in because no one deserved to get into the hall of fame. That being said, I think they should get a bit more selective. There is already a 5 year waiting period to get into the hall, so that means, besides the Veteran Committee, voters have 20 years to think if someone should go in or not. I really think that a player should only be able to stay on the ballot for 5 years. That is 10 years to decide whether a player should go in or not, and that is more than enough. Furthermore, with the creation of the Veteran Committee, if a player should have gone in that period and didn't, that player gets a second chance (that would also give more use to the Veteran Committee).
