Congrats to Red Sox slugger Jim Rice, elected to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame on his last year of eligibility yesterday. I always liked Rice as a player but never thought much as to whether or not he was HOF-worthy in terms of career numbers. But I’ve always liked him as a NESN analyst – he always wears great ties! – and Red Sox fans everywhere should be feeling mighty proud of Rice’s election. Can’t wait to see the ceremony when the Sox retire his number and hang #14 on Fenway Pahhk’s right-field bleachers this summer. Ought to be quite an event.
Rather than me going on and on about Rice and his Red Sox career and legacy, I’ll let others do the talking for me. Surviving Grady has some great posts on both the competitive side and the human side (a must read!) of Jim Rice as a ballplayer. (You can see a photo of this latter example here.)
I’ll give fellow Goodboy Ron “Cubby” Myerow the last word on Jim Ed’s election from an e-mail he sent to me yesterday:
I think Jim Rice should get some ink on your web blog.
It took 15 years to elect him into the Hall Of Fame.
His stats speak for themselves.
I’m not sure how you can top that. Spoken like a true Goodboy. Thanks, Cub!
I think Jim Rice deserved to be elected to the Hall of fame, and it took too long for it to happen.
Just an interesting note: We now have three consecutive left-fielders in the HOF – Williams, Yaz and now Rice. Thats got to be some sort of record in MLB.
Comment by Dave Richard — January 15, 2009 @ 11:16 am
What about Mike “Gator” Greenwell?
Comment by The Great White Shank — January 15, 2009 @ 11:45 pm
I’m not sure what the holdup was on Rice. His defense was suspect but there are more than a few players in the HoF that could make that claim. For 8-10 years, he was bad news at the plate for most AL pitchers.
Comment by Rob — January 18, 2009 @ 9:51 am