What about Rock, Tram, and Bert?

The verdict is in. Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice have been the only two eligible players elected by the BBWAA to the Hall of Fame for 2009.

Great player and former Pirate Bert Blyleven saw his vote percentage move up a bit (61.9% to 62.7%), but still fell about 75 votes short of the threshold for election.

In an effort to baffle the mind, the BBWAA cast only 81 votes for former Pirate Dave "The Snake" Parker, who racked up 15% of the vote, enough to keep him on the ballot for next year, but not much else. Granted, Rice put up moderately better offensive numbers, but a good chunk of that was in Fenway Park, and Parker was a significantly better fielder.

Anyway, I've answered my own question. Rice played in Boston. Parker played in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for most of his career. Both played the majority of their careers before the heyday of ESPN and cable television, which means that Rice received significantly more exposure, playing on the baseball-crazy East Coast, where a generation of fans (and writers) got to hear of and occasionally see his now legendary feats of strength on the diamond. Outside of perhaps his MVP year, Parker is best remembered for the drug trials.

Now, Jim Rice is "the most feared hitter of his time," despite the fact that while he was playing he rarely got an intentional walk, and he wasn't even the best hitter on his team. Leave it to the BBWAA to make a player better than he actually was 15 years after he hung up his cleats.

Though it does get under my skin somewhat, I don't really mind that Rice is in, what I mind is that more deserving people are left out. Blyleven, Tim Raines, and Alan Trammell deserve to be in the Hall. I'll let people spin their wheels on McGwire for a while, because I do think he'll eventually get in, but I've yet to hear a good argument why the other three are not worthy of induction. If you've got an argument, I'm all ears.