Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson elected to MLB HoF

Two players at the opposite ends of their voting eligibility were announced as having been selected for enshrinement to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday 12 January. Longtime Boston Redsox outfielder and slugger Jim Rice was chosen in his last year of eligibility while Rickey Henderson, an outfielder with the Oakland Athletics and several other clubs, was chosen in his initial year of eligibility. It can be argued that Henderson was the greatest offensive player in baseball history as he owns the records for career steals, steals in a season, walks, leadoff home runs, and runs scored. In addition he had over 3000 hits, was a gold glove outfielder, and was a regular participant throughout his career in postseason. He also a solid reputation of being a showboat, a whiner, a hothead, and being outside the box in his preparation for games and while participating in a game which only added to his legend and fame.

Rice was a steady stalwart outfielder for the Redsox for 16 seasons, contributing home runs, clutch hits, solid defense, and consistent hitting throughout his career. Rice received the ninth most number of MVP votes for all players throughout his career in the history of the award.

Here are the raw votes totals and the percentage votes each candidate received in this year's vote where 539 ballots were cast with 405 votes needed for election.

Rickey Henderson....	511....	94.8
Jim Rice.....................	412....	76.4
Andre Dawson..........	361....	67.0
Bert Blyleven............	338....	62.7
Lee Smith..................	240....	44.5
Jack Morris...............	237....	44.0
Tommy John .............171 .....31.7 Tim Raines ................122......22.6 Mark McGwire .........118 .....21.9 Alan Trammell ............94.... 17.4 Dave Parker................ 81.... 15.0 Don Mattingly............. 64.... 11.9 Dale Murphy............... 62.... 11.5 Harold Baines.............. 32...... 5.9 Mark Grace................. 22...... 4.1 David Cone.................. 21....... 3.9 Matt Williams............... 7....... 1.3 Mo Vaughn................... 6....... 1.1 Jay Bell......................... 2....... 0.4 Jesse Orosco................ 1 ........0.2 Ron Gant.......................0........0 Greg Vaughn................0........0 Dan Pleasac..................0........0

It was surprising to see such little support for Harold Baines, Mark Grace, David Cone, Matt Williams, Jesse Orosco, and Dan Plesac. Candidates like Grace, Williams, and Plesac will not be on future ballots as they failed to receive at 5 % of votes, along with four others.

The ballot in 2010 will only have 12 returning players for consideration, the fewest ever. This may bode well for candidates such as Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, and Jack Morris. One player on this year's ballot whom will not be back on next year's will be Tommy John. His 15 years of eligibility for consideration ended this year as he fell considerably short of selection again.

Players such as John that have seen their eligibility expire now go to the post-1943 Veterans Committee after a five year waiting period. There are a vast number of players that will be taken under consideration for enshrinement from this committee, which consists of the living members of the Hall of Fame. This committee considers players whose careers began in 1943 or later. Another committee, the Historical Committee, made up of twelve Hall members and media representatives, considers selections of players whose careers began prior to 1943. Joe Gordon was selected for enshrinement by this committee. Gordon, a second baseman for the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees from 1938 - 50, also was an on the field manager for the Indians, Tigers, Athletics, and Royals for short stretches between 1958 and 1969. He is believed to be the only manager ever to be traded as he was swapped from the Indians to the Tigers in mid-1960 straight up for Tigers manager Jimmy Dykes. Gordon, who passed in 1978, will be represented by two of his grandchildren for the induction

Tony Kubek, a longtime NBC broadcaster of The Game of the Week that I watched often as a youth, was chosen for the Ford C Frick Award for broadcasters which is part of the regular display at the Hall.

Induction and enshrinement for Rice and Henderson as well as for Gordon posthumously will be conducted on Sunday 26 July '09 in Cooperstown, NY, home of the MLB Hall of Fame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Hall_of_Fame_balloting,_2009

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The Fungus Among Us

Here is an interesting site someone creating physically detailing the growth of Wal-mart stores across the nation. I imagine if one looks at this site again in ten years or so (if it still exists) the numbers will only have vastly increased. I see lots of potential for growth with those smaller Wal-mart Neighborhood Stores like the one about 1/2 mile from where my youngest sister L and her family reside. I can envision over a hundred of these smaller Wal-marts along the Front Range metro corridor, and here in Cheyenne, a half-dozen of those outlets could easily be established and thrive. A lot of the two bit and overly present convenience stores and service stations are doomed to be replaced by these in the coming years.

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

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