Jim Rice Named to MLB Hall of Fame. Who's Next? Blyleven? Dawson?

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Henderson, Rice Elected to Hall of Fame

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The Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2009 class of inductees. This year's class include stolen-base champ Rickey Henderson and former Boston Red Sox great Jim Rice. Rice's entry into the Hall comes after he was rejected several times by HOF voters. Along the way, the debate over whether Rice should or should not be enshrined in Cooperstown lingered on for years.

Man fans insist that Jim Rice's career stats speak for themselves: .298 career batting average, 382 home runs, 1,451 RBIs and a .502 slugging percentage.

Rice was also wildly unpopular with reporters, the very people who vote on Hall of Fame ballots. Rice is famous for having threatened to stuff a reporter into a locker. Another time he literally tore the shirt off of a reporter for the Hartford Courant.

Now that Rice made it into the HOF on his 15th try, the question remains: who will be the next player on the Hall of Fame ballot that everyone argues about?

Former Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos great Andre Dawson is seen as a player who is on the cusp of entering the Hall of Fame. Dawson came third in this year's voting with 67 percent, well short of the 75 percent of the vote needed for Hall of Fame induction. Dawson hit 438 home runs during his career and also won eight Gold Gloves awards. Still, critics say that Dawson was good, but not great.

Dawson's former Expos teammate Tim Raines is also fighting for induction into the Hall. Raines ranks fifth all-time in stolen bases with 808 bases. He also had 2,605 hits and 1,330 walks, giving him a stellar .385 on-base percentage. Still, just 22.6 percent of Hall of Fame votes.

A players with a better chance of getting in is pitcher Bert Blyleven, who ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts with 3,701 strikeouts. Blyleven played for 22 seasons and some suggest that his longevity is a positive, while others feel see it as a negative. Critics argues that his career stats are inflated because he stuck around for two decades, not because he was a dominant player. His supporters say that such durability is the hallmark of a great player and should be rewarded with entry into the Hall of Fame.

That argument seems to be gaining momentum. On his first ballot, Blyleven received just 17 percent of the vote. This year, he received more than 62 percent of the vote.