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The Future for Jim Rice

Today, Jim Rice didn’t make the Hall of Fame for the 14th time. As the HoF guidelines says, you only have 15 years to make a bid.

Other players have been in this same position. Here are a couple names:

• Nellie Fox gained 74.6 percent of the vote in his final opportunity.
• Orlando Cepeda’s final year on the ballot, he had 73.5% of the vote. He was inducted by the Veteran’s Committee.
• Gary Carter got 72.7% of the vote in 2002 and went on to be inducted with first-ballot HOFer Eddie Murray in 2003 who got 78% of the vote

So don’t write off Jim Rice yet just because it’s looking bad. At least Rice went from 63.5% of votes in 2007 up to 72.2% this year. Meaning at least more voters are recognizing Rice as a potential candidate. With only a difference of 16 votes it’ll still be a very close race for Rice. We’ll be having this same discussion next year. Whether Ricky Henderson steals Rice’s votes we won’t know for awhile. But don’t lose all hope. Even if Rice doesn’t get into the HoF next year, there is still the Veteran’s Committee.

Tags: Hall of Fame, Jim Rice