I wasn't sure Ricky ever retired.

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Pete's reply: Wouldn't surprise me if he signed a minor league deal right after his induction.

Hope Ricky goes in by himself. Then there will be no one else there to watch him. He can do his speech and leave and no one will even know he showed up. Good bye Ricky.

Trade: Kouzmanouf,Kalil Green, and their stud 1st baseman in the minors who is behind Adrian Gonzalez for Roberts/Olson. Don't know how to spell those guys names from S Diego but I would like to have a reason to learn.

First of all, Rickey should be inducted. But why do they have a veterans committee? If you weren't good enough to make the Hall in your first year of eligibility you should be taken off the ballot. You don't get any better over time and your stats don't change so why should you be inducted? Let's stop inducting these marginal players just so they have someone to induct every year.

Rickey was a FORCE! We may never see another player like him. Yes, others will steal bases, but he truly changed the game when he got on...especially in the playoffs. Why did he get in other teams heads more than others like Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, etc? Never forget his quote after the As had beat the Jays in a series, "I makes things happens." Priceless! Blyleven should be in. Getting penalized for pitcthing for crappy teams ain't right...plus a ton of strikeouts...can't believe it's been so long. Tommy John should be in because of the 'Fame' part. Jim Rice reminds me of Eddie Murray except Murray played longer. How did Rice not hit 500 hrs...not even 400? Tough call on Rice. And if there's any doubt, the answer's no.

Hi Pete,

It's been a while since I've posted. I too think Rickey is a no-brainer. He was the most feared leadoff hitter of all-time, and I don't think anyone will ever break his stolen base record.

I think it's high time we put Bert Blyleven and Jim Rice in the Hall of Fame. These were great players in their primes, and deserve to be in. If Mike Mussina is being considered, then Blyleven should be a lead pipe lock!

I think Andre Dawson is a must - class act another of the feared hitter class. I also remember him turning down money to play with the Cubs instead of bleeding a team dry - and that is class! Lee Smith is another should be in there candidate.

How about Tim Raines?

Henderson has the press, the stolen-base record and the 3000 hits, but stats-wise Raines was almost as good.

Rickey had 400 more hits, but 2000 more at-bats. Raines had almost 50 more triples than Henderson. Their adjusted OPS numbers are very close as well (127 for Henderson, 123 for Raines).

Raines also was a better base stealer, going 84.7% for his career compared to 80.8% for Henderson.

Raines was a seven-time All-Star; Henderson went ten times. They both spent most of their careers in left field, so their defensive value (without researching that too deeply) is probably pretty close.

I think he's got a very Blyleven-like debate coming: he doesn't have the same recognition among the very best of his generation as others at his position, and he didn't quite get the milestones, but compare his stats with others and there's a case there.

Other than that, I definitely think Blyleven should go in, and I could probably go for Rice as long as we are honoring the "long career adding up to greatness" guys along with the "short career with a very high peak" guys.

And I'd only put in Tommy John if they do a dual induction with Dr. James Andrews, kind of like when they inducted Tinker, Evers and Chance at the same time.

I think this is going to be the year for Henderson and Rice, though, with Blyleven inching past Dawson in the balloting but not quite getting there, yet.

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Pete's reply: Actually, the doctors who should be in are Robert Kerlin and Frank Jobe, who invented that operation, but there is no avenue for medical personnel to get into the Hall.

Hi Pete,

This post is going to be a little off-topic, but I was hoping you could shed a light on a few things. I am a big believer in going big on the rebuilding side of things. Do you feel that Andy MacPhail is going to bring some young talent to Baltimore this offseason, and not just go after Teixeira and/or Burnett?

Here are 7 trades/signings I'd love to see the Orioles make:
1A. Ramon Hernandez and Jamie Walker for Lars Anderson (1B for Red Sox AA team). This trade makes a lot of sense if they let Varitek go and sign Teixeira.
1B. If the Red Sox don't sign Teixeira, and don't trade or let Varitek go, then the Orioles should go after Billy Butler of KC. Perhaps Daniel Cabrera would be enough to get him.
2. Trade Garrett Olson for Felix Pie. You can never have enough athletic OF's. The Tampa Bay Rays made it to the World Series this year using pitching, speed, defense, and the occasional homer from Longoria, Pena, or Crawford. While I like Olson, trading him straight up for Pie is a good deal.
3. Sign Cesar Izturis. Combined with Markakis, Jones, and Pie, we would have 4 guys capable of stealing 20+ bases a year.
4. Sign a GOOD veteran pitcher or two to help lead this team. My top 4(which won't cost us a lot), are Brad Penny, Randy Wolf, Koji Uehara, and Paul Byrd. Penny and Wolf, when they're on, are pretty darn good. Uehara is intriguing, and would definitely open the door for us into the Japanese market. Japanese players prefer to go to teams where there is already another Japanese player (Seattle, Boston, LA Dodgers, to name a few).
5. Trade Brian Roberts, and get a young 2B in return. Perhaps Milwaukee would be interested in a blockbuster Roberts and Sherrill for Weeks and Escobar/Gamel deal.
6. Re-sign Nick Markakis to a nice longterm deal.
7. Sign a backup catcher for Wieters (David Ross or Javier Valentin perhaps).

Other moves I'd make:
1. Make the competition for the rotation (aside from Guthrie) wide open this Spring. Let's see if Tillman, Bergesen, Patton, Hernandez, Matusz and company are ready for prime time.
2. Move Radhames Liz to the bullpen, and see what he can do.
3. Unless Wieters bombs in Spring Training, start him with the big club. We're rebuilding. The experience he gets in 2009 will only help to serve him down the line.

I think that with these moves, we not only will be younger, but we'll be more well-rounded offensively, defensively, and with pitching.

This better be Blyleven's year. I cannot believe that he has not been voted in yet. 287 wins for some pretty bad teams...that says it all. Oh, and by the way, more victories than one Mike Mussina.

Bert Blyleven belongs in the Hall of Fame. Others who belong? Jim Kaat, Dick Allen, and Tony Oliva.

Bert Blyleven SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame. I hope he gets his due this year.

Rickey was awesome and made stolen bases as exciting as HR's. He turned it into an art form.

Pete, I know Rice had a surly relationship with the media, but do you think that it's more that when you look at his #s against guys in the steroid era, they don't stack up? I tend to think that voters are going to start to look at stats a little differently.

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Pete's reply: I'm still a big ambivalent about Rice, but think he will get in next year.

Jack Morris is my underrated pick for the Hall...Longevity, 250+ wins, World Series and Cy Young campaigns, nobody tougher in a big game...what more can we ask except 300 wins in a big-market town?

We need starters. Radhames Liz shows great potential to be a Cabrera who gets it. I am responding to T-Mac's long list of recommendations for Andy M.

Henderson, Orosco, Dawson, Blyleven, John, and Smith should all eventually be inducted because of their individual impacts upon the game.
Many people don't seem to remember how long Tommy John was around and appearing in post season contests. He was also a heckuva hitter (having been originally signed as a first-baseman).
Orosco also seemed to just go on and on and on....
Call me crazy, but I just don't see how either Grace, Mattingly or Rice (all three of whom were excellent players), or even Murphy impacted the game with their careers.
I think all four of these players seemed to be the "faces" of their respective teams duing their time with them and because of that, seemed greater than they actually were.
Both of the Vaughns certainly personified how a player's greed at it's very worst can leave teams and fans standing in the lurch, and remain as forboding examples of why big contracts are always a gamble. As some players, deservedly so or not, will never shake the steroid stigma associated with their names, there will also be players, I think, who will never be inducted because of the mercenary memories their names invoke in our hearts.

Big Al:

Ricky will show up to watch Ricky be inducted.

Pete. Is baseball the only sport that keeps the door to the Hall of Fame open for years beyond when they reach eligibilty?

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Pete's reply: No, Art Monk was on a finalist every year from 2001 until he got in this year.

There's no question that the 80's were the glory days of the leadoff hitter. Bases wers stolen like never before. And Rickey Henderson was the best of them all. He's deservedly going to be a 1st ballot hofer. Congrats Rickey you were a monster.

I also agree with DJ. Tim Raines Sr. clearly belongs in the hall as well. He was the Rickey Henderson of the NL. Unfortunately he was exiled in Montreal and therefore never got the exposure Rickey got. If he had Raines would be taking his place among Henderson, Lou Brock, and the other hof leadoff hitters.

I just went online to make my hotel reservations for Cooperstown for the 2009 induction ceremony.

I met my future husband a couple of days before Opening Day in March of 1988, here in Baltimore. He is from Boston and I am from New York. We spent that first meeting discussing the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. I argued that Rickey Henderson was the greatest active player at that time. He politely disagreed, but years later acknowledged that he was impressed with my baseball knowledge that day, and therefore I had some potential (like in "Diner" when they quiz the prospective fiance about football).

When we got married in late 1989, I made my husband promise that when Rickey gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, we would go to Cooperstown to see it. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly agreed.

Over the years, I have reminded him many times of this promise. When Jose Canseco's book "Juiced" came out, I bought it and immediately turned to the index to look up Henderson. I figured if there was any steroid usage in Rickey's past, Jose would know about it, since they spent alot of time together in Oakland. The only entry in Canseco's book about Rickey Henderson is a remark that Canseco thinks he was a faster runner than Henderson. So Rickey is squeaky clean in the steriods department.

Cooperstown - here we come!