Jim Rice

Red Sox legend and Hall of Fame slugger who dominated the AL in the late 1970s.

James Edward Rice (born March 8, 1953) is an American former professional baseball left fielder and designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Rice played his entire 16-year MLB career for the Boston Red Sox. In 2009, Rice was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Quick Facts

Position: Left fielder; Designated hitter
Bats: Right
Born: 8 March 1953
Birthplace: Anderson, South Carolina, U.S.
Debut league: MLB
Debut date: August 19
Debut year: 1974
Debut team: Boston Red Sox

Lore & Background

Rice was an eight-time American League (AL) All-Star and was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1978 after becoming the first major league player in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases. He went on to become the ninth player to lead the major leagues in total bases in consecutive seasons. He joined Ty Cobb as one of two players to lead the AL in total bases three consecutive seasons. He batted above .300 seven times during his 16 season career, and collected 100+ runs batted in (RBI) eight times.

Rice also had 200 hits in four seasons, and 20+ home runs 11 times. He also led the league in home runs three times, RBIs and slugging percentage twice each, and averaged more than 117 hits for every 100 regular season MLB games he had played in during his career. Between 1975 and 1986, Rice led all major league players in hits, RBIs and total bases, as well as all AL players in home runs and runs scored.

Reader's Guide

From 1975 through 1980 he was part of one of the sport's great outfields along with Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans (who was his teammate for his entire career); Rice continued the tradition of his predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski as a power-hitting left fielder who played his entire career for the Red Sox. He ended his career with a .502 slugging percentage, and then ranked tenth in AL history with 382 home runs; his career marks in homers, hits (2,452), RBI (1,451) and total bases (4,129) remain Red Sox records for a right-handed hitter, with Evans eventually surpassing his Boston records for career runs scored, at bats and extra base hits by a right-handed hitter. When Rice retired, his 1,503 career games in left field ranked seventh in AL history.

Did You Know?

He is also the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more home runs for three consecutive years.
In 1978, Rice became the fourth and final MLB player to lead both leagues at the same time in hitting the most home runs and having the most hits in the same season.
Rice's 406 total bases in 1978 is still a Red Sox record, and was the most in the AL since Joe DiMaggio had 418 in 1937.
In 1984 Rice set a major league single-season record by hitting into 36 double plays.