Jan 12th 2009 7:00PM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Congratulations are in order for Jim Rice, who, after 15 long years of waiting, was finally elected to the Hall of Fame Monday.

Rice’s candidacy has been debated the last few years, with rigid statistical analysts citing his mediocre on-base percentage and poor numbers away from Fenway Park as cause to keep him out and equally rigid supporters, most of them writers who covered Rice when he played, lauding his presence in the batter’s box and status as the “most feared” hitter in the American League for much of his career.

Regardless of where you come down in the Rice debate (Personally, I would not have cast a vote in his favor), it’s impossible not to feel good for him. Getting as close as he did on the previous 14 elections, and then being forced to wait another year had to be tougher in many respects than falling off the ballot right away.Continue Reading