COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Several of the Hall of Famers here for induction weekend expressed frustration that Jim Rice waited 15 years to get inducted.

Finally, on his last chance on the baseball writers' ballot, Rice received 76.4 percent of the 539 votes cast, just barely beating the 75 percent necessary for induction.

"I wonder why it took so long," his former Red Sox teammate Carlton Fisk said. "His game hasn't changed much in the last 15 years."

Eddie Murray, who was a contemporary of Rice's generation, said: "It's about time. He should have been in before this."

But on the eve of his induction, Rice insisted he has no hard feelings about the long wait. "I can't change anything," he said. "Only thing I can say is I'm happy I'm here right now."

In 16 years with the Red Sox, Rice hit 382 home runs, drove in 1,451 runs and had a .352 on-base percentage and .502 slugging percentage.

But his contemporaries say that to look at Rice's career just by his total statistics — similar to those of Andres Galarraga, Ellis Burks and Joe Carter, according to baseball-reference.com — does not do justice to how dominant Rice was during his prime.

"I've always said nobody scared me," Goose Gossage said, "but he came the closest."

During the 10-year span of 1977-86, Rice hit .305 with a .360 on-base percentage and .526 slugging percentage and averaged 30 homers and 108 RBIs per season.

Rice said the game was different when he played, saying players thought more about producing runs than producing gaudy statistics.

"We gave ourselves up to help the ballclub win," Rice said. "You don't see that now . . . Organizations now are not teaching fundamentals. They're teaching on-base percentage."

That old-school attitude may be one reason why the Hall of Famers welcomed him into the fraternity and criticized the voters for making him wait so long.

Though, as Dave Winfield said, "Now that it's over, no one will remember it was 15 years."