It's about time!

In a rare and belated display of sensibility, the BBWAA has elected the great Jim Rice to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I'll grant you that I'm prejudiced -- Rice was the first baseball hero of this reporter, growing up in mid-coast Maine in those crazy late-70's -- but I really have to wonder what the BBWAA is looking at to delay it this long.

For some reason, they'll "automatically" put in marginal players who stayed around to accumulate arbitrary milestone numbers, yet continually overlook great players who truly struck fear into opposing teams. Rice was flat-out unbelievable for 12 seasons, rarely injured, and steroid-free.

So, it's great that he finally gets in, but the fact that Robin Yount, Paul Molitor and Kirby Pucket got there first somewhat diminishes his election. In any case, a great excuse for a summer road trip to Cooperstown.

Now, about Luis Tiant...