This comes courtesy of Awful Announcing. This is the video of MLB Network’s announcement of Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice being elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Notice Greg Amsinger, formerly of CBS College Sports, anchoring then throwing it to Hazel Mae and Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson with the announcement, followed by the first interview with Jim Rice.
For good measure, here are highlights of the Rice interview.
MLB NETWORK GETS FIRST INTERVIEW WITH NEWEST BASEBALL HALL OF FAMER, JIM RICE
As part of the first-ever live television broadcast of the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement, MLB Network was the first media outlet today to speak with former Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice, who was elected to the Hall of Fame today in his final year of eligibility.
Less than 10 minutes after the announcement was made live on MLB Network, Rice was on the phone live with Greg Amsinger, Harold Reynolds, Barry Larkin, Tom Verducci and Jon Heyman. Here is a sampling of Rice’s comments to MLB Network:
ON GETTING INDUCTED IN HIS 15TH AND FINAL YEAR ON THE BALLOT:
“Well, you know, what can you say? I don’t think you can go back and look at the past. You look at the numbers, that some of the guys that talk about the numbers have not changed, but you leave all that in the past. I’m looking forward to the future.”
ON PLAYERS WHO INSPIRED HIM:
“I would probably say more like Henry Aaron, a man from South Carolina. Atlanta was pretty close to South Carolina and of course I met him when he played with Milwaukee. And the writer in South Carolina was pretty good friends with Hank, and so probably I looked at Hank more than anybody else.”
ON WAITING 15 YEARS TO BE ELECTED:
“Well that, I mean, you have no control over. I heard you guys talk about Andre Dawson. This guy’s a tremendous baseball player. I mean, look at the numbers that he put up. And, you just take it with a grain of salt because there’s nothing you can do. You just wait and wait and hope that somewhere down the line that they realize that you were special.”
ON WHO INFLUENCED HIM THE MOST PERSONALLY:
“Well, personally, I have to go back and look at my father. My father was a very strong man and, coming from a family of 9, you know, he was very strict and taught you right from wrong. But as far as baseball-wise, you have to look at guys like Johnny Pesky, a guy like Don Zimmer. When I came up in ’75, we had a lot of guys that had baseball knowledge. And, of course, my high school coach, I mean the things I learned in high school, I had already picked that up when I got to the big leagues. So you look at guys like Don Zimmer, Johnny Pesky, Ted Williams around, Tommy Harper, I mean, you look at all the guys that you associate with the Red Sox organization. That’s a lot of knowledge. And those are the guys that influenced me more than anything else.”
Good to see this type of programming right off the bat from MLB Network. As the Aussies like to say, “Good on ya!”
