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 years in a row. He batted above .300 seven times, collected 100+ runs batted in (RBI) eight times, had 200 hits four times 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.


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.

Retirement activities[edit]

In 1990, Rice agreed to play with the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association.^[14] Afterwards, Rice has served as a roving batting coach (1992–1994),and hittinginstructor(1995–2000), and remains an instructional batting coach (2001–present) with the Red Sox organization. While the Red Sox hitting coach, the team led the league in hitting in 1997 and players won two batting titles. Rice was the hitting coach for the American League in the 1997 and 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, both under the same manager, the New York Yankees' Joe Torre. Since 2003, he's also been employed as a commentator for the New England Sports Network (NESN), where he contributes to the Red Sox pre-game and post-game shows. He had a cameo appearance in the NESN movie Wait Till This Year^[15] and in the film Fever Pitch.^[16] The former slugger has been known to pass his wisdom on to the current Sox players and stars from time to time. Rice was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame when it first opened in 1995, and he is the 40th member of Ted Williams' Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, having been inducted along with Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount in 2001.^[17] On November 29, 2008, the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) announced that Rice would be the recipient of the Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to baseball.^[18]


During his Hall of Fame acceptance speech Rice revealed that he is a devoted fan of The Young and the Restless, noting that he was watching the show when he was informed of his acceptance.^[19]

Notable seasons[edit]

In the minor leagues, Rice's three-run home run was the key blow in helping the Pawtucket Red Sox (International League) defeat the Tulsa Oilers (American Association) in a 5–2 win in the 1973 Junior World Series. After he was AAA's International League Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and Triple Crown winner in 1974, he and fellow rookie teammate Fred Lynn were brought up to the Red Sox at the same time, and were known as the "Gold Dust Twins".^[1][2][3]


Rice was promoted in the Red Sox organization to be a full-time player in 1975, and finished in second place for the American League's Rookie of the Year honors, and third in the Most Valuable Player voting, after he finished the season with 174 base hits, 102 runs batted in, a .309 batting average and 22 home runs; Lynn won both awards. The Red Sox won the AL's East Division, but Rice did not play in either the League Championship Series or World Series because of a wrist injury sustained in the last week of the regular season when he was hit by a pitch. The Red Sox went on to lose the World Series four games to three to the Cincinnati Reds of the National League (NL).


When the 1977 season ended, Rice found himself leading the AL in three different offensive categories. His 39 home runs was tops in the league; the first time he led the league in this statistic. He also led the league with a .593 slugging average and 392 total bases, the most by an AL player in 39 years.


In 1978, Rice won the American League's Most Valuable Player award in a campaign where he hit .315 (third in the league) and led the league in home runs (46), RBI (139), hits (213), triples (15), total bases (406, and slugging percentage (.600). Altogether he led the AL in 11 different categories that season, one shy of tying the Major league record of 12 set in 1921 by Rogers Hornsby. Rice is also one of two AL players ever to lead his league in triples and home runs in the same season. He also remains the only player to lead the major leagues in triples, home runs and RBIs in the same season. His 406 total bases that year is still a Red Sox record, and was the most in the AL since Joe DiMaggio had 418 in 1937. He was the first major leaguer with 400 or more total bases since Hank Aaron in 1959. This feat was not repeated until 1997, when Larry Walker had 409 in the NL. No AL player has done it since Rice in 1978, and his total remains the third highest by an AL right-handed hitter, behind DiMaggio and Jimmie Foxx (438 in 1932).


Rice had another superb season in 1979. Beside having his third season with over 200 hits, he had finished in the top three in eight different AL batting categories. He finished third in runs scored and second in home runs, RBIs, hits, slugging average, runs created, and extra base hits. He also led the league in total bases for the third straight time, and had the fourth-highest AL Batting Average. He 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.


At the end of the 1983 season Rice led the AL in four categories including home runs, RBIs, total bases, and grounding into double plays. He had tied Milwaukee Brewers player George Scott's (1975) record and became the second player to lead the AL in those categories in the same season. In 2012 Miguel Cabrera, a Detroit Tiger, became the third AL player to reach this mark; no NL player has ever led that league in these three categories in the same year.


In 1986, Rice had 200 hits, batted .324, and had 110 RBIs. The Red Sox made it to the World Series for the second time during his career. This time, Rice played in all 14 postseason games, where he collected 14 hits, including two home runs. He also scored 14 runs and drove in six. His 14 runs scored is the fifth most by an individual during a single year's postseason play. The Red Sox went on to lose the World Series to the New York Mets, four games to three, the fourth consecutive Series appearance by Boston which they lost in seven games.

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Community activities[edit]

Rice was associated with a variety of charitable organizations during his career, primarily on behalf of children, some of which carried on into his retirement. He was named an honorary chairman of The Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in 1979,^[7] and in 1992 was awarded that organization's "Jimmy Award," which honors individuals who demonstrate their dedication to cancer research.^[8] Rice is also active in his support of the Neurofibromatosis Foundation of New England.^[9] Rice's involvement with Major League Baseball's RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) resulted in the naming of a new youth baseball facility in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in his honor in 1999.^[10] A youth recreation center in Rice's hometown of Anderson, South Carolina, is also named in his honor.


During a nationally televised game on August 7, 1982, Rice rushed into the stands to help a young boy who was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Dave Stapleton. Rice left the dugout and entered the stands to help four-year-old Jonathan Keane, who was bleeding heavily. Rice carried the boy onto the field, through the Red Sox dugout, and into the clubhouse, where he was immediately treated by the team's medical staff. Rice's swift response likely saved Keane's life, as paramedics would likely not have arrived in time. Rice also paid the hospital bill, and Keane made a full recovery from the injury.^[11][12][13]