Video: Shaughnessy & Cafardo on Rice

Thank you Mr Rice for everything you have done in Boston.

Congrats to Jim Rice - it's about time!!!!!! Now let the Dwight Evans Hall of Fame discussion begin again.....

CONGRATULATIONS JIMMY BOY,I ALWAY'S FELT THAT YOU BELONG THERE,MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERD!YOU WERE A GREAT BALLPLAYER,AND THE 1975 REDSOX BATTING ORDER WAS KILLER!1978 WAS'NT TO SHABBY EITHER! THANKS FOR THE FOUND MEMORIES!

Jim should hold his head up proudly for being a Hall of Fame player long before this ballot. One of my greatest disappointments was to see Game 5 of the 1975 World series without Jim in the outfield. With him in the line-up we probably wouldn't have had to wait until 2004 for a championship. Congrats to a great Red Sox player and a gentleman!! His number will be on the right field facade this summer!!!!!!

Jim Ed would have been in the Hall a long time ago if he hit 3 more homers, one more for each year he hit 39. That would have brought his career total to four 40-homer years--pretty impressive even today. Congratualtions to my childhood hero, Jim Ed Rice. Bravo!

As a diehard Yankee fan and a life long Red Sox hater, I can say this guy was deadly, and his election was LONG overdue. Congrats to the SOB, he was feared all over the AL and hated, feared and respected in New York.

It's about time. A great hitter and a great example for players everywhere. I simply loved watching him play. Style, grace, power all rapped into one package.
Congratuations Jim.

Dan Shaughnessy is a total JERK. He couldn't carry Jim Rice's bag, and has been voting against him for years. Now, on the day of his induction (like his buddy Bob Ryan) he is trying to play nice with Rice's election. Jim Rice finally gets what he has deserved for years. See you in Cooperstown in July.

I have rooted for this man from the first day that he made the Red Sox team. I appreciated what he brought to the game. He was really a great player that had so many circumstances that surrounded him that were out of his control that stunted him from being even better. Whatever held him out of the Hall all of these years has finally stepped aside and allowed him in. I am grateful to see him elected. After being robbed of the opportunity to play in the best World Series (and possibly contribute to a better outcome for the BoSox) I wouldn't have wanted to see him "robbed" of another well deserved moment. Congratulations to Mr. Rice and I'm sure his family is proud of his honor.

I'm fascinated by this idea of his rising and falling 'electibility' over the years. Seems to be a function of fickle sportswriters who didn't see him play combined with those who did cover him during his career slowly warming to the idea of his worthiness. I'd really like to see a Shaughnessy column where he reviews his own writings on this subject over the years. My memory is of some pretty cold assessments of the player during his first years of eligibility. It's kind of sad that in the end it seems to rest on JimEd's 'non-steroidal' numbers and the relative strength of this year's Hall-eligibles.
As for the Sabremetricians' arguments: you guys should be working on the 'Churlishness index'. Surely the career stats of Ted Williams, Eddie Murray, Jim Rice, Albert Belle et al. will yield some telling stuff.

Dwight Evans in the Hall? Let's not get carried away, John J. Dewey was a good ballplayer, but not a great. He belongs in the Red Sox HOF, but not in Cooperstown. Not even close.

Congratulations Mr Rice. You played with your heart and soul, brought excitement to Fenway at a time when baseball had it's struggles. You filled some big shoes there beneath the wall and performed well. Thanks for the memories and again Congratulations.
Dewey deserves some consideration as well.

Nice to see Jim in the Hall. I have been following baseball since childhood, and I was a diehard Jim Rice fan. Cannot compare spoiled brats from today, to the class act Jim was.

Congratulations Jim. YOU DESERVE IT !!!

Jim Rice was my boyhood hero, I have all his cards and a #14 Jersey I wore all day today. I can't express the joy I felt at him finally getting the recognition he deserved, except to say that tears were involved. Congrats Jim Rice, thank you for everything and for helping me learn to enjoy the game of baseball.

Jim Rice is my favorite ballplayer of all time. He had dignity, class and character. And the game to make all of that noteworthy. The only reason it is 2009, and he is just now entering the Hall of Fame is that he was a lousy quote and sports writers have a tough time voting for people that didn't make their job easier.

Anyone else remember the 1988 postseasn when Joe Morgan used Jim Rice to pinch hit for Wade Boggs? Wade Boggs was the AL batting champion that year. I can still hear the TV commentators quipping about it and I can still see Rice proving Morgan right by lining an RBI single into the gap.

fantastic jim congratulations!!!bylob

As a kid in NJ, I loved the pure hitters. My two all time favorites were Hank Aaron and Jim Rice. It is great to see how many others also loved watching Jim play. Those of us who saw him play, and those who played against him, know that this day is long over due.

Congratulations, Jim Rice, Hall of Famer!