The Whole Delivery

What's the better question? Why didn't Ricky Henderson get a unanimous first ballot vote into baseball's Hall of Fame, or why did it take jim Rice so many years to get into the place? Either way, these two men were the prominent additions to the Cooperstown temple this weekend, for this year. And their addictions rose the question once again of why the number of blacks have diminished in baseball. Or, have they? In the last few years, we have seen the slight reemergence of the Africa-American baseball player in the major leagues, with emphasis on the word slight of course. According to USA Today from last year: -- 2008 was the first season in which there was an increase (2%) of African-American players over the previous season since 1995 That reemergence has been lead by headline stars such as Phillies combo Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, Yankees ace CC Sabathia, and Brewers super slugger Prince Fielder, along with the rise of future young stars such as the Upton Brother...

Photos from google.com As Ricky Henderson gets in on his first try into the Hall of Fame ( not a surprise at all), Jim Rice finally was elected into Cooperstown today. It took almost forever for this to happen, when it should have occurred a hell of a long time ago. Maybe even more curious in the voting today (which is done by the premiere baseball writers in the country for those who don't know) is the fact that 28 voters did not vote for Henderson. Yes, that's right, 28 voters did not vote for the all time steals leader, runs leader, and lead off home run leader. ESPN's wonderful Jayson Stark put some of these fools in place : Sorry. Can't help myself. I need to trot out one more Rickey Henderson stat for you. What did this man do better than every other leadoff man of modern times -- outside of steal more bases and forget all the other guys' names? Score runs, of course. I already mentioned he scored more than any player who ever played. So maybe that sounds obvi...