Congratulations to Rickey Henderson, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this afternoon in Cooperstown, NY.  Rickey was my first ever favorite player in any sport.  I was born and lived in Oakland until I was just shy of 6 years old (1978-1984), and when my family moved east to live in New York, Rickey came with us and started playing for the Yankees.  Crazy right?  Not only was he the most exciting player in MLB, but he was my hometown hero, and he threw lefty and batted righty just like me.  His career stats are pretty crazy.  He holds MAD RECORDS, including of course the single season and career record for most stolen bases.  Check his Wikipedia page for more:

Rickey Henderson Wikipedia

Rickey was inducted along with RBI kingpin Jim Rice (see picture above), another great player I followed alot during my childhood (even though he was on the Red Sox).  80’s baseball was the best, wasn’t it?  I don’t even follow sports that much any more, but back then I lived and breathed baseball.  

I’m actually planning a trip with my father to go to Cooperstown and reminisce on the good old sandlot days.  We went up there a couple times when I was a kid, once for a White Plains Capitals game on the Cooperstown field (check the pic above with my Pops on the far left and me 4th from the right in the back row), but we haven’t been back since.  Anyway, watch this great special on Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff batter of all time…

Ok, now that Rickey Henderson is in the Hall of Fame, it’s time to induct my other favorite baseball player of all time, Don Mattingly aka Donnie Baseball!!!!!!!  There’s actually a website dedicated to getting Mattingly into the Hall of Fame.  Sure, he never won a World Series, but the man deserves to be in there.  Check it out…

Induct Donnie Website

I still haven’t been to the new stadiums in the Bronx or Queens.  Holler at me if you’ve got some extra tickets.  And stay tuned for Westcheddar’s feature (coming very soon) on one of the greatest and nerdiest baseball games you can play in the comfort of your own home.  No, it’s not a video game.  It’s Dice Baseball.  I’ve been playing with the kids at summer camp and they love it.  Don’t worry, I’ll teach you (or remind you) how to play.  By the way, when is Paul O’Neill going to be eligible for the Hall of Fame?  We gotta get him in there too!!!!

*Bonus*

I dug into my Isenberg archives for these two pictures.  Above is a great shot of my uncle Steve with Don Mattingly, giving him some sort of New York Newsday Player of the Year Award (SI used to be the Publisher of Newsday).  And below is a picture my Dad got me after a game one time at Stan’s, you know, the store across the street from the old Yankee Stadium under the train tracks.  Now this the Yankees lineup I grew up with.  Can anyone name all the players in this picture?  Leave your answers in the comments section.  Hollerrrrrrr….