Jim Rice

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.

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.

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.

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".

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(145 games with the Red Sox, he batted .331 with 21 home runs and 105 RBIs). 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, after having the best season in his career , 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 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.