Talent will always win out for Hall

Just as it takes all kinds to comprise a baseball team, it takes all kinds to comprise a baseball Hall of Fame.

For the record I did vote for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, who were announced Monday as this year's inductees.

I also voted for Andre Dawson, Jack Morris and Lee Smith. Sorry, purists, but I voted for Mark McGwire again, too.

Anyway, Henderson was one of the most unintentionally amusing players in baseball history. Meanwhile, Rice was one of the most intentionally unamusing.

What mattered is that both were productive enough to make the Hall, albeit Henderson in his first year of eligibility and Rice in his last.

It's difficult to imagine any athlete being perceived as surlier than Rice. But you know what? It worked for him well enough to get to Cooperstown.

It's also difficult to imagine anyone currently in the Hall being odder than Henderson. He will maintain that distinction until Manny Ramirez becomes eligible.

All Hall of Famers are peculiar. They aren't like us. They have extraordinary personal characteristics, other than ability, that enabled them to do what they did.

Tuck away Rice for now and let's talk about Henderson and Ramirez, who alone have enough quirks to fill even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Henderson is baseball's all-time best leadoff man, Ramirez perhaps the best right-handed hitter of his time.

Each of these guys' behavior could make you laugh and cry, be awe-struck and feel awful, like him and dislike him.

Some fans are thrilled that no team overpaid yet this winter for Ramirez, who quit on the Red Sox last season. But trust me, he'll be paid well again in 2009 just as Henderson was during his career.

Both these guys wanted to show off. Both had to be managed. Both might be referred to as self-interested.

The thing about baseball is talent prevails. Even a goofball will be in demand if he plays at a high enough level. When he can't anymore he'll go into the Hall of Fame.

This is the most individual of team sports. Players are often on their own. A hitter like Ramirez doesn't have anyone to hand off to in the batter's box and a basestealer like Henderson doesn't have anyone to pass the baton to.

All a team can hope for is that a player's statistics contribute to winning championships. Henderson's did and Ramirez's do, which is why they'll intersect in Cooperstown.

Tony La Russa managed Henderson in Oakland and was quoted Sunday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as saying, "He's a controversial guy. We had a spat or two."

But La Russa added, "Most dangerous - I define that as having a 1-run lead in the ninth inning and, of all the guys who come to bat, which guy do you fear the most? Rickey."

The current answer might be Manny, especially judging by how he lifted the Dodgers into the playoffs last season.

Henderson played in three World Series and won two. Ramirez has played in four and won two. Each made good teams better.

It was worth it to let Rickey be Rickey and Manny be Manny. And to let Rice be Rice, for that matter. There's room for all of them in baseball's Hall of Fame.

mimrem@dailyherald.com