Dan Shaughnessy writes a great piece today about Roger Clemens last news conference diatribe and jim Rice’s candidacy. I have been getting some flack for not conceding Rice’s worthiness, too. So I thought I would revisit that for a bit today.  Shaughnessey says Rice was the most feared hitter in either league, being walked a ton, but I would argue that was because there was no one behind him in the line-up, he was easy to get around since Lynn hit in front of him.  A friend argued that he was the most feared hitter in either league for 3 straight years, ‘77, ‘78, and ‘79, and though I don’t think a HOF career can be based on 3 straight years I went about trying to find that out.  In 1977, the year Rice came in 4th in MVP voting which was won by Rod Carew, Rice had more AB’s then any of the 3 candidates in front, and more home runs (39 to #3 Ken Singleton’s 24), batted .320, .945 OPS and stole 5 bases.  Carew batted .388, with an OPS of 1.019 and stole 23 bases.  Rice drove in 114 that year while Carew only drove in 100. That OPS though is significant, and if Carew wasn’t more feared, he should have been. That’s just the American League though. In the NL, the first 4 in MVP voting go to Foster (ridiculous power that year), Luzinski who also hit 39 HR’s while batting .309 for Philly, Dave Parker who hit .338 with 21 home runs and Reggie Smith who hit .307, with a 1.003 OPS and 21 HR’s.  I would argue Rice looks so amazing in the AL because there isn’t anyone with power playing in the AL.  

Moving onto 1978, I am conceding Rice straight out, that was his year.  The only other player to get a first place vote in the MVP ballot in fact was Ron Guidry, a pitcher.  Rice was so far out in front, standing alone among offensive threats, I am surprised that they didn’t lower the pitching mound. That’s the AL though, and standing in front in the NL is Dave Parker, whose numbers are not that far away from Rice.  So lets move onto 1979, where Rice finishes 5th in MVP voting. Rice doesn’t even out hit his teammate Fred Lynn, this year, and Don Baylor, Ken Singleton and George Brett are all playing in the same range in terms of numbers.  In 1979, in the NL you also have Dave Winfield and Willie Stargell for power guys who both are in the HOF.  So I am not buying he was the most feared in 1979.  

After working hard to make the case that  Rice should be in ther realm of Billy Williams and Orlando Cepeda, my research today also puts him in the realm of Dave Parker, and no one would suggest that Dave Parker is Hall of Fame worthy.  Is MVP vote, the be all and end all?  No, but it shows you who should be in the conversation, and though I think Rice is worthy of the conversation, you aren’t going to convince me he is the poster child for the most feared batter in the 1970’s.

Lastly, Dan Shaunghnessy points to other HOF’ers to make his case, and of course, when I was comparing the other day I didn’t use Kirby Puckett, whom many believe got in because he did the off the field part of the job so well. (Remember, here at LoveMyTeam we believe that the media and fans are part of the job.) Here are their stat lines next to each other.

Rice:    16 seasons, 2452 hits, 382 HR’s. 1451 RBI’s, 1249 runs, .298 BA, 58 SB’s

Puckett: 12 seasons, 2304 hits, 207 HR’s, 1085 RBI’s, 1071 runs, .318 BA, 134 SB’s

Going to re-air Stargell, Cepeda and Williams again, too:

Cepeda: 17 seasons, 2351 hits, 379 HR’s, 1365 RBI’s, 1131 Runs, .297 BA, 142 SB’s 

Williams: 18 seasons, 2711 hits, 426 HR’s, 1475 RBI’s, 1410 Runs, .290 BA

Stargell: 21 seasons, 2232  hits, 475 HR’s, 1540 RBI’s, 1195 runs, .282 BA

Rice led the league in total bases 4 times, Williams lead his league in total bases 3 times.  Stargell also gets points as a team leader, something Rice can’t say, though Rice would get a few more points for defense then Stargell.  Putting Rice in the “great defender” category though is over reaching.  You would have to admit some loyalty to Boston if you are going that far.  He wasn’t embarrassing as an outfielder, as so many are today.  Is he close to being good enough, maybe. But if I am a member that votes I have to take it seriously enough not to put those that are close in.  If I’m wrong, then the Veteran’s will fix it.