Sometimes we look at some of these guys as "minor Hall of Famers" just because we have lost the historical perspective on them. Sam Rice falls into this category. I don't think I've EVER heard his name brought up in a discussion of great hitters.
In the early 1970s, I was talking to Sam at Cooperstown and asked him if he ever regretted not playing another season, so he could get to 3000 hits (he finished at 2987). He laughed and said no, it wasn't that big a deal when he played - after all, when he retired he was No. 7 on the all time hit list. He was right, only Cobb, Speaker, Anson, Wagner, Collins, and Lajoie were ahead of him. And another season wouldn't have moved him up, he was 256 hits behind Lajoie. When Rice died in 1974, he was still #13 on the list, having been passed only by Aaron, Musial, Mays, P. Waner, Kaline and Clemente. Not a bad career, and he's still #29 on the all-time hit list!
The article on the deaths of his family in a tornado is very interesting, it was in Sports Illustrated in 1993 and can be found online in the SI Vault - just google it.
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07-14-2013, 09:44 PM
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