Jim Rice

Jim Rice
debut
August 19, 1974, Boston Red Sox
Teams
Boston Red Sox (1974-1989)

James Edward "Jim" Rice (born March 8, 1953 in Anderson, South Carolina) is a former baseball player who was with the American League's Boston, Red Sox from 1974 to 1989. Like Rob Mackowiak and Ted Williams before him, Rice was a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox.

Notable seasons

Rice was promoted in the Red Sox organization to being a full time player in 1975, after he was AAA's International League Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and Triple Crown winner in 1974. He and fellow rookie teammate Fred Lynn were brought up to the Red Sox at the same time, and were known as the "Gold Dust Twins". Rice finished in second place for the 1975 American League's Rookie of the Year honors, and third in the Most Valuable Player voting, after he finished the season with 174 basehits, 102 runs batted in, .309 batting average, and 22 home runs. Lynn did win both of these awards for the 1975 season. The Red Sox qualified for postseason play, but Rice did not play in either the 1975 League Championship Series or World Series because of a wrist injury sustained during the last week of the regular season. A disappointed Rice appeared during the postseason player introductions, in uniform and without the cast on his wrist. He removed the cast the night before and announced that he was fit to play. The Red Sox management had persuaded him that healing would be in the best future interest of both Rice and the Red Sox. The Red Sox would go on to lose the World Series, 4 games to 3, to the Cincinnati Reds of the National League.

In 1978, Rice won the Most Valuable Player award in a campaign where he hit .315 (3rd in the league) and led the league in home runs (46), RBIs (139), hits (213), triples (15) and slugging percentage (.600). He is one of only two American League players ever to lead his league in both triples and home runs in the same season, and he remains the only player ever to lead his league, and Major-league Baseball in triples, home runs, and RBIs in the same season. His 406 total bases that year was the most in the A.L. since Joe DiMaggio had 418 in 1937, and it made Rice the first major leaguer with 400 or more total bases since Hank Aaron's 400 in 1959. This feat wasn't repeated again until 1997, when Larry Walker had 409. No American League player has done it since Rice in 1978.

In 1986, Rice had 200 hits, batted .324, and had 110 RBIs. The Red Sox made it to the World Series for the second time during his career. This time, Rice played in all 14 postseason games, where he collected 14 hits, including hitting two home runs. He also scored 14 runs and drove in six. The 14 runs Rice scored is the fifth most recorded by an individual during a single year's Post-season play. The Red Sox would go on to lose the World Series to the New York Mets, 4 games to 3, thus continuing their difficulties.

Career accomplishments

Rice led the AL in home runs three times (1977, 1978, 1983), in RBI twice (1978, 1983), in slugging percentage twice (1977, 1978), and in total bases four times (1977-1979, 1983). He also picked up Silver Slugger awards in 1983 and 1984 (the award was created in 1980). Rice hit at least 39 home runs in a season four times, had eight 100 RBI seasons, four seasons with 200+ hits and batted over .300 seven times. He finished his 16-year career with a .298 batting average, 382 home runs (52nd best of all-time), 1451 RBIs (51st), 1249 runs scored, 2452 hits (91st), and 4129 total bases (61st). He was an American League All-Star eight times (1977-1980, 1983-1986). In addition to winning the American League MVP award in 1978, he finished in the top 5 in MVP voting five other times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1986).

Rice is the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits and at the same time having 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years. He is tied for the American League record of leading the league in total bases for three straight seasons, and was one of three A.L. players to have three straight seasons of hitting at least 39 home runs while batting .315 or higher. According to the baseball-reference web site, Rice ranked among the league leaders in various batting categories more than 100 times during his career. From 1975 to 1986, Rice led the American League in total games played, at-bats, runs scored, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage, total bases, extra-base hits, go-ahead RBIs, multi-hit games, and outfield assists. Among all Major League players during that time, Rice was the leader in five of these categories (Mike Schmidt is next, having led in four).

His biggest flaw as a hitter was his knack for hitting into double plays. Rice's ability to hit a baseball dangerously hard, coupled with having many slow-footed teammates on base in front of him (e.g., Wade Boggs, Dwight Evans, Bill Buckner, etc.) resulted in many double plays. In 1984 he hit into a single season record of 36 double plays. He is not in bad company when it comes to grounding into double plays, because many of the career leaders in this category are Hall of Famers (e.g. Cal Ripken, Carl Yastrzemski, Hank Aaron, etc.). Rice led the league in this category in four different seasons (1982-1985), matching Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi. It should be noted that the on-base prowess of Rice's teammates placed him in a double play situation over 2,000 times during his career, almost once for every game he played, and that Rice posted a batting average of .310 and slugging percentage of .515 in those situations, better than his overall career marks in those categories. In addition, the Red Sox were far more successful as a team in the games in which Rice faced at least one double play situation, posting a winning percentage of .572 in those games compared to a mark of .489 in games when Rice didn't face a double play situation.

Rice could hit for both power and average, and at this time, only nine other retired ballplayers rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average. They are: Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams.

In 1981, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

Fielding prowess

Rice was an adequate left fielder, having played there in 1543 games. He finished his career with a fielding percentage of .980 and had 137 outfield assists (comparable to Ted Williams', totals of .974 and 140 assists). As a right-handed batter, Rice was able to master the various caroms that balls took from the Green Monster (in left field) in Fenway Park. His deceptive speed also helped his fielding. His 21 assists in 1983 remains the most by a Red Sox outfielder since 1944 when Bob Johnson had 23. Rice also appeared as a Designated Hitter in 530 games.

Community activities

Rice was associated with a variety of charitable organizations during his career, primarily on behalf of children, some of which have carried on into his retirement. He was named an honorary chairman of The Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in 1979,[1] and in 1992 was awarded that organization's "Jimmy Award", which honors individuals who have demonstrated their dedication to cancer research.[2] Rice is also active in his support of the Neurofibromatosis Foundation of New England.[3] Rice's involvement with Major League Baseball's RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) resulted in the naming of a new youth baseball facility in Roxbury, Massachusetts in his honor in 1999.[4] A youth recreation center in Rice's hometown of Anderson, South Carolina is also named in his honor. Rice's most notable humanitarian accomplishment occurred during a nationally televised game on August 7, 1982, when he rushed into the stands to help a young boy who had been struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Dave Stapleton. As other players and spectators watched, Rice left the dugout and entered the stands to help 4-year old Jonathan Keane, who was bleeding heavily. Rice carried the boy onto the field, through the Red Sox dugout and into the clubhouse, where the young boy could be treated by the team's medical staff. Team doctor Arthur Pappas later said that Rice's actions may have saved the boy's life, [5] which would make Rice the only major league player ever to have saved a spectator's life on national television.

Retirement activities

Rice has served as a Roving Batting Coach (1992-1994) and Hitting Instructor (1995-2000), and remains an Instructional Batting Coach (2001-present) with the Boston Red Sox organization. While the Red Sox hitting coach, the team led the league in hitting in 1997 and players won two batting titles. Since 2003, he's also been employed as a commentator for the New England Sports Network (NESN), where he contributes to the Red Sox pre-game and post-game shows. He had a cameo appearance in the NESN movie, Wait Till This Year.[6], and in the film Fever Pitch.[7] The former slugger has been known to pass his wisdom on to the current Sox players and stars from time to time. Rice was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame when it first opened in 1995, and he is the 40th member of Ted Williams' Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, having been inducted along with Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount in 2001.[8]

Hall of Fame Debate

Rice, who hit for average and power, and to all fields, was a dominant slugger. When he was at his best, from 1975 to 1986, Rice mashed the opposition with pure strength and hitting technique. Should he be inducted as a member to the Hall of Fame, Rice would be eligible to have his number retired by the Red Sox. The Red Sox employ a rather strict policy on retiring uniform numbers; to be considered, one need first to have played a minimum of ten years with the team and one must also be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[9]

Currently, there are 19 left fielders in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If compared against these players, Rice would rank sixth in home runs, ninth in RBIs, and 14th in both batting average and hits. While Rice is acknowledged as being one of the best hitters of his era, he has not yet received enough votes cast by the BBWAA in a given year to go to Cooperstown. However, during the course of his continuing eligibility period, he has received over 3100 of these votes, which is the second most ever collected by any player. In 2006[10] and 2007[11], he received over 63% of votes cast. His last year of BBWAA voting eligibility will be in 2008, which would place him on the 2009 ballot.

Many feel that Rice's last serious opportunity to make the Hall is the 2008 ballot,[12] where his primary competition comes in the form of Rich Gossage, a fellow player who has been on the edge of induction for many years, and newcomers David Justice and Tim Raines, neither of whom are expected to get in. However, a similar situation occurred in the 2006 voting, when only Bruce Sutter was inducted. Furthermore, there is no guarantee any player must be elected in a given year; quite a few years have occurred where not single player was inducted.[13] Some writers, such as the Providence Journal's Sean McAdam, have said that Rice's chances have been improved in recent years with the exposure of the "Steroids Era" in baseball, in that Rice's numbers compare favorably with those who played in an era widely believed to have been subject to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As such, Rice has received increasingly more votes each year since the 2003 ballot, improving his vote totals by almost 90 votes over the span of 4 years.[14]

Reference(s)

• Official Website of the Boston Red Sox
• National Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baseball library
• Jimmy Fund 50th Anniversary Photo Gallery
• The Jimmy Fund Honors WEEI's Glenn Ordway With Annual "Jimmy Award"
• Charity Hop
• Boston Baseball
• Goldberg, Jeff (1997-08-07). "The Day Rice Made Contact". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
• Antonen, Mel (2007-01-09). "Baseball Hall of Fame Chat: Mel Antonen". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
• Internet Movie Database
• Ted Williams Museum Hitters Hall of Fame

External links

• Career statistics at Baseball Reference
• Jim Rice for Hall of Fame
• Baseball Almanac
• Jim Rice mentioned on Red Sox Radio WEEI
• Rice dominated AL for a decade - Boston slugger again up for Hall of Fame inclusion

See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
• Jim Rice Batting Fundamentals