Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson

They both had very different careers. Rice came into Boston in 1975 paired with Fred Lynn as the future outfield tandem. Lynn of course won the Rookie of Year and MVP while Rice suffered a broken wrist and missed out on playing in a great World Series. Although Lynn had a few memorable years, Rice was clearly the more consistent player and one who became one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Rice to his credit also became a very good leftfielder and he learned how to play the wall very well. He also had a much better than average arm. Rice was a Top 5 MVP Candidate several times when he consistently topped a 300 BA, 100+ RBI 30+ HR’s. He won the award in 1978 with a historic season with 46 homeruns and over 400 total bases. 77 thru 79 was his best stretch as a player averaging 40HR’s and 130 RBI’s. Pre PED’s those numbers were historic numbers. His OPS+ was never below league average and many season’s in the 150 range

Although we could argue he came up short number’s wise, he was a feared player for over 12 season’s. He played the game the right way and also played on some great teams. Two World Series Teams, a 1978 Team that won 99 games I do believe after watching him he was a game changer someone other teams didn’t want to face and his numbers look much better after realizing not everybody can hit 30 home runs and drive in 130 runs.

Ricky Henderson, as a kid I never missed a Oakland series in Fenway. The fast kids bought the white cleats hit in a crouch and wore 24. Henderson was a game changer, he could beat you with power, speed, defense he was the total package. I am not sure what the 5 people who didn’t vote for him were thinking? The numbers alone he amassed were simply amazing. He is now the Cy Young of steals, for someone to top 1400 steals they would have to 70 base’s in 16 season’s. Although, we will start to see many more athlete’s now that number will never be touched. He is also the all time leader in runs scored, the only threat to that record is A Rod, who at age 32 is 700 runs away. 2295 Runs scored, that is alot of times to cross home plate. Almost 300 home runs (297) over 3000 hits, 2190 walks, over 5000 times on base and he scored over 44% of the time. That is a amazing record. Very few of the top 10 in runs scored were not home run hitters, only Cobb, Rose and Speaker.

In 1989, Henderson played on his first World Series winning team and if not for the Earth Quake his performance would be legendary. hitting .476. We also won the World Series with Toronto in 1993. Over his career we stole 33 bases in 14 series, and had .284 batting average. He shined in the World Series batting .339.

Off the field Rickey was a very emotional player who would cry during a interview as he did on 60 minutes one time. I can remember in his last season when playing for the Red Sox he signed a minor league deal. When he made the team he called and said Rickey don’t like that contract. Rickey will play, but he needs another contract. Whatever his personality, he was and probably will always be the single greatest leadoff hitter of all time.