Rickey Henderson, Nine Other First-Timers On MLB Hall Of Fame Ballot

December 1, 2008 8:25 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Rickey Henderson, the major league's all-time steals leader, led 22 other players on next year's Hall of Fame nominees in the list announced Monday.

Out of the 23 nominees, a record-low for Cooperstown-bound players, 10 are first-timers with Henderson eying to join the club after a storied 25-year baseball career.

The 49-year-old left fielder suited up for nine different teams, but most notably with Oakland, where he won the AL MVP in 1990.

Henderson's 1,406 base thefts are the most in the majors, as is his runs of 2,295 and caught stealing figures of 335.

Henderson also was an All-Star 10 times during his playing career from 1979 to 2003.

Aside from Henderson, those aiming to crack the Hall during their first try are David Cone, Matt Grace, Jay Bell, Mo Vaughn, Matt Williams, Jesse Orosco, Dan Plesac and Greg Vaughn.

Holdovers for the 2009 class are Mark McGwire, Jim Rice, Harold Baines, Bert Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Lee Smith and Alan Trammell.

Last year, Rice fell just 16 votes shy of the needed 75 percent to make the Hall of Fame list while McGwire came up with just 24 percent of the votes in his second try last year.

Dawson was short too, needing 50 more votes needed to join the list.