Rickey Henderson, baseball's all-time steals leader, was elected in overwhelming fashion to baseball's Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, while Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice also earned election to Cooperstown in his last year on the ballot.

In balloting released Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Henderson was named on 511 ballots (94.8 percent), a sweeping endorsement of the player considered by many to be the finest leadoff hitter of all time.

Rice's ticket to Cooperstown was stamped in a far more tenuous fashion.

Having failed election on 14 previous appearances on the ballot, Rice was named on 412 ballots, the 76.4 percent barely edging him over the 75 percent required for induction.

Henderson, who turned 50 on Christmas Day, is the all-time king of stolen bases with 1,406 and considered one of the most dangerous leadoff batters of all-time.

"When Rickey Henderson got on base, he could change the course of the game like no other player," Tony La Russa, Henderson's former manager with the Oakland Athletics, said last spring.

The induction ceremony is July 26 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Henderson played for the Athletics from 1979-84, then rejoined them in 1989 in a trade with the New York Yankees. He batted leadoff on their 1989 World Series champion team and a year later won the AL MVP as the A's won a third consecutive pennant.

Henderson, who led the league in runs scored five times and steals a dozen times, was a 10-time All-Star. In addition to his steals, he holds the career record for runs (2,295) and his 2,190 walks ranks second. Henderson had 3,055 career hits.

He played for nine teams and hit .284 with 33 steals in 60 postseason games. His trademark postseason series was the 1989 American League Championship Series, when he batted .400 with a .609 on-base percentage, going 8-for-8 in steals when the Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rice, who missed enshrinement by 16 votes last year with 72.2 percent, averaged .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBI during his 16-year career, all with the Boston Red Sox.

Andre Dawson (361 votes, 67 percent and Bert Blyleven (338 votes, 62.7 percent) were the only other players listed on more than half of the ballots. Mark McGwire received 118 votes and 21.9 percent, down from 23.6 percent last year and 23.5 percent in his first year of eligibility.

Tommy John, who won 288 games in 26 seasons, received 31.6 percent of the votes in his final year on the ballot.