Should Jim Rice be in the Hall of Fame?

Question

Seriously, why not??

__Career Stats__

- AL Leader in HR (3x), RBI (4x), Slugging Pct. (2x), Total Bases (4x)
- 2 Silver Slugger Awards
- .298 Career Batting Avg.
- 382 Career HR (52nd best)
- 8 Time AL All Star
- 1978 AL MVP (as well as being in the top 5 in voting 5 other times)

When he was at the top of his game, he was one of the most feared batters in the history of baseball. The only reason he isn't in the HoF is because he was not friendly to reporters and didn't like them, that is so stupid. Please, he is a HoFer for sure.

Answer 1

He absolutely belongs. Fenway was a park that actually hurt him as a hitter. Incredibly hard line drives (he was not a fly ball hitter, a la McGwire), that would be homeruns or extra base hits in other parks, would bounce off the monster for singles. Compare his numbers to Dave Winfield's. Winfield was able to inflate his numbers because he played for 23 years. Look at Rice's numbers for his 16 seasons verses Winfield's first 16 seasons. Rice's numbers are better in almost every category. He has more hits, homeruns, triples, and total bases. Rice's slg pct. and avg. are better than Winfield's no matter how you figure it. In Winfields additional 7 seasons he averaged 124 hits, and 15 homeruns, and his avg. and slg. did not exceed .300 or .500 respectively. Hardly HOF stats, and yet these final 7 seasons are what separate the two players. In fact Rice was far superior to Winfield. Rice slugged for a career .502 pct where Winfield only topped 500 twice in those 23 seasons. Winfield's average only topped .300 twice while Rice fell only 2 percentage points shy of a career .300. This is a no-brainer, and the petty resentment of the writers is the only thing keeping Rice out. One writer actually put Paul O'Neill on the ballot and left Rice off. That should tell you how valid the voting actually is

Answer 2

yeah he should!!


Most Feared hitter in the league
One of league's dominating hitters for 12 years, from 1975-1986
Averaged .304, 29 HR, 106 RBIs during this period
4 - 200 hit seasons, 11 - 20 HR seasons, 8 - 100 RBI seasons
only player to get 200 hits / 35 HRs 3 consecutive years
6 times Top 5 in MVP voting
8 time all-star
8 time Top 10 slugging, including 5 times in Top 2
4 times league leader in Total Bases
Only AL player since 1937 to have 400+ bases in one season
Outstanding defensive left fielder
Career Totals: 2,452 Hits, 382 HR, 1,451 RBI, 79 Triples

Remember: These achievements came in the pre-steroids era when hitting 30 HR a year was a big deal.

Answer 3

He definitely deserves to be in the Hall. Today's player is a bounty hunter, selling his talents to the highest bidder and then switching jerseys every 2-4 years.

In his time, Jim Rice was a player with great talent and exemplified great "home town" loyalty. I yearn for the time when pendulum evens out in baseball and when team loyalty is once again an important factor.

For more on Jim Rice, click the recently posted source below.

Answer 4

Statistically speaking, he should be. For players who debuted in the 1970's (I'm a firm believer in judging accomplishments amongst your peers) with approx 8,000 or more at-bats, Rice ranks third in HR ratio + RBI ratio + Run ratio. That is:

Mike Schmidt: 8352 at-bats divided by:
RBIS: 1595 = 1 RBI per 5.236 at-bats, plus
HRs: 548 = 1 Homerun per 15.241 at-bats, plus
Runs: 1506 = 1 Run per 5.546 at-bats =
Total: 26.023 (the lower the better)

Dale Murphy: 7960 at-bats
RBIS: 1266 = 1 RBI per 6.288 at-bats, plus
HRs: 398 = 1 Homerun per 20 at-bats, plus
Runs: 1197 = 1 Run per 6.65 at-bats =
Total: 32.938

Jim Rice: 8225 at-bats
RBIS: 1451 = 1 RBI per 5.669 at-bats, plus
HRs: 382 = 1 Homerun per 21.531 at-bats, plus
Runs: 1249 = 1 Run per 6.585 at-bats =
Total: 33.785

Jim Rice would rank 1st in the American League during that time. Fred Lynn checks in at 35.379 and Eddie Murray: 35.372.

I think Rice would get at least, at least 75% of the fan vote. Jim Kaat, Andre Dawson, Goose Goosage, and Bert Blyleven and veterans; Ron Santo and Gil Hodges would get my vote as well.

Answer 5

Jim Rice just fell short by 12%. He got 346 votes which is 63.5%. He will get in within the next 2 or 3 ballots. He belongs in the hall.

Answer 6

yes i think that it is ****** wrong that mcgwire, a cheater got more votes (128) than:
Tommy John-125
Steve Garvey-115
Dave Conception-74
Alan Trammel-73
Dave Parker-62
Don Mattingly-54
Dale Murphy-50
Harold Baines-29
Orel Hershiser-24
Albert Belle-19
Paul O'Neill-12
Bret Saberhagen-7
Jose Canseco-6
Tony Fernandez-4
Dante Bichette-3
Eric Davis-3
Bobby Bonilla-2
Ken Caminiti-2
Jay Buhner-1
Scott Brosius-0
Wally Joyner-0
Devon White-0
Bobby Witt-0

Answer 7

Absolutely. So should Bert Blyleven and a lot of those other guys that have been on the ballot for a while. The HOF process sucks.

Answer 8

Like you said, unfortunatley, reputation plays a part in the balloting. That has never been more evident than right now. Next year, there is no really great first timers on the ballot, so i think he will get more votes... I really believe next year will be his year! Same with Gossage.

Answer 9

He will get in within the next 2 ballots for sure. It's only a matter of time.

Answer 10

Well, in my mind he is a hall of famer, but his stats fall just a tad short of a guaranteed induction like gwynn and ripken got.
A lot of voters wanted gossage in and that probaBLY cost jim induction.
i bet he gets in at some point, as you say - in his prime he was one of the most feared hitters ever.
i was looking at his card- he was 6'2", 205- didn't he seem a lot bigger than that? i guess we're talking pre-steroid pre-supplement baseball era haha