Entries Tagged 'Jim Rice' ↓

There is certainly something about left field at Fenway Park that offers not only a left-handed hitters plaything, but a defensive advantage to the home team. The Green Monster has made as many men look stupid as it has hero. And now, the half-century worth of three consecutive left fielders who came into the park and came into our baseball lives are part of the greatest honor baseball can bestow upon its mortals.

Teddy to Yaz to Rice. Like a relay race baton, the Hall called and three consecutive left fielders answered (barely in the case of Rice).

The deal is done. Rice is now a Hall of Fame baseball player. One of the elite. One of the chosen. On paper, his numbers didn’t reflect the same honor as Williams or DiMaggio, but to watch him play and to see the opponents motion to him and stand up in the dugout to watch him hit was intagibly beautiful for the Red Sox fan.

I personally would not have thought he would make it. There’s a chance others like him on that perennial bubble never will. We may be coming to the final years of the veteran voting pool. The guys who relied only on a deadline,  a pad, a pen, a typewriter and their eyes.

There is a lot to be said about Jim Rice, but don’t ask him. He won’t tell you. He’s the guy who wouldn’t say anything; even to his teammates on many occasssions.

What I’ll say is this: Jim Ed Rice is a Hall of Famer. And Red Sox Nation is proud to support the designation. Congratulations, man.

Is it time for Jim to make it to the Hall? Does he belong?

Ask people outside of Red Sox Nation who didn’t play or pitch against him during his reign of hitting terror and you’ll find few supporters.

The time, however, as pointed out by Dan Shaughnessy, has come and Jim Ed Rice will see his day in the sun. And not a day (or year) too soon. With only one more year on the ballot before he gets tossed aside to the Veteran’s Committee, Jim might need to take his show on the road, hand over a couple of olive branches and make sure that he does his best to get in.

I’m personally torn on Rice getting into the Hall. He was the first name I could think of when the club needed that special hit. He was the person everyone looked to for that RBI. But I’m not sure that he was good enough outside the fan base. And, to be honest, if the fan base were half as large as it is these days, he’d already be in the Hall.

I like his chances based on the steroid era and all of the black marks against the game over the past 10 years. It certainly gives the old-school types a chance to … tip the needle.

Good luck, Jim. I don’t know if you really deserve it on pure statistics, but I will be the kid cheering you on if you make it just like I was when you came up to the big leagues.

Happy New Year to everyone. Play safe.