Jim Rice

Verified Timeline

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.

In Their Own Story

The summer of 1978 marked the pinnacle of Rice's individual dominance. Leading the league in an unprecedented number of categories, he became the first major leaguer since Hank Aaron in 1959 to reach 400 total bases. His 406 total bases that year stood as a Red Sox record and was the highest in the AL since Joe DiMaggio's 418 in 1937. Rice was also the first player in major league history to lead the league in triples, home runs, and RBIs simultaneously. Despite leading the team in virtually every offensive metric, including 213 hits, his season capped a run of heartbreak; he had missed the 1975 World Series due to injury, and while he played in all 14 postseason games during the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets—collecting 14 hits and scoring 14 runs—the Red Sox lost in seven games. His ability to perform under pressure was evident, as his 14 runs scored in that single postseason remains the fifth most by an individual in a year's playoff play.

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?

• Rice was the first major leaguer in 19 years to hit for 400 total bases in 1978.
• He is one of two AL players ever to lead his league in triples and home runs in the same season.
• Rice is the only player in MLB history with three consecutive years of having at least 200 hits and 39 home runs while batting at least .315 in each of those years.
• In 1984 Rice set a major league single-season record by hitting into 36 double plays.