TomGshotput --- Facts about Jim Rice.
Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989. An 8-time American League (AL) All-Star, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1978 after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases (First in the AL since Joe D.) and went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons, and join Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three years in a row.
He batted .300 seven times, collected 100 runs batted in (RBI) eight times and 200 hits four times, and had eleven seasons with 20 home runs, also leading the league in home runs 3 times, RBI's and slugging average twice each.
In the late 1970s he was part of one of the sport's great outfields along with Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans, who was his teammate for his entire career; Rice continued the tradition of his predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox.
He ended his career with a .502 slugging average then ranked tenth in AL history with 382 home runs his career marks in homers, hits (2,452), RBI (1,451) and total bases (4,129) remain Red Sox records for a right-handed hitter, with Evans eventually surpassing his Boston records for career runs scored, at bats and extra base hits by a right-handed hitter. When Rice retired, his 1,503 career games in left field ranked seventh in AL history. (Evans played in 2606 career games to Rice's 2089).
In 1978, Rice won the Most Valuable Player award in a campaign where he hit .315 (third in the league) and led the league in home runs (46), RBI (139), hits (213), triples (15) and slugging average (.600). He is one of only two AL 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 the major leagues in triples, home runs and RBIs in the same season. His 406 total bases that year were the most in the AL 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 in the NL. No AL player has done it since Rice in 1978, and his total remains the third highest by an AL right-handed hitter, behind DiMaggio and Jimmie Foxx (438 in 1932).
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 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 postseason play. The Red Sox went on to lose the World Series to the New York Mets, 4 games to 3, the fourth consecutive Series appearance by Boston which they lost in seven games.
Since his retirement at the end of 1989, the Red Sox have not reissued his jersey number 14, except during Rice's tenure as the team's hitting coach in the mid-to-late 1990s. The team's long-standing tradition has been to officially retire the number of players who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Sox and have spent at least ten years with the team, although this policy may no longer be in effect following the retiring of Johnny Pesky's number 6 in September 2008.
Rice led the AL in home runs three times (1977, 1978, 1983), in RBI twice (1978, 1983), in slugging average 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 and 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, 1,451 RBIs, 1,249 runs scored, 2,452 hits, and 4,129 total bases.
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 five 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 while hitting 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years. He is tied for the AL record of leading the league in total bases for three straight seasons, and was one of three AL players to have three straight seasons of hitting at least 39 home runs while batting .315 or higher. From 1975 to 1986, Rice led the AL in total games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging average, 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 (Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is next, having led in four).
His biggest flaw as a hitter was his tendency to hit 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, Bill Buckner, etc.) resulted in many double plays. In 1984 he set a major league single-season record by hitting into 36 double plays.
His 315 career times grounding into a double play ranked third in major league history behind Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Carl Yastrzemski when he retired; he broke Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson's AL record for a right-handed hitter (297) in 1988, and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. eventually surpassed his mark in 1999. Rice led the league in this category in four consecutive seasons (1982-1985), matching Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi for the major league record.
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 he 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 currently only nine other retired players rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average: 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.
Rice was an adequate left fielder who finished his career with a fielding percentage of .980 and had 137 outfield assists (comparable to Ted Williams' figures of .974 and 140). Although he never enjoyed great speed, he had a strong throwing arm and was able to master the various caroms that balls took from the Green Monster (in left field) in Fenway Park. 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.
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Now take your 17 BETTER players and compare and see what you come up with.
For the record I am a huge Dwight Evans and Freddie Lynn fan as well as having seen Ted Williams play as a youngster around a dozen times in the late 50's and very early 60's. I have been a diehard Red Sox fan for 50 years and have attended 100s of games at Fenway Park during that time.
I also saw Minnie Minoso play, I was a fan of his also when he played center field for the White Sox twice, once during the 50s and again in the 60s with a stop in Cleveland in between.. Minnie's main claim to fame is he is the oldest man to ever play in the majors at 54 years old. Despite a late start Minoso played 17 seasons in the majors 6 teams (White Sox and Indians twice). Never even considered for the HOF.
Regarding Bert Blyleven, sure he won 287 games but he also lost 250 while playing for 5 different teams, 6 if you include The Twins twice. His lifetime 3.31 ERA is the reason along with the 250 loses he is unfairly not in the HOF.
I saw Richie (Dick) Allen play and he was similar to Rice at the plate but his numbers are not any better than Rice's during his 15 year career with 6 different teams. He will never make the HOF because of his attitude which may be a bad rap but Dick Allen was rated by sabrematrician Bill James as the second-most controversial player in baseball history, behind Rogers Hornsby.
Keith Hernandez ruined his chances with drugs. In 1985, Hernandez's cocaine use, which had been the subject of persistent rumors and the chief source of friction between Hernandez and Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog, became a matter of public record as a result of the Pittsburgh trial of drug dealer Curtis Strong. Hernandez made a successful recovery.
Hernandez never received enough support from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2004, after nine years on the ballot, he received votes from fewer than 5% of the writers, thus ending his eligibility. Hernandez may still be considered for induction by the Veterans Committee in 2011, twenty years after his retirement.
Joe Torre had a great year with St Loius in 1971 and won the NL MVP award. He played in 9 All Star games but as a catcher was not that notable a feat. With only 252 career homers in almost 8000 at bats he is not HOF materieal as a player.
Alan Trammell hit .285 for his career with 185 homers and 1003 RBI in 8200 at bats - no comparison no matter how you look at it.
Mark McGwire naturally belongs in the hall if he did what he did on his own. Maybe time will tell but you cannot compare suspected roid hitters to players like Rice or Yazstremski.
Fred Lynn, Dale Murphy and Reggie Smith were gold glove centerfielders. Though they didn't play long enough so perhaps they might not exceed Rice. Ted Simmons at catcher, and Lou Whitaker and Bobby Grich at second, Dawson in centerfield and Parler in rightfield probably did
The only one worth discussing is Dawson who like I said already will have his day in the near future and deservedly so.
By Parlor I assume you mean Dave Parker who had some big years but like Hernandez in the early 1980s, Parker's hitting suffered due to injuries, weight problems and his increasing cocaine use. He became one of the central figures in a drug scandal that spread through the major leagues. Parker was among several players who testified against a dealer in the Pittsburgh drug trials, and he was later fined by Major League Baseball for his admitted drug use. His numbers after 19 years with 6 different teams are just not as good as Rice's numbers are. Next to Dawson he is probably the best of your 17 player lot. Tim Raines is going to be in the HOF soon btw.
wil.
