Jim Rice, Red Sox slugger of the 1970s, finally gets into HoF

Spring of 1983 (I believe it was) at the gate of the Red Sox training camp in Florida, described below, was not my only memory of Jim Rice, but it was a clear and a rather bad one. Jim Rice finally became an MLB Hall or Famer, already in BoSox HoF. 

USA Today's article on the HoF selection, which is the first I clicked from my Google News page, was lame in its treatment of Rice, but it gave some useful nuggets of facts, below.

The guy with the top votes this year was Rickey Henderson: He had long record as an Oakland A's slugger, but he spent one season with the Sox, and with many other teams. Both were left fielders.

Rice joins Henderson as newest baseball Hall of Famers - USATODAY.com

Rice's ticket to Cooperstown was stamped in a far more tenuous fashion [than fellow "indocrinee" Rickey Henderson's].

Having failed election on 14 previous appearances on the ballot, Rice was named on 412 ballots, the 76.4% barely edging him over the 75% required for induction.

Rice, who missed enshrinement by 16 votes last year with 72.2%, averaged .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBI during his 16-year career, all with the Boston Red Sox.

From the official MLB Red Sox Web site:
Rice triumphant in final pursuit of Hall: Red Sox star elected into Cooperstown in 15th year on ballot

Rice led all American Leaguers in homers and RBIs during his 16-year career. Another interesting Bresciani nugget was that the only retired players with career average and home run totals as high as Rice were Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth and Williams, all of whom are Hall of Famers. 

After serving as a September callup in 1974, Rice made a dramatic entry as a full-time player in '75, joining Fred Lynn as Boston's Gold Dust Twins.

Though Lynn was Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player that season, Rice (.309, 22 homers, 102 RBIs) was almost as instrumental in Boston's AL East title that season.

One of the great "what if's" in Boston sports is whether the Red Sox would have won the 1975 World Series had Rice been available. The slugger broke his wrist late in the regular season and was lost for the postseason. The Red Sox lost to the Reds in a classic, seven-game World Series.

Red Sox great Carl Yastrzemski, once a teammate in Boston of Rice, was the last left-fielder elected to the Hall in 1989.

Check out Red Sox Connection, a fan site with plenty of details on the BoSox, including all the Hall of Famers: http://www.redsoxconnection.com/stories/halloffame.html . Be sure to check out the links page on the site. Very good collection of places to find details on the Red Sox, historically and current, and fans, too.

Also, on the team's official MLB site, check out the timeline to get a feel for the time period when these guys were sports idols of many little New England kids, including me.

Red Sox spring training experience: Rice left a bad taste in my mouth

Back when the Red Sox were doing spring training in Winter Haven, Fla., my dad took me and my brother to see our home team (we were all born in Mass.) practice. We saw so many legends that spring, I think it was 1982 or 1983, according to who was at camp. I likely have forgotten the names of some of those who were there. I clearly recall big guy Dwight Evans and his fellow massively big buddy, rookie (later a Yankess star) Wade Boggs, and pitchers such as the lanky and long-haired Dennis Eckersley. Among them was the always-cocky (to me, at least) Jim Rice.

On their way out of the ball park, many of us fans were there, hoping for one last chance at getting some signatures or a better look at some sports stars. I was just hoping to get a look at the guys one more time that day, before our drive home to Daytona Beach.

It was a bit disappointing, the greatest memory I carried from that day, of Rice. He was driving a classic, mint condition U.S. car, I cannot now recall the type but I would guess it was quite similar to a 1958 Ford, with some fins and lots of chrome. One of the fans, as I recall it was a kid (a teenager), said to Rice as he made his way out, "Great car you have there, Mr. Rice!" Jim Rice replied to him, with vitriol, "It's not my car." I'd swear he spit out the window after saying it. 

That put a fly in the soup of everyone's memories about Rice, no doubt. It was one of those "did he actually say that" kinds of reactions from some folks, including me, standing around at the gate. Still, he had a life away from fans, maybe he was just having a bad day. Maybe that same person yelled some crass comment at him while the team was practicing on the field. Who knows why he gave that particular answer with that sneering tone to it.

My fond memories of Jim Rice were as a longtime Red Sox player -- along with Fred Lynn and Carl Yastrzemski ("Yaz!" - he replaced Ted Williams in 1961 as first string left fielder and was there till 1983), Luis Tiant, Carlton Fisk, Rick Burleson, and more -- hitting and fielding, on TV or in person at Fenway Park several times when I was a young kid. He was confident, struck a fairly singular look, to me, with that thick moustache of his. He was one of my baseball heroes in the 1970s and 1980s, in my youth. 

So here's to you, Jim Rice. Ultimately, I'm certainly glad you finally joined your teammates from those "almost spectacular" days of the Red Sox in the 1970s and 1980s. Congrats!

- Jonny O

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