OPINION

By Gerry Fraley

updated 7:36 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2009

Rickey Henderson, the leadoff hitter against whom all others are judged, had to settle for a first-ballot selection into the Hall of Fame on Monday.

Henderson received 511 of the 539 ballots cast by veteran members of the Baseball Writers Association of America for a 94.8 acceptance rate. If ever a player merited unanimous certification, it is Henderson.

No one has ever done that.

Ty Cobb has had the closest brush in terms of raw numbers, receiving 222 of 226 votes cast for the inaugural class of 1936.

Tom Seaver has been listed on the highest percentage of ballots, 425 out of 430 votes for a 98.8 percent approval rate in 1992.

What were the 28 voters who rejected Henderson thinking?

"He was the most dangerous player of our generation,'' said St. Louis' Tony La Russa, who has had Henderson on his teams twice and also managed against him. "That includes all the great sluggers and Hall of Famers. He was the most dangerous.''

Henderson is the all-time leader in runs with 2,295 in 3,081 games. He did that with a mixture of speed and cunning, with a dash of power — a record 81 of his 297 home runs came in his team's first at bat — never before or since seen from a leadoff hitter.

Henderson had an .822 OPS for 10,793 career at-bats in the leadoff spot. Among players with at least 5,000 at-bats in the No. 1 spot since 1974, only Hall of Famer Wade Boggs had a higher OPS as a leadoff hitter at .841.

2009 Hall of Fame Voting 539 votes cast, 405 needed x-Rickey Henderson 511 (94.8 percent), xy-Jim Rice 412 (76.4), Andre Dawson 361 (67.0), Bert Blyleven 338 (62.7), Lee Smith 240 (44.5), Jack Morris 237 (44.0), y-Tommy John 171 (31.7), Tim Raines 122 (22.6), Mark McGwire 118 (21.9), Alan Trammell 94 (17.4), Dave Parker 81 (15.0), Don Mattingly 64 (11.9), Dale Murphy 62 (11.5), Harold Baines 32 (5.9). By receiving fewer than 27 votes (less than 5 percent), Mark Grace 22 (4.1), David Cone 21 (3.9), Matt Williams 7 (1.3), Mo Vaughn 6 (1.1), Jay Bell 2 (0.4), Jesse Orosco 1 (0.2), Ron Gant 0, Dan Plesac 0, Greg Vaughn 0 are no longer eligible for election by the BBWAA. x-elected y-final year of eligibility for election by the BBWAA By The Associated Press

Boggs could not create runs as Henderson did.

With his deep crouch and patience, Henderson made life difficult for pitchers. He ranks second all-time in walks with 2,190, second to Barry Bonds at 2,558. Take away the 688 intentional walks for Bonds, the all-time home-run leader, and Henderson becomes the all-time leader in unintentional walks with 2,129.

Henderson is also the all-time leader in stolen bases with 1,406 in 1,741 attempts for an 80.8 percent success rate.

Tim Raines, also on the ballot, had a better success rate at 84.7 with 808 steals in 954 attempts. The difference, according to several industry observers, is Henderson would run when everyone in the park knew he was running and still make it while Raines was much more conservative in those situations and seemed more interested in protecting his success rate.

As La Russa said, Henderson could manufacture a run with his team trailing in the late innings through a walk and a stolen base. Henderson's legs never went into the slump that sluggers' bats did.

"He was a marked man,'' La Russa said. "We all tried to stop him, and he still succeeded.'' La Russa admitted that he had some problems with Henderson, usually when he went into an annual funk about his contract and put his game into cruise-control for a few days. The legendary Rickey-isms such as "If you're going to pay me like (Mike) Gallego, I'm going to play like Gallego,'' irritated La Russa, but he said Henderson was a good teammate.

"He was a much better teammate than some of the guys who get publicity and are really phony about it,'' La Russa said. "Rickey was overall a very popular teammate.'' Henderson reached the majors with Oakland in 1979, the same season that La Russa debuted as manager of the Chicago White Sox. They teamed on Oakland's World Series winner in 1989, with Henderson joining the club in mid-season. Henderson likes to say that his contributions allowed La Russa to get his first World Series ring. "I thought he was kidding, but now I know he wasn't,'' La Russa said. "I don't know if that's true, because we had other great players.''

That team included "Bash Brothers'' sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, who turned into the sad symbols of the steroids era. La Russa is estranged from Canseco but continues to support McGwire's Hall of Fame candidacy. La Russa is a lonely voice in the wilderness on this one. McGwire will join Henderson at Cooperstown only if he buys a ticket for admission.

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