BOSTON (AP) — Down to his last at-bat, Jim Rice made it into the baseball Hall of Fame.
The former Boston Red Sox slugger was elected to the Cooperstown shrine Monday in what was to be his final year of eligibility, getting seven votes more than needed. He is the third player elected by the baseball writers in his final year, joining Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975).
Rice will join Rickey Henderson, the all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored, at the July 26 induction ceremony. Also to be honored are former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, who was elected last month by the Veterans Committee, as well as broadcaster Tony Kubek and writer Nick Peters, the winners of the Frick and Spink awards, respectively.
Rice received 412 votes, seven more than 75 percent of the 539 ballots cast. Last year he was 16 votes shy, sending him back to the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America for a 15 and final time before he would have been relegated to the veterans committee.
Henderson, who received 94.8 percent of the votes, appeared in 72 games for Boston in 2002. Rice and Henderson will be the 20th and 21st leftfielders to be inducted and the first since Carl Yastrzemski, who preceded Rice in the shadow of the Green Monster and entered Cooperstown in 1989.
From 1974-89, Rice batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBI, earning eight All-Star selections and finishing in the top five of the AL MVP voting six times. He won the award in 1978 when he batted .315 with 213 hits, 46 home runs, 139 RBI, a .600 slugging percentage and 406 total bases — the only AL player to top 400 since Joe DiMaggio in 1937.
Rice drove in 100 or more runs eight times when runs were more scarce than today, batted over 300 seven times and topped 200 hits four times. He is the only player in major league history with at least 35 homers and 200 hits in three consecutive seasons (1977-79).
He helped Boston reach the World Series in 1975, when he finished second to teammate Fred Lynn in rookie of the year voting, and 1986.
Voting breakdown
Player Total Votes Percentage
* Rickey Henderson 511 94.8
* Jim Rice 412 76.4
Andre Dawson 361 67.0
Bert Blyleven 338 62.7
Lee Smith 240 44.5
Jack Morris 237 44.0
Tommy John 171 31.7
Tim Raines 122 22.6
Mark McGwire 118 21.9
Alan Trammell 94 17.4
Dave Parker 81 15.0
Don Mattingly 64 11.9
Dale Murphy 62 11.5
Harold Baines 32 5.9
Mark Grace 22 4.1
David Cone 21 3.9
Matt Williams 7 1.3
Mo Vaughn 6 1.1
Jay Bell 2 0.4
Jesse Orosco 1 0.2
Ron Gant 0 0
Dan Plesac 0 0
Greg Vaughn 0 0
* Retired players need at least 75 percent of votes to be elected
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