Very cool Jim Rice video

[Vintagevault13]

Many of you may have seen this, but I just watched it for the first time. What a great story that portrays a different side of Jim Rice than what we often heard about in the media.

http://youtu.be/kW4NkJsgyuw


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[KCRfan1]

Great video, thanks for sharing Ed!

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Wonderful piece!

[steve B]

He did similar things more than once, I remember him being the first to get to a person hit by one of his fouls that was hit right to the leftfield edge of the screen behind home plate. No major injury then, but they took a really hard hit from the foul.

I always liked Rice, perhaps because he started right at the end of the year I began following baseball, maybe because he at first didn't get the hype Lynn got. Both deserved it, Lynn didn't hold up as well, maybe he handled the pressure differently.

Rice took a lot of heat from the Boston Media, some of it deserved some not. He did hit into a lot of doubleplays. His way of handling the criticism was similar to Ted Williams, he retreated and could be a bit hostile to reporters. That doesn't work as well for anyone who isn't Ted Williams.

I think they actually shortened his career. There was a stretch late in his career when he was doing rather poorly. Finally someone made the suggestion that glasses might help. So he got a pair, which was frankly not a good looking pair. And they gave him a lot of trouble over it even though he started hitting again. To the point that I believe he stopped wearing them and took the heat for poor performance.
That was also in the era when the management was treating the players very shabbily, essentially not allowing a player to retire with any dignity, but announcing before the season was over that they weren't being invited to spring training the next year. Sort of a "you've been cut, but still need to show up for the next month or so"

Steve B

[Snapolit1]

Thanks for posting. Great video. Great man. Got a little dusty in here watching that.

There are always guys like Rice, i.e., Lou Gehrig, who were probably just not cut out to have a microphone shoved in their faces. For every Curt Schilling there is a Jim Rice. Doesn't make him a bad guy. I am sure you have couples you know where the husband never says 5 words in the course of a dinner. Doesn't make him a bad guy. Sometimes I think the press unfairly vilifies guys like Rice simply because they are shy and private. Realize the press has a job to do but some people are cut from a different cloth. Press in NY hated Gehrig for most of his career. Then he got sick and gave a great speech and now he's a cultural icon.

[GasHouseGang]

This is the reason they are starting to put up more netting around many of the major league parks. There have been too many people getting hit by flying objects. Whether it's a foul ball or a bat that slips out of batters hands, the clubs have decided to try to better protect the fans.

[Snapolit1]

I was at a minor league (independent league) game with my son when he was about 5. First row third baseline. I leaned over to put ketchup on his hot dog and the batter hit a screaming line drive that would have killed me had I not been leaning over. The sound of that ball whizzing by still wakes me up in the middle of the night.