Jim Rice finally has been voted into Cooperstown, but he’s not a real Hall of Famer.

Real Hall of Famers aren’t rejected 14 times before finally getting the thumbs up from the voters.

Since this year’s balloting was the 15th and final for the former Red Sox slugger, you have to wonder if it was, at long last, a vote of affirmation, or if it was, in actuality, a sympathy vote. Not that Rice ever has been a sympathetic figure.

The problem is that the Baseball Hall of Fame, like those in all other sports, has been woefully watered down. Too many players who aren’t real Hall of Famers have been voted in, leading to discussions and rationalizations along the lines of: “Well, that guy got in with those numbers, so shouldn’t this guy get in with these numbers?”

And so there are increasing numbers of players elected who really don’t belong in a Hall of Fame.

Let me explain what a real Hall of Famer is.

A real Hall of Famer is someone who, when you’re asked if he belongs in the Hall of Fame, you immediately answer: “Yes.”

Willie Mays? Yes. Joe DiMaggio? Yes. Ted Williams? Yes. Jackie Robinson? Yes.

Joe Montana? Yes. Jim Brown? Yes. Jerry Rice? Yes. Johnny Unitas? Yes.

Bill Russell? Yes. Wilt Chamberlain? Yes. Michael Jordan? Yes. Larry Bird? Yes.

Bobby Orr? Yes. Jean Beliveau? Yes. Bobby Hull? Yes. Wayne Gretzky? Yes.

There’s no thinking, no pondering, no agonizing. There is no question, no doubt, no wavering, no waffling. For a real Hall of Famer, the answer is always an immediate, resounding, unequivocal: “Yes. Absolutely.”

There is none of what the esteemed, highly knowledgeable, well-respected columnist Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe experienced before casting his Baseball Writers Association of America ballot.

Which is to say, in his own words of last Sunday, “the enormously agonizing thought process any voter goes through when evaluating a borderline Hall of Fame candidate, of which Jim Rice is Exhibit A.”

I maintain there should be no “borderline” Hall of Fame candidates. And, consequently, no “enormously agonizing thought process” involved in the voting.

If you have to think, if you have to debate, if you have to agonize over whether a player is a Hall of Famer, then he isn’t.

It’s that simple.

Do you have to agonize over whether Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Bob Gibson, or Sandy Koufax belongs in the Hall of Fame?

Was there ever any question about the qualifications of Dan Marino or Lawrence Taylor, Jim Parker or John Hannah, Raymond Berry or Mike Haynes?

Bob Cousy? Jerry West? Elgin Baylor? Oscar Robertson?

Maurice “Rocket” Richard? Gordie Howe?

Those guys all are real Hall of Famers.

Perhaps what each Hall of Fame should have is an Inner Sanctum — a Hall within the Hall, a place for the Best of the Best, the True Greats of the Game.

Guys like Jim Rice, turned down 14 times, would have their busts in one section. Guys like Roberto Clemente and Lou Gehrig would have theirs in another, more revered, place.

jdonalds@projo.com