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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 Carl Yastrzemski 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 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 Run s (46), RBI s (139), Hits (213), Triple s (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 Triple s, Home Run s, and RBI s 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 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.http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/riceji01.shtml 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 Play s. 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 Fame rs (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 . RETIREMENT ACTIVITIES Rice has served as a Roving Batting Coach ( 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.http://www.twmuseum.com/events/hhof_2006.html HALL OF FAME DEBATE Should Rice be inducted as a member of the Baseball Hall Of Fame , he 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.http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/history/retired_numbers.jsp inviting fans to sign the Jersey]] 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 generally regarded as being one of the better hitters of his , which would place him on the 2009 ballot. Rice's current delay in being elected to the Hall of Fame may be related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA.http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/01/11/verdict_is_in_rice_still_a_tough_out/. Some writers, such as the Providence Journal's 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.http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/history/hof_voting/alpha/R.htm During the 2007 season, the Pawtucket Red Sox started a campaign to get Rice inducted which includes having fans sign "the World's Largest Jim Rice Jersey." REFERENCE(S)
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