FanHouse TimRaines

Carl Crawford ranks 69th in the American League in home runs, 45th in slugging percentage and 57th in walks.

And he was an All-Star this year.

"It's just good to see that a guy like me has value in the league," Crawford told FanHouse.

Crawford, tied for the AL lead in stolen bases with 55, has value because people are starting to once again appreciate the steal.

Four years ago, the Athletics stole 31 bases. For the season.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The cleanup hitters in Thursday's game were Preston Wilson and Carl Everett. They have combined to play in more than 2,500 major-league games, hit 391 homers and make more than $80 million.

Wilson and Everett were on opposite sides in the 2003 All-Star Game in Chicago, but this night they were far, far away from U.S. Cellular Field. They were the DHs for the Long Island Ducks and Newark Bears of the Atlantic League, respectively.

And they weren't the only former big-leaguers on the field.

---

---

For every jubilant call received by a new member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, there's someone waiting by a phone that just won't ring. This year that person is Andre Dawson, who received 361 votes, 43 shy of the number he needed for election. He shouldn't fret too much, however, as there's only been one player, Gil Hodges, who ever got more than 60 percent of the vote and didn't get elected.

Matt Snyder did an excellent job of laying out the relevant arguments about Dawson this morning, particularly that it is very difficult to justify a vote for Jim Rice, who got in today, and withhold one from The Hawk. We won't go over them again here, except to say that I'm not enamored of either man's candidacy.

Congratulations are in order for Jim Rice, who, after 15 long years of waiting, was finally elected to the Hall of Fame Monday.

Rice's candidacy has been debated ad nauseam the last few years, with rigid statistical analysts citing his mediocre on-base percentage and poor numbers away from Fenway Park as cause to keep him out and equally rigid supporters, most of them writers who covered Rice when he played, lauding his presence in the batter's box and status as the "most feared" hitter in the American League for much of his career.

Regardless of where you come down in the Rice debate (Personally, I would not have cast a vote in his favor), it's impossible not to feel good for him. Getting as close as he did on the previous 14 elections, and then being forced to wait another year had to be tougher in many respects than falling off the ballot right away.

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.

It's one thing to throw Mark Grace a vote because you really like him as a person -- and just manufacture reasons that it's a "warranted" vote. It's quite another to blatantly neglect Rickey Henderson when voting for eight other players -- including Matt Williams -- to enter baseball's Hall of Fame. Yep, Corky Simpson might be a billion years old -- and retired -- but he still has a vote. This is a mind-boggling ballot. I mean, he listed Rickey in with Ron Gant, Dan Plesac, Greg Vaughn, and Mo Vaughn like some also-ran.

I would accuse Corky of being one of those curmudgeons who just needs to get over himself because he's trying to guard against someone from getting unanimously elected -- as people have done in the past. In reading what he wrote, though, I'm not so sure he even knows what's going on. Can't we start monitoring the senility of the voters instead of just letting them vote for the rest of their lives? Rob Neyer and Keith Law have to wait ten years to vote, but this dinosaur gets to cast a ballot?

In case you don't fully understand how unconscionable it would be to leave Rickey Henderson off a single ballot, let's review what Rickey did:

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

The 2009 Hall of Fame ballot was released Monday, and with it is certain to come heated debate right up until and after the voting results are revealed on Jan. 12, 2009. This year's class of candidates is similar to last year's, in that it's a shallow group.

There is only one sure-fire Hall of Famer among the 23 candidates, which means this is a critical vote for the borderline players who have been up for election on multiple occasions. Now is the time for those borderline guys to get over the top or make a big push to lay the groundwork for election in future years.

After the jump is a breakdown of the ballot, complete with what I think will happen and what should happen with this year's class of Cooperstown contenders.

When the Mets fired Willie Randolph, they also fired something much more important: first base coach Tom Nieto. A week and a half ago Jon authored Remember Tom Nieto, a pulitzer prize-quality Dugout about his exit from the big city and the ridiculousness of firing a guy when his last name is "Nieto." I'm with Jon, I wouldn't fire a guy named "Nieto" if he were in my employ, be he my stock broker, gynecologist, or street sweeper.

But to really remember Tom Nieto we have to explore who Tom Nieto is, so today, with the help of instant messenger logs from the mid-eighties and a heapin' helpin' of CGI, we explore a flashpoint in Tom Nieto's storied career: the day, the one and only single day he shared on the Montreal Expos with Terry Francona.

Remember Tom Nieto as we do, after the jump.