of The Young and the Restless, noting that he was watching the show when he was informed of his acceptance. Hall of Fame While Rice was generally regarded as one of the better hitters of his era based upon the statistics traditionally used by the BBWAA to evaluate players' Hall of Fame qualifications, he was not elected until his 15th and final year of eligibility, netting 76.4% of the votes, in 2009. Over the years he was on the BBWAA ballot, he received 3,974 total votes, the most ever collected by any player that was voted on for baseball's highest honor. In 2006 and 2007, he received over 63% of votes cast. Rice just missed being elected in 2008 when the count found him on 72.2% of the ballots, only 2.8% short of the required 75%. Rice became the third enshrinee to get into the shrine on his last chance on the ballot, and the first since Ralph Kiner (1975). Rice's delay in being elected to the Hall of Fame stemmed in part from more current statistical analysis of player performance. This analysis suggested that Rice's HOF credentials might have been more questionable than they were considered during his career. The delay may also have been related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA, and his career fading relatively early – he last played in the major leagues at the age of 36. Some writers, such as the Boston Herald's Sean McAdam, said that Rice's chances improved with the exposure of the "Steroids Era" in baseball. In the same article, McAdam expanded this subject by adding: "In an era when power numbers are properly viewed with a healthy dose of suspicion, Rice's production over the course of his 16 years gains additional stature." As such, he has received increasingly more votes each year since the 2003 ballot, improving his vote totals by 133 votes over the last five years on the ballot. However, from several sabermetric standpoints it can be argued that Rice falls short of his peers in the Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, several commentators have noted that the continued criticism of Rice's statistics not meeting sabermetric standards is unfair given that several other Hall of Fame players, notably Andre Dawson and Tony Pérez, fare even worse against such standards. During the 2007 season,