A Red Sox for the entirety of his career (1974-89), Jim Rice patrolled the Outfield and launched Home Runs past it. Called up in 1974, Rice was there to stay the following year, helping propel Boston to an appearance in that year’s World Series.
From 1977 to 1979, Rice was one of the most feared hitters in Baseball, winning back-to-back Home Run Titles (1977 & 1978), and the MVP in ’78. That year, Rice not only led the league in taters (46), he topped all in RBIs (139), Hits (213), Triples (15), Slugging (.600), OPS (.970) and OPS+ (157) and in the two years that book-ended his MVP, he finished fourth and fifth for that award respectively.
Rice was still solid in the early 80s, winning a third Home Run Title in 1983 (39), along with another RBI Title (126) and was fourth in MVP voting. Rice also won his first of two straight Silver Sluggers, and in 1986, he had his last good year, with a 20 HR/.324 BA year where he was third in MVP voting.
The eight-time All-Star played until 1989, and smacked 382 Home Runs, 1,451 RBIs with an OPS of .854. Rice would need the entire 15 years of eligibility to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame, but was quickly inducted into Boston’s Hall in 1995. His #14 was retired by the team in 2009.
Comments powered by CComment