| ||
| Home > Departments > The Player Pages > Jim Rice |
|
Born: March 8, 1953, Anderson, SC Height: 6'2" Weight: 210 Bats: Right Throws: Right
* Led league Jim had an excellent year with AAA Pawtucket in 1974. He won the International League triple crown with a .337 average, 25 home runs, and 95 RBI. He was chosen as the International League M.V.P. and Rookie of the Year, and the minor leagues' Player of the Year. He made his major league debut in August of 1974.
Jim was chosen to play in his first All-Star game in 1977. It was the first of eight All-Star selections, including 1978, 1979, 1983, and 1985, when he was voted in as a starter.
On August 29, 1977, Jim Rice hit three home runs. His only other three-homer game came exactly six years later, on August 29, 1983.
In 1977, he led the league with 39 home runs. He also had 206 hits, marking the first of three consecutive years with at least 35 homers and 200 hits. He was the first player ever to have accomplished that feat. He also led the league in total bases for three straight years, becoming only the third A.L. player - after Ty Cobb and Ted Williams - to do so.
Rice had an even better year in 1978, leading the majors in several categories, including hits (213), home runs (46), RBI (139), triples (15) and slugging percentage (.600) - enough to make him an easy choice for the American League M.V.P.
In 1983, he had 21 outfield assists, becoming the first Red Sox player to record over 20 since 1944.
He finished third in M.V.P. balloting in 1986, when he finished the season with a .324 average, 200 hits, 20 home runs, and 110 RBI.
Jim Rice hit over 20 homers in 11 seasons, topped 100 RBI eight times, and had four 200-hit seasons. He ended with 382 homers, third on the all-time Red Sox list, behind Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski. On the all-time Red Sox leaders list, he places third in home runs, RBI, hits, at-bats, and total bases; fourth in runs scored and extra-base hits; fifth in slugging percentage; and sixth in doubles and triples.
Jim was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995, the year it opened.
From 1995 to 2000, Rice served as hitting coach for the Red Sox. The team hit .284 in the first four years since he joined, after hitting only .260 in the four years prior to his arrival. In 1996, they hit 209 home runs, the second highest total in Sox history.
Jim was selected as a coach for the 1999 All-Star Game, held at Fenway Park. He participated in the celebrity hitting contest, and delighted the crowd by knocking several balls off the Wall and several more over it, as he led his team to victory.
On July 26, 2009, Jim Rice was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is only the fourth Hall-of-Famer, joining Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Bobby Doerr, to have played his entire career for the Red Sox. Two days after his Hall of Fame induction, Rice's uniform #14 was retired by the Red Sox.
I met Jim Rice at Fenway Park in 2005. Red Sox team hitting statistics before the arrival of Jim Rice as hitting coach:
Red Sox team hitting under Jim Rice's instruction:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home Departments Features Archives More Info Interact Search | ||||
|