This is no time for stare decisis; Put Rice in the HoF.

Mike:
Man, I totally got Bode Millah faced last night and now I'm going to be dragging my hungovah ass all day.

 

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Bill:
If Bode Millah was a pro ball playah instead of a skiah, sure as shit he'd be playing for the Red Sox. We always get the so-called free spirits.

 

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Mike:
I can already imagine the Shaughnessy column the day aftah the Red Sox version of Bode Millah announces that he occasionally plays drunk: "Bahroom Bums: Season Hopes Awash in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome."

 

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Bill:
Speaking of local drunkahds, did you hear our esteemed senior Senatah has written a children's book?

 

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Mike:
Saw that. "My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C." Poor friggin' dog, having to listen to TK drone on day aftah day aftah day.

 

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Bill:
Heh, but you've got to give homeboy credit … he's been walking around for 4 decades with the Mary Jo Kopechne incident hanging ovah his head, yet has the balls to name his dog "Splash"?

 

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Mike:
That's, ah, one way to look at it … Meanwhile, I wish the Honorable Sentah from Massachusetts would stop with all the Roe v Wade questions during the Alito hearings and ask the Supremes candidate a question that tests the man's true character: "Judge Alito, do you believe Jim Rice should be in the Hall of Fame? Yes or no, judge."

 

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Bill:
Absolutely. His answer would tell us everything we need to know about Alito.

 

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Mike:
If you don't believe Jim Rice is a Hall a'Famah, then what you're really saying is you don't believe in America.

 

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Comments

[El Jefe]

Bart Giamati (another distinguished lawyer) would've put him in.

And man-slapping Teddy 'Swim Team Captain' Kennedy was priceliss.

[RonF]

He named the dog "Splash"? No. No. No, this can't be true.

[Lumpy]

Do you mean the Red Sox HoF or the actual baseball HoF that good players go to? Sorry, I'm confused... As one Sox fan to another, could you explain to me how Jim Rice, in the era he played in, would be a Hall of Famer? He had four great seasons and the rest were on par with a healthy Trot Nixon. Other than his near .300 BA his career numbers don't add up to much.

[yazbread]

I was at Jim Rice's first game - he and Lynn came up towards the end of 1974. As much as he might deserve to be in the Hall, this is a classic example of 'you made your bed, now sleep in it'. My understanding is that Rice's glare and scowl terrorized and intimidated sportwriters. Supposedly the Sox have waged a big PR campaign this year - not that anything the front office does inspires confidence these days. I just do not see it happening today.

[Lumpy]

Geez, sorry, he was an RBI machine for a while there too, but still. Gotta give credit there. I guess that's why he's a very debatable character.

[NolaSox]

OK, I need a little help here. I was trying to find web evidence of one of my Jim Rice memories and discovered that my mind may have created a false one for me - Rice coming in from the outfield to scoop up an injured Jerry Remy. Now, after finding this http://thegloryofbaseball.blogspot.com/2005/02/day-jim-rice-made-contact.html, I am starting to think I melded two unrelated incidents into one. And since my personal Red Sox historian, my stepdad, is currently in Honduras I'm asking ya'll.

And as an aside, in my only season of T-ball, I was proud to wear 14 for the Bernardston Red Sox and had a Rice poster on my wall. No freaking Crissy Dolls or Easy Bake Ovens for me.

[Bob]

Lumpy, I think Rice had a lot more than "four good years." From 1975 to 1985, he averaged 30 HRs, 106 RBI, and a .301 batting average. In that era of larger ballparks, and no juiced players or baseballs, he was simply the single most feared - and most productive - hitter.

[GaryGeiger]

As I've always understood it, the main criterion for the HOF was "He was a dominant player in his era, at his position" On that alone, Jim Ed should be in.

Ted K has a dog named Splash, and is writing a children's book?......man, you can't make this shit up!

[Bob]

To put different eras into perspective, from 1975 to 1985, the AL Home Run Leader averaged 38 dingers. From 1995 to 2005, the AL Home Run Leader averaged 51. Rice was clearly a dominate hitter of his time. How he compares to today's artificially-pumped-up numbers shouldn't matter.

[illegitimate son of dwight evans]

My understanding is that Rice's glare and scowl terrorized and intimidated sportwriters.

GOOD. Am I alone here in thinking it is utterly asinine that the primary gatekeepers of the Hall of Fame are a select bunch of baseball watchers who happen to write articles for selected, "well-known" media outlets? I have more faith in El Bud picking worthy entrants than those bunch of self-important pricks.

As I've always understood it, the main criterion for the HOF was "He was a dominant player in his era, at his position" On that alone, Jim Ed should be in.

True that. I mean, it's the Hall of Fame, right? And "fame" colloquially means "has a good chance of being recognized for what he does", doesn't it? What's with these ridiculous criteria for what makes a Hall of Famer? Like a guy with 498 HR is somehow not hall worthy, but when he steps through that magical 500 turnstyle he's suddenly an icon to be revered? How about, um, I dunno, because he WAS that good, year in, year out?

[anon]

I was at Rice's last game -- which he skipped. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon, and we had seats out by left field. With one exception (below), there wasn't a lot of excitement in the game, and the wave started rolling around -- and around, and around the park.

It was also Dewey's last game, and he needed a rbi or two to make a hundred for what I think was the ninth year in a row. He reached a hundred, the fans had a good time in the sun, and the wave rolled.

[pawsoxpop]

I remember seeing Jim hit a few balls out toward Division Street in Pawtucket while I was hawking popcorn, peanuts and soda pop for the Pawsox. I think that he, like Doug DeCinces of the Orioles (who had Brooks Robinson ahead of him when he played for the Rochester Redwings) could have been great major leaguers even sooner if they had been called up. Maybe he could have helped put the Sox on top in '74 if he had been there the whole season. He DEFINITELY would have made a difference in the hard-fought, seven-game World Series of 1975, especially since the Reds featured some pretty tough left-handed pitchers that year (Don Gullett, Will McEnaney). I also think he would have had more good years at the end of the career if he'd had the benefit of modern-day eye care.

But given the numbers the way they are, Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame as much or more than some of the jokers who are already in there. Eddie Murray comes to mind, and Bill Mazeroski to name only two. Neither of those guys were anywhere near as dominant as Jim Rice for as long a time.

Unfortunately, the Baseball Hall of Fame is actually the Baseball Writers of America Popularity Contest Hall of Fame, with a heavy New York tilt to boot. I visited the Hall last year to see the shrine to the '04 Sox, and I had to laugh at how parochial and New York-centric the entire Hall is. You would almost think the Dodgers ceased to exist after they left Brooklyn, and you'd be hard-pressed to figure out that Willie Mays played much of his career in San Francisco. The World Series timeline exhibit was a joke as well. My wife is from Minnesota and the only item on display for the 1987 World Series (won by the worst-to-first Minnesota Twins) was a photo of Ozzie Smith (from the CARDINALS who LOST) doing a backflip.

I think the Basketball Hall of Fame does a much better job of chronicalling the greats of its sport from every era and being even-handed with teams from all around the country -- as well as paying tribute to non-NBA greats from college, high schools, women's leagues and other basketball organizations such as the Globetrotters. It's also a lot more entertaining and fun for kids.

[da kine]

Jim Rice was my favoritest player when I was a wee one. He and Dewey still tower above V-Tek, Papi, and good Manny on my list of faves. Dewey's Boy, you're exactly right about "a guy with 498 HR is somehow not hall worthy, but when he steps through that magical 500 turnstyle he's suddenly an icon to be revered". Put Jimmy in the Hall!

[buckner was framed]

Nola-
your mind doesn't deceive you. Rice did carry RemDawg off the field after he wrecked his knee sliding into second base. Or, at least, that's the way I remember it also. I want to say it was in '79 or '80, but I'm not sure....

[pawsoxpop]

I also remember a fight between Fisk and Munson in the '70s when a bunch of Yankees piled on top of Bill Lee and one of the bastards broke the Spaceman's left arm. Jim pulled two Yankees off of Lee -- one with each arm. I remember Hawk Harrelson and Dick Stockton remarking on it as they showed the replay again and again -- picking those guys up and throwing them down like the pinstripe-clad turds that they were.

[NolaSox]

Thanks, BwF. I was beginning to doubt that vivid memory. But the picture in my head has Rice coming out of the outfield rather than another base or the dugout which would have been the case if RemDawg was injured sliding. Perhaps it was a baserunner who took him out sliding into 2nd.

[Babe Silverstein]

Ted naming his dog Splash is akin to OJ naming his dog Slash.

Rice? For us Yankee fans, he was the guy you feared most when the Yanks played the BoSox. Rice owned the Yanks: .330 career avg., 36 homeruns, 129 RBI, 212 hits. Powerful hitter, whom I recall could field and throw off the Fenway wall as well as anybody.

Does Rice belong in the Hall? Yankee fans who watched him play think so -- but we're mostly rooting for Gossage, who absolutely belongs.

[NolaSox]

Not this year. Bastards. Sutter is in.

[Bob]

MF-ers. Giving sportwriters this priviledge is like letting carny folk vote for president. Oh, they can?

[Bob]

I hear Rice got 65%.

[NV in SD]

53 votes shy- better luck next year (or at least sometime in the next three) Jim Ed.

[Bob]

Rice: 64.8%.
Gossage: 64.6%
Sportwriters: Asshats%

[NolaSox]

Warning, due to the horrible choice of background color, do not go to baseballwriters.org. Unless of course you would like this site to appear red for about 5 minutes afterward. My eyes are still burning.

[Tman]

If Rice doesn't make it in next year then the HOF is about as useless as man nipples.

The guy is definitely a HOF'er. I'll give Suter his due and all, but there is no good reason why Rice shouldn't be in.

And speaking of his inhuman strength, the kind that broke a bat on a check swing, does anyone else notice that Rice had that power yet didn't appear to be some roids freak at the same time? Just a strong dude, no bulging shoulders or anything.

[pawsoxpop]

The Baseball Hall of Fame without Jim Rice is like the Atlantic without the Ocean. Useless.

[Babe Silverstein]

Honoring Sutter before Gossage is like putting Jay Leno before Johnny Carson.

I guess Rice's biggest problem with the voters is that he is remembered like Nixon, and campaigns like Gore.

Better luck one of these years.

[Kaz]

I just don't get how "sportswriters" are supposed to decide on "fame". Fame is not how popular you are to the Fourth Estate. It's a measure of what you should be remembered for in all time by the people. It's time to reevaluate the measures now that media conglomeration and the blog world have shifted the paradigm.

We no longer need our local writer to represent the wants of the community...because in most cases, they're no longer even "local", let alone what we think of their being a "writer". I'd be happy with a Nielsen system (random selection of willing participants) or even an All-Star balloting system (but not online).

[El Jefe]

Out of the 78 ballots south of Will Clark I want to know how many didn't vote for Jim Ed.

[SoxontheBeach]

"I also remember a fight between Fisk and Munson in the '70s when a bunch of Yankees piled on top of Bill Lee and one of the bastards broke the Spaceman's left arm. Jim pulled two Yankees off of Lee -- one with each arm."

Craig Nettles and Mickey Rivers are the ones who f-ed up Lee's shoulder. One of them sucker-punched him in the sweet spot. Those guys are still on my shit list for that.