FanHouse RickeyHenderson

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.

You Oughta Know...
That instant replay has been in use in the majors for reviewing homers since last August, but there had not been a single home run taken away until Wednesday.

And then it happened twice.

First, Pittsburgh's Adam LaRoche hit a first-inning drive that was initially ruled a three-run homer. After umpires checked the replay, they determined that the ball had not cleared the fence, and LaRoche instead had a two-run double.

A few hours later, in Milwaukee, Marlins pinch-hitter Ross Gload had a would-be solo homer reversed.

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I don't know if you know this or not, but since he's commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig seems to think this gives him special privileges that nobody else in America is entitled to. Why, as commissioner of baseball he's not bound by the ex post facto laws of our society, which means he's allowed to suspend Alex Rodriguez for breaking rules that weren't yet in place.

Left on Base is MLB FanHouse's link dump.

* The 45-man rosters for the World Baseball Classic were announced yesterday, which is interesting but not altogether meaningful -- the 28-man rosters that teams will actually play with won't be announced until Feb. 24. In the meantime, Baseball America scours the WBC for prospects.

* Curt Schilling does the math to "prove" the Red Sox should bring back Jason Varitek.

You would think Rickey Henderson would finally be satisfied with his baseball career after being inducted -- with nearly 95 percent of the vote -- into baseball's Hall of Fame this week. That's the thing about Rickey, though, he loves the game so much and he's so competitive, he'll want to play when he's 70.

Well, he's only 50 now, but it sounds like he's serious when saying he wants to play. Not only that, but he believes he'd be a very productive player and not just some novelty act.

Doing a quality impersonation is hard work. Except for George Bush. He's easy to impersonate. Or John Madden. He's pretty easy too. Oh, and Jack Nicholson. Everyone can do him. But a high end, quality Rickey Henderson impersonation? It's tough to actually pull off. Jimmy Rollins can do just that.



Now, TBS hasn't put a formal offer on the table, but I would be surprised if they let Jimmy slip through the cracks during the offseason.

Via the Fightins

Missed us over the weekend? Yeah, we missed you too. In this edition of the FanHouse Minute, let Kristine guide you through the latest on LenDale White's New Year's Resolution and Rickey Henderson's Hall of Fame acceptance speech, as only she can.

(FanHouse Minute is your 60-second rundown of the top five headlines that you didn't get to see. Check back here every week for the latest installment, and watch this week's video after the jump.)

You may notice that we've discussed Bert Blyleven and Mark McGwire and Tim Raines this afternoon at FanHouse (with Jim Rice coming soon), but no one's said much about Rickey Henderson -- the guy that pulled almost 95 percent of the vote. This isn't meant as a slight to Rickey, but rather it's a form of compliment. What can we possibly add to the conversation about a guy that had a career .401 OBP, stole 1,406 bases, and is well-documented as one of the greatest characters in the history of baseball?

Hello everybody, Rickey's name is Rickey Henderson and Rickey wants you all to know how honored Rickey is to be here today. As Rickey stands before you in front of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Rickey can't help but get a sense of all the greatness and history surrounding Rickey.

That being said, Rickey did not come here today to talk about Rickey. Rickey isn't here to tell you all about how Rickey is the all-time leader in stolen bases with 1,406, or how Rickey also redefined the leadoff position. Did you know that Rickey's 81 career leadoff home runs are more than any other leadoff hitter in history? They are, but Rickey isn't here to tell you he was elected to 10 All-Star teams, or that Rickey hit 297 homers, drove in 1,115 runs, drew 2,190 walks, or scored 2,295 runs. Rickey's also not here to tell you how he set the single season mark with 130 stolen bases back in 1982. Rickey knows that you know that already, or else you wouldn't have put Rickey here right now.

No, Rickey is here to apologize to all of those who did not make the Hall of Fame with Rickey this year. Rickey is sorry that Rickey's name and legacy outshined you on all of those ballots. Rickey is especially sorry that Rickey's friend and contemporary Tim Raines only got 22.6 percent of the votes. Rickey knows you're better than that, Tim, it's just you're not Rickey is all.

Oh, and as for those 28 voters who did not write Rickey's name down on their ballots, Rickey wants you to know that Rickey forgives you. Rickey knows that even Rickey can sometimes make mistakes, and Rickey is sure you only omitted his name because you wanted to help out the players that weren't as good as Rickey is get a chance to join Rickey on this stage.

Thank you, and Rickey bless you.

*And by Exclusive in this case, we mean satire. Though, to be honest, if you hadn't figured that out already, then not even Rickey can help you.

For most of his career, Tim Raines was overshadowed by Rickey Henderson. Monday, it happened again. Just as Rickey was cruising to his enshrinement as easily as he could swipe second base, "Rock" Raines was snubbed by more than 3/4ths of the electorate (22.6 percent, to be exact, cast a vote for him).

If not for Henderson, Raines would have been remembered as the best leadoff man of his generation, and he most certainly would have received more than 22.6 percent of the Hall of Fame vote this season.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is expanding to include the giant resume of Rickey Henderson. Much to the chagrin of Corky Simpson -- who is "not a Rickey guy" -- Henderson easily cake-walked to induction in his first year of eligibility, garnering a whopping 94.8 percent of the vote.

Joining the stolen base, walks, and runs scored king will be Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice.