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Jim Rice starting playing professional baseball as an 18-year old in the New York-Penn League. His four seasons in the bushes were all productive. In 1974 at Triple-A Pawtucket, Rice was unstoppable. In 117 games he hit .337 with 25 homers and 93 RBI.

His outstanding play forced the Sox to call him up to the big club on August 19th. Shown here is the official document Boston filed to recall Rice to the big leagues.

Rice played well enough in his 24-game stint to remain in the big leagues. In 1975 he slammed 22 homers and drove in 102 runs while hitting .309. He finished second to Fred Lynn in Rookie of the Year balloting and third in the MVP race behind Lynn and John Mayberry.

A prolific run producer, Rice drove in 100+ runs 8 times, including a career high 139 in his MVP season of 1978. That year the Boston slugger paced the AL in hits, triples, homers, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases.

By topping the 400 mark in total bases in ’78, Rice joined an elite club. Less than 20 men claim membership, fewer than half are right-handed. Among others, the list includes Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds.

Rice is the only man to reach the threshold from 1948 when Musial amassed 429 total bases until 1997 when Larry Walker tallied 409.

From 1977-1986, Rice made 8 All Star teams. During that time he led the AL in total bases four times, homers three times, and RBI twice.

The two-time Silver Slugger spent all of his 16 big league seasons in Beantown. When he retired, Rice’s stats included a .298 lifetime average, and a .502 slugging percentage. He belted 382 homers and drove in 1,451 runs.

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For years in souvenir stands at MLB stadiums offered baseballs with stamped signatures of the home team. In the collection is a contract signed by Jim Rice agreeing to have his autograph appear on those balls.

The terms of the contract? Rice received one cent per ball sold. Not exactly ideal terms for a future Hall of Famer.

Don’t fret for Rice. According to Baseball Reference, Rice made over $14 million in his career.

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Jim Rice enjoyed quite a productive season in 1983. His 39 homers, and 344 total bases led the American League. He finished as the AL’s co-leader in RBI with Cecil Cooper at 126. The Boston slugger’s performance netted him the first of two consecutive Silver Slugger Awards.

Shown here is Topps’ 1983 RBI leader baseball card. It’s autographed by NL leader Dale Murphy, and the AL’s Cooper and Rice.

 

 

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Jim Rice sustained excellence for much of his career. From 1977-1986 he hit .305 and averaged 30 homers and 109 RBI. During that span he made 8 All Star teams.

Despite his great production, Rice had to wait for his plaque in Cooperstown. The baseball writers elected him in his 15th and final year on their ballot.

In the collection is this Red Sox check made out to Rice on August 20, 1982.

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This image is of the back of the Boston payroll check. Rice has endorsed it signing his legal name “James”.

Eleven times he hit 20 or more homers and eight times he posted seasons of 100 or more runs batted in. The year the check was issued, Rice slammed 24 homers to go with his 97 runs batted in. He received votes in Most Valuable Player balloting for the fifth season. During his career, he was named on the MVP ballot 8 times.