Seems like Rice always was in someone's shadow. He and Lynn were rookies together in 75. They called them the Golddust Twins. Until Rice broke his wrist getting hit by a pitch, their stats were pretty close (and many think Rice's getting hurt cost them the Series). But Lynn had the picturebook swing, and glided effortlessly in the field--he drew comparisons to Joe D, in fact. If I remember right, they moved Yaz to first most games and had Cooper DH, and maybe displacing the Captain as the left fielder also was a sore spot with fans.
The ironic thing was that Rice went out there every day most of his career, and Lynn later developed the reputation of sitting out if he had a hangnail
Even in his monster year of 78, it seems to me that guys like Burleson, Hobson and Fisk got more, and better, ink than Rice.