Player #74P: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 2. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.
. . . Cronin settled on Bolton. Almost immediately, Giants coach Charley Dressen hopped out of the dugout, consulting with shortstop Blondy Ryan. Dressen had remembered Bolton from the days when they both were in the Southern League, and instructed his shortstop to shade toward second base -- Bolton was a dead-pull hitter.
The positioning was perfect. Bolton hit a sharp grounder directly to where Ryan was standing, and the shortstop scooped up the ball and started a game-ending double play. The Giants lead was three games to one, and they would go for the clinch the next day.
If Cronin's selection of the seldom-used Bolton over Rice in Game Four wasn't enough to symbolize the end of Rice's long tenure with the Washington organization, the next day would see to it. Though fighting for their postseason life, the Senators battled to a 3-3 tie through nine innings, and the game again went into extra innings.
In the tenth, Mel Ott lifted a fly ball to deep center field, and (Fred) Schulte got his glove on the ball. But as he crashed into the fence, the ball squirted out of his glove and the ball landed in the first row of seats for what would turn out to be a game-winning and World Series-clinching home run.
In the 1925 World Series, Rice had tumbled into the bleachers to rob Pittsburgh's Earl Smith of a sure home run. Eight years later, one of the men who had squeezed him out of the Senators outfield had not only been unable to duplicate the feat, he had actually knocked the ball into the stands.
With Rice watching from what had become his customary spot on the Washington bench, his teammates went down quietly in the bottom of the inning. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)
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