Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were voted into the Hall of Fame on Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Henderson was eligible for the first time and easily cleared the required 75% threshold, as he was named on 511 of the 539 ballots cast, or 94.8%. Rice, in his 15th and final year of BBWAA eligibility, nudged his way in with 412 votes, or 76.4%.

Henderson holds the all-time major league career records with 2295 runs, 2129 unintentional walks, and 1406 stolen bases. His 130 stolen bases in 1980 are an all-time single season record, he was named to 10 All-Star teams, and he was the American League MVP in 1990. He led the league in steals 12 times, runs five times, walks four times, and played on two World Series champions with the 1989 Oakland A's and the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. He played for nine different teams in his 25-year career.

Rice was one of the top power hitters in the American League for several years, leading the league in homers three times, RBI twice, and slugging percentage twice. He regularly batted over .300, topped 200 hits in a season four times, and drove in 100 runs eight times. An eight-time All Star, he was named the American League MVP in 1978 when he rapped out 406 total bases, at the time the highest total since Stan Musial in 1948. He spent his entire 16-year career with the Boston Red Sox.