Henderson, baseball's surpreme leadoff hitter who amassed 3,055 hits in 25 seasons spent mainly with the Oakland Athletics, was elected in his first year of eligibility in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Rice, who notched 382 home runs and drove in 1,451 RBI in 16 seasons with the Red Sox, was elected in his 15th and last year of eligibility.
The two outfielders will be inducted in Cooperstown, New York on July 26 along with the late Joe Gordon, a power-hitting second baseman for the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians of the 1940s who was elected by the Veterans Committee.
Henderson, who also retired with the most runs scored on the all-time list, was named on 511 of 539 ballots (94.8%).
Rice was listed on 412 ballots (76.4%), receiving seven votes more than the minimum needed to reach the 75 percent mark required for election.
The Boston left-fielder became only the third player elected in his final year of eligibility, following pitcher Red Ruffing (1967) and slugger Ralph Kiner (1975).
Record Holders
The short, powerful Henderson, who won World Series rings with Oakland in 1989 and Toronto in 1993, set the major league single season mark of 130 steals in 1982 with Oakland and holds the major league record with 81 home runs leading off games.
Rice, 55, won the 1978 American League MVP award and finished in the top five of AL MVP voting on five other occasions.
He was second to teammate Fred Lynn in the 1975 AL Rookie of the Year voting and led American League in homers three times.
Selected for eight All-Star games, Rice is the only player to post three successive seasons of 35-plus home runs and 200-plus hits.
Falling short in the voting were outfielder Andre Dawson (361 votes) and pitcher Bert Blyleven (338 votes).
