Page 61 - 1975 BoSox

54 ’75—THE RED SOX TEAM THAT SAVED BASEBALL
Hall of Famers surely haven’t. He saved a young boy’s life.
Jonathan Keane returned for Opening Day in 1983 to throw the ceremonial rst pitch, and Rice’s game returned as well, as he went on to lead the league in RBIs (126) and home runs (39). He won the Silver Slugger award and played spectacularly in his best year since 1979. And though the 1983 season was not Rice’s best, it provided more weight in the argument of whether he should be a Hall of Famer. SABR member Paul White of Shawnee, Kansas, who was one of Rice’s most vocal supporters for election to the Hall of Fame, wrote in 2001 that there were a few reasons o ered by sportswriters for Rice not to be admitted to the Hall. Chief among them is that Rice was one-dimensional.7 In his article, White quoted Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, explaining why he did not vote for Rice in 2000. Stark’s main argument was that Rice was one-dimensional, citing his lack of Gold Gloves.8 To counter Stark’s claim, White o ered baseball writer Peter Gammons, who wrote in his book Beyond the Sixth Game: “... [In 1983, Rice] prob- ably should have won a Gold Glove for elding excel- lence. Dwight Evans, who had the worst defensive year of his career, won one instead, proving clearly the value of a reputation.”9
Rice had typically ne years in 1984 (28 HR, 122 RBIs, .280) and 1985 (27, 103, .291), garnering All-Star honors each year. In 1986 the Red Sox returned to the post- season, and Rice was their primary weapon in the middle of the lineup. He hit .324, with 20 home runs and 110 RBIs, his last big season.
After missing the postseason in 1975, Rice was healthy this time. He hit just .161 with two home runs in the Red Sox League Championship Series victory over the California Angels, but one of the homers was a key three-run wallop in Game Seven. He hit .333 in the World Series loss to the New York Mets, in what was to be his only fall classic.
Bothered by an injured elbow, Rice fell o in 1987 (13 home runs, 62 RBIs, .277), and he had to have o season knee surgery. ese injuries and eyesight problems
plagued Rice for the next two seasons, and hastened the rather sudden end to his career after the 1989 season. e last few unhappy at-bats of the season’s di cult twilight dropped Rice’s career average from .300 to .298, a drop that provide ammunition for critics in the Hall of Fame-eligibility years that followed.
Rice spent all 16 years of his big-league career with the Red Sox, playing his nal game on August 3, 1989. He returned to serve the organization when he was appointed hitting coach in 1995, and young hitters from Nomar Garciaparra to Trot Nixon to Mo Vaughn bene ted from his tutelage. Rice continued as Red Sox hitting coach until 2000.
Rice and his wife, Corine, settled in 1975 in Andover, Massachusetts, where they raised their children, Carissa and Chancey. Rice would prefer to be in a warmer climate, being from South Carolina, but his family preferred New England.10
Ironically, Rice joined the ranks of the Boston sports media as a baseball analyst for the New England Sports Network (NESN), and became a colleague of some of those he used to war with.
Honors followed the slugger out of baseball. On November 1, 1995, he was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in its inaugural class. His plaque can be viewed in the Red Sox Hall of Fame at Fenway Park. e Red Sox also put on display a row of silver bats, replicas of all the Silver Slugger awards won by Red Sox players. Two of those belong to Jim Rice. In 1999 Sports Illustrated rated him South Carolina’s ninth best athlete of the 20th century. On February 18, 2001, Rice was inducted into the Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame. A community center in his hometown of Anderson is named in his honor, the Jim Ed Rice Center.
But despite all of the accolades, for years an argument like no other postcareer argument raged about whether Rice’s statistics merited him Hall of Fame recognition. e late Dick Bresciani, the Red Sox’ avuncular his- torian, was one of his ercest advocates, and kept Rice’s superior statistics available and showcased to