Results tagged “baseballhalloffame”

Rickey Henderson, who played for the Yankees and the Mets but is most known for his time with the A's, made it into the Hall of Fame on Monday. The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted him in in his first year of eligibility with 94.8 percent of the vote. Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice also got in with 76.4 percent, just above the required 75-percent threshold. Henderson is the all-time leader in runs and stolen bases and is probably the best leadoff hitter of all time. His career on-base percentage is .401. And it wasn't just patience; Rickey, as he was wont to call himself, hit 297 career homers, including 81 leading off games. He played for the Yankees from 1985 to 1989 and the Mets in 1999 and 2000. When Henderson ran out of steam, he still tried playing for the independent Newark Bears for almost no money out of pure love for the game. He's a worthy admission to Coooperstown.

Rich "Goose" Gossage, the former Yankees reliever who also pitched with eight other teams, gave a 17-minute acceptance speech as the only player honored this year in Cooperstown. A preeminent fireman reliever of his time, Gossage was the man who ended the epic one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Red Sox in 1978 by getting Carl Yastrzemski to pop out to third base. His plaque will forever show a Yankees cap, though he also made a name for himself with the San Diego Padres. Gossage said the induction was "the most amazing thing, outside of the birth of my three boys, that I've ever been through." He pitched 22 seasons, posting a 3.01 ERA and recording 301 saves, but his workload was most impressive: In that famous 1978 season, when the Yankees came from 14 1/2 games back to beat the Red Sox, he threw 134 innings, all in relief.