Knobler: Look Ahead
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- The Weekend Hall of Fame Buzz while you were translating Rickey Henderson and watching Jim Rice smile ...
1. Rickey don't lose that syntax: In a wildly entertaining speech that mostly lived up to exceedingly high expectations -- heck, Hank Aaron even said the Hall of Famers were discussing it Friday night -- Rickey Henderson, as only he could, revealed that his immortal career began only when he was "tricked" and "bribed" into playing baseball.
He told of how an old youth coach "tricked me into playing Babe Ruth baseball by coming to pick me up with a glazed donut and a cup of hot chocolate. That was the way he would get me up and out of bed and on to the ballpark."
He told of how, in his first year of high school, a counselor "bribed me into playing baseball. She would pay me a quarter every time I would get a hit, a run scored or a stolen base. After my first 10 games, I had 30 hits, 25 runs scored and 33 steals. Not bad money for a kid in high school."
Absolute proof that the most auspicious of careers can start in the most humble of surroundings.
The debate here this weekend wasn't simply whether Henderson is the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history, which he generally is considered. It was where he ranks on the all-time list of all-around players.
"In my opinion, he's in the top five," said former pitcher Dave Stewart, who grew up with Henderson in Oakland and has known him since the two were 13 or 14.
Henderson scored 2,295 runs and stole 1,406 bases, both major league records. Though Barry Bonds now holds the all-time walks record, Henderson's 2,129 unintentional walks is the most in history. He owns assorted other marks, including his still-remarkable 130 stolen bases in 1982, easily a single-season record.
• Henderson, Rice inducted into Hall
Of course, it nearly didn't happen because, as Henderson said, football was his first love and, growing up in Oakland, playing for the Raiders was his first dream. He "played football, a little hoops and baseball."
However, in another inimitable moment from the podium, Henderson explained that his mother thought he would get hurt playing football so she "chosed baseball for me. I guess Mom do knows best. Thanks, Mom."
The guy is a veritable latter-day version of one of the Hall of Famers who was sitting on the stage behind him, Yogi Berra. Only younger and with more interesting clothes: He was styling in what appeared to be some sort of white hybrid suit/tuxedo/leisure suit.
His only regret came when one of the pages of his speech stuck and he glossed over the names of his three daughters.
"As most people say, I talk faster than I think," Henderson explained at a press conference following the ceremony. "But you get to flipping paper and one gets stuck and you wonder where those pages were. But you've got to go on with your speech."
And go on, he did. He spoke of his heroes during the 14-minute speech: Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson.
"What about that Reggie Jackson?" Henderson said on the podium. "I'd stand out at the ballpark in the parking lot waiting for Reggie Jackson to give me an autograph. Reggie used to come out all the time and I'd say, 'Reggie, can I have an autograph?' He would pass me a pen with his name on it. He never gave me an autograph."
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| Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice (right) were two different kind of players, but both deserve to be among baseball's best. (AP) |
Henderson was sweet, he was funny and he was humble. Those close to him say that the thing with Lou Brock, back in 1991, still bothers him in the way it was portrayed. That moment came when Henderson broke the all-time steals record and then, in an on-field ceremony with Brock standing next to him, declared, "Today, I am the greatest of all time." It played crass and arrogant, something Henderson, who idolizes Muhammad Ali, never intended.
So it was particularly touching when Henderson artfully brought his speech to a close with this:
"My favorite hero is Muhammad Ali and he said at one time, quote, I am the greatest, end of quote. This is something I always wanted to be, and now that the [Baseball Writers' Assn. of America] has voted me into the Hall of Fame, my journey as a player is complete.
"I am now in the class of the greatest players of all time. And at this moment, I am very, very humbled. Thank you."
2. Rice Dream: What about that Jim Rice? As Reggie Jackson was saying the other day, once you're voted into the Hall of Fame, they can't take the keys away from you. That's particularly apropos for Rice, who squeezed into the Hall in this, his final year of eligibility on the writers' ballot.
His 1978 season still stands alone. He compiled a staggering 406 total bases, becoming the first American League player since Joe DiMaggio in 1937 to collect 400 or more in a season. And after that, no player in baseball did it again until 1997, when Larry Walker collected 409.
Rice led the AL in home runs, RBI and base hits between 1977 and 1986 yet, 15 years ago, he earned a ludicrously low total of 29.8 percent of the vote total (75 percent is required for admission to the Hall). Lesson: Sometimes it's a long, slow slog toward immortality.
Of course, Rice's contentious relationship with the media during his career often is blamed for the long freeze-out. Longtime teammate Dwight Evans was saying Sunday that he thought Rice simply was shy and uncomfortable allowing people to get close to him. Rice acknowledged during his speech that he "refused to be a media mouthpiece" for his teammates.
So now he works for the New England Sports Network, talking baseball, and even he noted the irony of that.
"Who would have ever guessed I'd be working with the media at NESN ... allowing all of you to see my winning smile?" he quipped.
His 10½-minute speech had neither the humor nor flair of Henderson's. But, finally, deservedly, Rice now has his own set of keys to the Cooperstown gates.
3. Half-a-Century of Greatness: Rice completes an incredible trilogy of Hall of Fame left fielders in Boston: From Ted Williams to Carl Yastrzemski to Rice, that's 50 years' worth of Cooperstown left fielders to patrol Fenway Park, from 1939-1989.
How much does that mean? The reclusive Yastrzemski arrived Sunday to participate in ceremonies for the first time in nearly a decade. Not since Carlton Fisk was inducted in 2000 has Yaz graced the pearly gates of Cooperstown with an appearance.
Rice himself noted that, as did his longtime teammate, Evans -- who mused how the 1975 World Series against Cincinnati might have turned out differently if Rice, who broke a hand late that season, had been able to play.
Much as Sunday was for fond memories, though, it wasn't for regrets. And from Williams to Yaz to Rice, the awe was evident.
"The sad part of the whole thing was when Jim Rice took over for Yaz, he wasn't received very well," Evans said. "People didn't know what a good outfielder he was for a few years. He had a great arm. Yaz had a gift for defense that was tremendous, and Jim was unfairly judged.
"He was a very good outfielder. Yaz was a great outfielder. Ted Williams was a good outfielder."
Evans can still see Rice digging hits out of the Fenway left-field corner, in the shadow of the Green Monster.
"He came out throwing and he was very accurate to second base," Evans said.
4. Rickey stories: They were flowing all weekend here, along with the nostalgia and pizza-by-the-slice over at Sal's Pizzeria on Main Street. If you've heard these few, they're worth hearing again. If you haven't, sit back and enjoy:
• There was former executive Sandy Alderson in the lobby of the Otesaga Hotel recounting the time Henderson took a $1 million signing bonus check in Oakland and ... tacked it up on his wall for close to a year.
"Finally, our chief financial officer kept waiting and waiting for him to cash it so he could close the books. He finally called Rickey and said, 'What happened to that million-dollar check?' Rickey told him he hadn't cashed it yet because he was waiting for the interest rates to go up.
• There was San Diego general manager Kevin Towers at the induction ceremony, chuckling over the time he received a phone call not from an agent, but from Henderson himself when the Hall of Famer was on the job market as a free agent.
"This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "Rickey wants to play baseball."
• There was Oakland president/general manager Billy Beane at the induction ceremony, recounting the time during his playing career when he was a teammate of Henderson's, in 1989.
"Our lockers were right next to each other," Beane said. "And there came a point in the season when I was sent to the minors for about three weeks. When I came back, I came back to that same locker. Rickey looked at me and said, 'Where have you been?'"
• Then, of course, there was the time when Henderson was with the Padres and he walked onto a team bus and Tony Gwynn directed him toward the back with the other veterans because he had "tenure."
"Ten year?" Henderson replied. "Rickey's got 17, 18 years in the big leagues."
5. Five days to the July 31 trade deadline: And while it feels like you're stepping back into 1950 in Cooperstown, sometimes, if you're lucky, cell phones work. In certain spots.
Before Sunday's induction ceremony, Beane, just two days after shipping Matt Holliday to St. Louis, was working the phones. Next on the block appears to be shortstop Orlando Cabrera, possibly to Minnesota. The Twins, struggling to keep pace with Detroit and the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, are interested and increasingly desperate.
"He's playing great right now," said Beane, who declined to address any specific trade talks.
Meantime, Towers predicted that the final 24 to 48 hours before Friday's trade deadline will be fairly busy because more and more teams are dropping out of contention.
