Jim Rice

[Raider Ronnie]

With all the talk about steroids and cheating in my opinion this time around Rice gets in !
My opinion, Pete Rose should be put in also !

[nightfighter]

No chit.... See how his stats stacked up vs. inductees since he's been eligible? In yesterday's Globe. He is deserving. (but he must have been some mean MFer to those reporters in his day) And Manny think he's the baaad man!

[Raider Ronnie]

Originally Posted by Strike_King

With this ballot,he should get in this year
• Brady Anderson
• Harold Baines
• Rod Beck
• Bert Blyleven
• Dave Concepcion
• Andre Dawson
• Shawon Dunston
• Chuck Finley
• Travis Fryman
• Rich "Goose" Gossage
• Tommy John
• David Justice
• Chuck Knoblauch
• Don Mattingly
• Mark McGwire
• Jack Morris
• Dale Murphy
• Robb Nen
• Dave Parker
• Tim Raines
• Jim Rice
• Jose Rijo
• Lee Smith
• Todd Stottlemyre
• Alan Trammell

It's a realatively weak class.I'll say Blyleven and Gossage too.

I don't think Brady Anderson has a chance in hell of ever getting 1 vote.
He's the 1st poster child for steroids !

[BigFish]

Tiant belongs in...his numbers are right there with Catfish Hunter! Blyleven...probably a sub .500 winning percentage (have to check his stats and I will come back!)

Rice belonged in after his first couple years of eligibility! Stupid keeping him out because he was a big meanie to the media! He was the most devastating hitter of my youth!
Oh....and Rice numbers are as good if not better than Cepeda and Billy Williams!

[BigFish]

A quiet 287-250.......not an exciting career for sure but rock solid for some pretty bad teams and a few good ones...."We Are Family"! He deserves in for sure!

[vineyardblues]

Rice was a black / white issue....................................
He should and will be in
VB

[BigFish]

Peter....are you saying race was a factor??? If so I have to laugh and say.....no it was not!

[ThomCat]

Check out Jim Rice's stats against Mickey Mantles, aside from the big difference in HR's, in just about every offensive catogory his numbers are at or better than the Micks. Mantle's numbers were the product of several more seasons. Rice's exemption from the Hall thus far is sad testiment to cedibility of the voters.

[BigFish]

Rice wasn't just one of the best power hitters of his time.....he was one of the best hitters period! The guy was driving in 120 on 38-40 homers a year, batting .300-.310 and putting 200 hits a season up!!! Only thing that kept his average down was the whiffs?! An injustice is putting it mildly Thom......this guy should have gone in 10 years ago!

[afterhours]

i think that this is rices' year.

[ProfessorM]

Go Jim Ed

[Mike P]

Rice wasn't the greatest performer in the clutch that I've ever seen. That's the negative on the field stat. What he was to the press shouldn't matter. Nobody in the history of baseball had a worse relationship with the press than Ted Williams, and the press didn't hold it against him come HOF time. Not that they credibly could. But when you have a borderline case like Rice's, everything seems to matter.

Interesting that Dave Parker is on there. He and Rice were kind of talked about in the same breath back then. Their careers almost paralled each other, and his career stats are right there with Rice's. Roughly the same career average (.290 for Parker to .298 for Rice), they both won MVP once and in fact, in the same year (1978), Rice had more HRs (382 to 279), Parker had more RBI (1493 to 1451), Rice had a better slugging percentage (.502 to .471). However, Rice grounded into 315 DPs over his career, which was another on the field nagative, to Parker's 209.

Also--when you recite Mickey Mantle's stats--bear in mind that he played on one leg for well over half of his career, and like Willie Mays, held on too long.

And the news that came in just a few minutes ago--Rice was passed over again, getting only 72% of the votes.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Strike_King

In regard to the media..Eddie Murray wasn't exactly media friendly..

But he had one of the magic numbers that used to assure a place in the Hall--500+ career HRs.

[BigFish]

Not to mention he was a switch hitter Mike!

[Squid kids Dad]

Wait till next year again..

[wrikerjr]

I think we all know that I am not a huge boston fan, but it is a travesty that Jim Rice is not in the hall. He was the most feared hitter in baseball for a decade in the AL, but comparing him to Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle are you guys serious.

I grew up loving Don Mattingly, but I am not going to compare him to people he shouldn't be compared to in the same sentence.

Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray and Jim Rice were power hiters. 2 of those power hitters had 500 home runs and that is why they are in the hall, before steroids that was the magic number you made it and your were guaranteed a spot.

Oh yea Mickey Mantle won the triple crown, remember that before you compare anybody to him. Jim Rice and Mickey mantle you guys make me laugh

[wrikerjr]

Originally Posted by Squid kids Dad

Wait till next year again..

next year is his final year of eligibility and i guarantee you that he gets in.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

next year is his final year of eligibility and i guarantee you that he gets in.

Depends on the quality of the first year eligible class. Off the top of my head, I can't think of who they might be, but a powerhouse cast could cost him a shot.

The Veterans' Committee will elect him someday. That's how Mazerowski, probably the least deserving player in there, got in. The guy basically got into Cooperstown on one swing of the bat

[vineyardblues]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Peter....are you saying race was a factor??? If so I have to laugh and say.....no it was not!

Not to start a pissing match, But when I was in high school in the 70's they had forced busing in the 70's in Boston, Jim was a great player but Boston was a "white city" ,,,hate to say that
As I remember he had a huge pissing match when he left baseball and he never showed up or maybe it was never offered ? his fair well game. After that for years he was MIA
Jim lives in my home town and I have all the respect for him and his career .

He should be in the HOF
VB

[BigFish]

I remember busing Peter.....Jim Rice was beloved in this town regardless! Not to mention what does busing have to do with the sportswriters votes???

Is that why we "hated" Bill Russell? Luis Tiant, Reggie Smith, George Scott?

[Mike P]

Larry--I'm a little older than you. Boston didn't love Russell. He had a hell of a time finding a home. Read his books sometime. The Celts couldn't sell out a home playoff 7th game in his day, when the Celts were the first NBA team to field an all-black starting 5. After he retired, he only came back to the Garden on a few occasions, as a favor to Red. If Boston loved Reggie Smith so much, why was management so eager to trade him for peanuts? There were some ugly rumors of an affair with a white player's wife (many speculated that it was Yastremski's, although they were just rumors) and they couldn't ship him out of town fast enough. People loved George Scott the way they loved Stepin Fetchit or Jack Benny's Rochester. He was an amiable southern black who, in the parlance of his time, "knew his place" and wasn't "uppity" like Reggie Smith.

Tiant came around later. He had two things going for him--he was Cuban, and he also had more of Scott's personality than Smith's or Rice's. And Rice wasn't as beloved as you might think, even with the fans. I used to go to Fenway in the late 1970s and some of what I heard shouted when he'd hit into one of his signature 6-4-3 DPs was horrible.

[vineyardblues]

I remember busing Peter.....Jim Rice was beloved in this town regardless! Not to mention what does busing have to do with the sportswriters votes???

Larry, black people were not treated fair back in the 70's ,they had a very hard time in Boston. From kid's in school to pro ball players.
JIm took it to heart and pissed off more then a few people. It was huge, The owners, the sports writers.
He was way ahead of his time The sad part is in sports it's still
a white city , just in the last few years things have changed for the better ...................................

[BigFish]

Trust me I know the history of African Americans and sports in Boston...and busing. My point was people hated Russell before busing even happened.....I do not agree that busing or race had anything to do with Rice not getting elected.....like I said....what does it have to do with the nations sportswriters and their votes???

[vineyardblues]

He has now appeared on 14 of the possible 15 BBWAA annual ballots, and Rice's current delay in being elected to the Hall of Fame stems in part from more current statistical analysis of player performance. This analysis shows that Rice's HOF credentials may be more questionable than they were considered during his career.[15] The delay may also be related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA.


A clip and past from Wikipedia..............

VB

[Squid kids Dad]

Gotta agree with Mike P

[vineyardblues]

He pissed more then a few people off................
VB

The delay may also be related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA

[BigFish]

But what does the vote of the nations sportswriters who vote for those to be inducted have to do with A. Race and B. Busing???

[BigFish]

I am gonna bet that most of those who ever dealt with Rice during his career are long since retired! Also gonna go out on a limb and say a good percentage of the sportswriters who vote never saw Rice Play!

[vineyardblues]

Again............... This was wrote TODAY .. not from me

The delay may also be related to his often difficult relationship with the media during his playing career, many of whom are still voting members of the BBWAA

[vineyardblues]

And I will go out on the limb and say that most of the voters have their head up their arse