Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice Officially Elected Into Baseball Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame is expanding to include the giant resume of Rickey Henderson. Much to the chagrin of Corky Simpson -- who is "not a Rickey guy" -- Henderson easily cake-walked to induction in his first year of eligibility, garnering a whopping 94.8 percent of the vote.

Joining the stolen base, walks, and runs scored king will be Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice.

For Rickey, the only question was how many voters would do the unthinkable and not vote for him. Well, a little more than five percent decided not to vote for him. I'm sure they did it under the guise of something like: well, Babe Ruth didn't get unanimously elected, so it's my duty to not vote for Rickey. The problem with this logic is that it's, quite frankly, ignorant. Things change and evolve. That's like saying: well, people have driven their car under the influence before, so I'll knock back a few brown pops and drive home.

Either way, Rickey is in, and I guess that's really all that matters.

This season was the 15th and final chance on the ballot for Rice, so it must be a relief for the mighty bopper from Beantown. He barely made the cut, earning 76.4 percent of the vote (75 percent is needed for election). Again, though, he made it.

Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven were "close, but no cigar" candidates. Dawson gathered 67 percent of the vote, while Blyleven racked up 62.7 percent.

Former record holder in career saves, Lee Smith, received only 44.5 percent.

For Tommy John, it was also his last go-round on the ballot. He was only named on 31.7 percent of the ballots. He will have to wait on the Veteran's Committee, though they haven't been so helpful when it comes to people like Gil Hodges and Ran Santo.

Others who received enough votes to remain eligible, but failed to make it are as follows:

- Jack Morris, 44 percent
- Tim Raines, 22.6 percent
- Mark McGwire, 21.9 percent
- Alan Trammell, 17.4 percent
- Dave Parker, 15 percent
- Don Mattingley, 11.9 percent
- Dale Murphy, 11.5 percent
- Harold Baines, 5.9 percent

Everyone else who was eligible will be removed from the ballot on future elections.