No sports media group holds more power than the Baseball Writers of America.

They decide the Cy Young, MVP, Rookies of the Year and hold the legacies of every player in their hands with their Baseball Hall of Fame votes every year.

And no group has as many curmudgeons. There are writers who must never vote for anybody, part of a group that has never voted anybody into the Hall unanimously. Jackie Robinson received just 77.5 percent in 1962, which is embarrassingly low and showed that some of the baseball writers a generation ago had racist tendencies. Even Willie Mays only received 94.7 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility, which is ridiculous. Rickey Henderson, the all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored, was voted in by 94.8 percent, which is still too low. Was Henderson a better player than Willie Mays or Jackie Robinson? Hardly.

And those guys all made it their first year. Others aren't as fortunate, and after 12 years of getting the shaft from the voters, 287-game winner Bert Blyleven voiced some frustration.

"It's not right," said Blyleven, now a Minnesota Twins broadcaster, who needs to add 67 votes in the next three years to make it to Cooperstown. "I considered myself a great competitor, and all of a sudden, you are dictated [whether you go] into the Hall of Fame by writers that never played the game. I always had trouble with that."

As a group, I think the baseball writers do a decent job. (Disclosure: I'm no longer eligible to be a member.) The writers I know do a lot of homework when they vote. They debate the merits of every candidate with each other, and some of the best are transparent with their votes every year, so their readers can weigh in as well. If some of these writers were held accountable for their stupid votes, maybe some of their goofy trends (such as holding back votes in his first year of eligibility, etc.) would become extinct.

Left fielders Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today. They played the same position, but were very different players who took different paths to Cooperstown, N.Y.

The outspoken Henderson, probably the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, was elected on the first ballot. The all-time stolen base leader - a record that may never be touched, as he's more than 400 stolen bases ahead of everybody else - received 94.8 percent of the vote. He changed teams 13 times in his 25-year career.

The powerful, soft-spoken Rice was in his 15th and final year of eligibility and squeaked in with 76.4 percent of the vote. Rice, with a career batting average of .298 and 382 home runs, played his entire 16-year career for the Red Sox.

The ceremony will take place July 26.

Players need 75 percent of the vote from the baseball writers to qualify. And, as usual, there are a few curiosities. (Two people voted for Jay Bell? And Mark McGwire's vote total went down from 2008.) Aside from Henderson, none of the other nine players on the first ballot received enough votes (5 percent) to remain in consideration.

The voting breakdown:

Elected

• Rickey Henderson 511 (94.8 percent)
• Jim Rice 412 (76.4 percent, up from 72.2 in 2008)

Also considered

• Andre Dawson 361 (67.0 percent, up from 65.9)
• Bert Blyleven 338 (62.7 percent, up from 61.9)
• Lee Smith 240 (44.5 percent, up from 43.3)
• Jack Morris 237 (44.0 percent, up from 42.9)
• Tommy John 171 (31.7 percent, up from 29.1) - 15th year, no longer eligible
• Tim Raines 122 (22.6 percent, down from 24.3)
• Mark McGwire 118 (21.9 percent, down from 23.6)
• Alan Trammell 94 (17.4 percent, down from 18.2)
• Dave Parker 81 (15.0 percent, down from 15.1)
• Don Mattingly 64 (11.9 percent, down from 15.8)
• Dale Murphy 62 (11.5 percent, down from 13.8)
• Harold Baines 32 (5.9 percent, up from 5.2)

No longer eligible

• Mark Grace 22 (4.1 percent)
• David Cone 21 (3.9 percent)
• Matt Williams 7 (1.3 percent)
• Mo Vaughn 6 (1.1 percent)
• Jay Bell 2 (0.4 percent)
• Jesse Orosco 1 (0.2 percent)
• Ron Gant 0
• Dan Plesac 0
• Greg Vaughn 0

Read more about the careers of Henderson and Rice.

The quote of the week in baseball came from a scientist who has very little to do with the game itself. Dr. Gary Walder was asked to respond to baseball's revelation that 7.86 percent of its players were given exemptions that allowed them to use amphetamines while plying their trade in 2008.

"This is incredible. This is quite spectacular. There seems to be an epidemic of ADD in major league baseball," said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency, to the Associated Press.

"I've been in private practice for a lot of years. I can count on one hand the number of individuals that have ADD," he added. "To say that (7.86 percent) of major league baseball players have attention deficit disorder is crying out of an explanation. It is to me as an internist so off the map of my own experience."

MLB had a response from Rob Manfred, executive vice president of labor relations. He said you can't compare ADHD in baseball with statistics for the general population.

"We are all male. We are far younger than the general population, and we have far better access to medical care than the general population," Manfred told the AP.

OK, sure. Then there's this history: "Greenies" have been a part of baseball for more than a generation. In just about every clubhouse, players knew there was one coffee pot with regular coffee, and another one with a little extra.

About 3 percent to 5 percent of children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to About.com's ADD expert. Many people grow out of it. If you believe the stats, baseball players must not. Or else, just maybe, there are a few players out there looking to keep their dirty little secret for staying alert during one of those 13-inning games in May in Kansas City?

Baseball needs to clean up yet another drug mess, and close all of the loopholes. It might not seem like a big deal, but there's a slight competitive advantage in play. If the hitter you're pulling for is clean, don't you want that relief pitcher clean as well? Or vice-versa?

Remember Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards jersey? Emmitt Smith in Arizona Cardinals gear? Willie Mays playing for the New York Mets? (And for you real old-timers out there, Babe Ruth with the Boston Braves?)

That's similar to what fans of the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves will be seeing in April.

All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman will be wearing a Milwaukee Brewers uniform this spring. It looks like John Smoltz will be wearing a Boston Red Sox jersey. Combined, they played more than 36 seasons in one city for one team, becoming almost iconic in their service to their teams.

And in two swoops of the pen, gone.

"The toughest thing in sports is to see Hall of Famers leave who are identified with one franchise," said Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes, to USA Today. "It rarely ends gracefully."

The divorce from San Diego was messy for Hoffman. The Padres are cutting payroll drastically as they change ownership, and they've apparently made the decision that they can't make any decisions from the heart instead of the head. Hoffman doesn't have the great stuff anymore, and that made him expendable. He's still getting a nice deal from the Brewers.

The Smoltz deal - which is pending a physical - came out of left field. And it left some angry people behind in Atlanta. The Red Sox more than doubled the Braves' offer for the 41-year-old right-hander, giving him a one-year, $5.5 million contract with incentives that could push it to as much as $10 million. For a guy coming off shoulder surgery, that's quite a gamble.

And how many starters to the Red Sox need? Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Brad Penny, Justin Masterson, Clay Buchholz and Smoltz are all in the fold, not to mention prospect Michael Bowden. There might be a trade in the Red Sox's near future.

Trivia question: Here's a good one, from a wire story on Smoltz's signing. Smoltz would become the eighth player with 20 years with one team who switched to another. The answer: Hank Aaron, Phil Cavarretta, Ty Cobb, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays, Phil Niekro and Warren Spahn. All but Cavarretta are in the Hall of Fame. Smoltz will be there someday.