For Whom The Hall Calls

Well, the Baseball Hall of Fame finally wised up and elected Jim Ed Rice to the Hall of Fame on his 15th and final try. I think that Rice is one of those players who actually benefit from the steroids era because it appears that none of those players will make it, even those with better lifetime numbers than Rice. Hello, Mark McGuire. For a solid decade, Rice was the most feared hitter in all of baseball and played a nearly flawless left field. He ended his 16 year career with 2,452 hits, 382 home runs and a .298 lifetime average.

While he was never a media darling (and I have my own story), it's important to remember that he should be judged for his performance on the field and not off the field, where he is to this day one of the most unapproached people in all of baseball. At least he's as consistent off the field as he was on it.