If you believe in this sort of stuff, Rickey won't be going into the Hall this time...
He is my favorite player of all-time, but while growing up in Atlanta, Henderson was always in the American League so he never played there. I was able to go to a lot of Braves games during the 80's (ugh) and was fortunate enough to visit quite a few other parks on family vacations but never got to see Henderson play in person.
As a teen, I moved to Tennessee and as fortune would have it, the church I was involved with was going up to a Cardinals game and they were playing the Padres, where Rickey had joined...so, finally, I get to see Henderson play. Wouldn't you know it, Henderson had the day off...AGONY!!! Well, late in the game, the girl I was dating at the time needed to go to the bathroom, so she asked me to come along...sure, no problem. After getting back to my seat, I find out that Rickey had pinch hit, walked and scored a run. The only thing he didn't do was steal a base.
Well, after that, I had two other opportunites to see him...both times...he didn't play. Once in Boston and the other when he was with the Mets.
Now...I live in Syracuse, NY; just over an hour from Cooperstown and have already made plans to go over for induction day. Unfortunately, I will be moving to Virginia in the fall so this is my one and likely only chance to be in Cooperstown on election day...Since I moved here and found out that Rickey should be inducted while I was here, I keep waiting for him to be mentioned with steriods and now, my fears are that too many people will be in the "No one else got 100% of the votes, and Henderson won't either" camp and leave him off the ballot. I realize there's a better chance of me being elected to the Hall of Fame than him being left off this year, but...it would only be fitting if he doesn't.
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