I would be remiss, and disrespecting my blogging name if I did not give a shout out to Jim Rice on his election to baseball’s Hall of Fame. Congratulations to you, Jim Ed!
Rice came to Boston in that transformational year of 1975. He had almost the same numbers as the other historic rookie next to him on Fenway’s lawn that year; Fred Lynn, but by virtue of a bit of an edge in batting average and a superior glove, Lynn went on to be the only player ever to win the Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player awards in the same season. An all-time “what if” is the question of how the Sox would have done in the greatest world series ever if Rice had not had his hand broken by a pitch that September and missed the playoffs.
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Rice was an African-American from South Carolina, and must have found Boston in the 70’s… interesting from a social perspective. He famously refused to engage in the usual banter with sportswriters, and his hostility has been seen as a possible reason for him making the Hall only in the 15th and last year of eligibility.
Rice also came into a better light over the years though as revelations of steroid use came out, and the relatively low numbers of hitters of the deader era before that were put in new perspective. Statistically, Rice is a debatable selection, but certainly not an outlier. But in the context of his era, to me he is a solid choice.
It’s in non-statistical terms that his best case can be made though. Anyone who followed the Sox, or baseball in general, from 1975 to the late 80’s recognized that #14, Jim Ed Rice, was truly an offensive force with game-changing abilities. To be so feared a hitter for such an extended period of time is definitely worthy of the Hall, imo.