Chris CrockettCooperstown Well Deserved---Go Get 'Em Jim Ed
July 19th 2009 14:25
Next Sunday is the day you've been waiting for Jim Ed Rice...You will be standing on the podium giving it your all in your HOF induction speech. I'm sure Rickey Henderson will come to Cooperstown dressed in full uniform as a King with his crown on---maybe ushered in on a Chariot. Don't worry, you'll be fine in a nice suit and tie, you don't have to match Rickey---that's not your style.
All kidding aside, Rice was a rarity. He was with Boston his whole career from 1974-1989. You just don't see that anymore in this age of huge money and no real loyalty existing anymore whether it's on the part of the player or on the part of the teams and owners. He was also a rarity due to the fact that he would sometimes break bats by simply check swinging with his Paul Bunyon like strength. Rice was the type of player who wanted to win so badly, he would do whatever it took. Rice would take your ass out if you were a second baseman or a shortstop covering second while turning a double play. He'd slide at just the last moment to make sure he'd take you out when he had the opportunity. Who knows---if Rice doesn't break a bone in his hand forcing him to miss the 1975 World Series---do the Sox lose to the Reds? Good chance they don't. For those of you a little younger, do you remember how Nomar would seemingly hit every ball hard when in his prime here in Boston? Well, Rice was the same type of hitter---every ball was hit hard by Jim Ed. Lets get on to some even better stuff....
Jim Ed was an 8-time All Star and won the AL MVP in 1978. Check this out on that '78 season... He led the league in HR (46), RBI (139), Hits (213), Triples (15), and Slugging % (.600). It gets better, he is the only player EVER in MLB history to lead all of baseball in Triples, HR, and RBI in the same season. That is an amazing feat, in one hell of an amazing year. I had never realized what an amazing year Rice had in '78. Outside of his '78 MVP season, he finished in the Top 5 in MVP voting five other times during his career. He finished in the Top 10 SIX TIMES in Batting Average... EIGHT TIMES in Slugging %...NINE TIMES in RBI... SEVEN TIMES in HR. To all of his detractors, explain to me how those numbers above don't prove that Rice was one of the most dominant players of his era. How? Mike Schmidt clearly had the choke hold on being the most dominant hitter during the meaty years of Rice's career---from 1975 through 1986. Outside of Schmidt, Rice and current Hall of Fame players Eddie Murray, George Brett, and Dave Winfield are in a photo finish race for best overall hitter during that stretch. That is what I call being a 'dominant' player in your era.
Winding down, I leave you with great stat on Jim Ed that you might not have known...Of all retired players, only Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Mell Ott, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams have more HR and a higher batting average than Jim Rice.
Go get 'em next week #14 you are are well deserving and a class act to boot.
(Thanks to Wikipedia and Baseball Reference for providing the stats for me to research for this post)
Chuck Hanf
Two Cents From Beantown
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