Dick Heller: Hare and hair forever entwined

By Dick Heller | Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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Dramatic differences characterize the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, except for one thing.

Both Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice belong. Surely. Definitely. Inarguably.

For that reason, all those who cherish the game and its diminished integrity should be cheering on the lawn in Cooperstown or from afar when the two are inducted July 26. But rarely have fellow entrants been so dissimilar.

To match this study in contrasts, Mark McGwire and Wee Willie Keeler would have to have entered the same year - a nice trick considering they played a century or so apart. Besides, Wee Willie made it in 1939, and Big Mac probably never will unless body-enhancing drugs are sanctioned retroactively.

When it comes to the disparity in the Class of 2009, let us count the ways.

Henderson, 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, was a classic "here he is, there he goes" speedster and the best leadoff man in 137 seasons of major league combat.

Rice, 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, was your quintessential hairy-chested power hitter.

Rickey was famously flamboyant, at least in public. Well remembered is the day in May 1991 when he broke Lou Brock's record for career steals, lifted second base high above his head and proclaimed, "I am the greatest!" (Not for long, as it turned out, because that night Nolan Ryan pitched his record seventh no-hitter.)

Jim was terribly taciturn, at least when it came to the media. Asked about his "difficulties with the press" during a teleconference Monday, he insisted, "I didn't have difficulties with the press. The press had difficulties with me." Two famously reticent Hall of Famers, Eddie Murray and Steve Carlton, couldn't have said it better. If they had said it at all, that is.

Henderson played for nine clubs in 25 seasons, including three tours with the undoubtedly appreciative Oakland Athletics. Rice spent all 16 of his years in the bigs with the Boston Red Sox, for better or worse.