After doing the original article on Dwight Evans, Ian and I thought it’d be good for me to take a look at Jim Rice and ask the same question. So I decided to take a look at some statistics and see how they support it.
When you go to the baseball-reference.com and look up Jim Rice one of the things they give you is the pages for similar hitters and for players who were comparable at the same age. With Rice being a left fielder/DH I compared him to outfielder’s who are Hall members. The problem with Rice is that many of the players they compare him too are also not in the hall. Players like Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, George Foster and others. So what I did was used outfielders and some noted power guys to see how Jim Ed’s numbers stack up.
Jim Rice:
16 years, 2089 G, 8225 AB, 1249 R, 2452 H, 373 2B, 89 3B, 382 HR, 1451 RBI, 670 BB, 1423 K, .298 BA, .352 OBP, .502 SLG, averaged 30 HR, 113 RBI, 8 All-Star games, 1 MVP.
The players we will look at when comparing Jim will be:
Duke Snyder:
18 years, 2143 G, 7161 AB, 1259 R, 2116 H, 358 2B, 85 3B, 407 HR, 1333 RBI, 971 BB, 1237 K, .295 BA, .380 OBP, .540 SLG, averaged 31 HR, 101 RBI, 8 All-Star games.
Eddie Murray:
21 years, 3026 G, 11336 AB, 1627 R, 3255 H, 560 2B, 35 3B, 504 HR, 1917 RBI, 1333 BB, 1516 K, .287 BA, .359 OBP, .476 SLG, averaged 27 HR, 103 RBI, 7 All-Star games, Rookie of the Year, 3 Gold Gloves.
Kirby Puckett:
12 years, 1783 G, 7244 AB, 1071 R, 2304 H, 414 2B, 57 3B, 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 450 BB, 965 K, .318 BA, .360 OBP, .477 SLG, averaged 19 HR, 99 RBI, 10 All-star games, 6 Gold Gloves, 1 All-Star MVP, 1 ALCS MVP, 1 Batting Title.
Dave Winfield:
22 years, 2973 G, 11003 AB, 1669 R, 3110 H, 540 2B, 88 3B, 465 HR, 1833 RBI, 1216 BB, 1686 K, .283 BA, .353 OBP, .475 SLG, averaged 25 HR, 100 RBI, 12 All-Star teams, 7 Gold Gloves.
Mickey Mantle:
18 years, 2401 G, 8102 AB, 1617 R, 2415 H, 344 2B, 72 3B, 536 HR, 1509 RBI, 1733 BB, 1710 K, .298 BA, .421 OBP, .557 SLG, averaged 36 HR, 102 RBI, 16 All-Star games, 3 MVPs, 1 Triple Crown, 1 Gold Glove.
Roberto Clemente:
18 years, 2433 G, 9454 AB, 1416 R, 3000 H, 440 2B, 166 3B, 240 HR, 1305 RBI, 621 BB, 1230 K, .317 BA, .359 OBP, .475 SLG, averaged 16 HR, 87 RBI, 12 All-Star teams, 1 MVP, 1 WS MVP, 12 Gold Glove, 4 Batting Titles.
In addition to above mentioned stuff, Rice lead the AL in HRs 3 times, twice in RBI, twice in slugging percentage, once in hits, once in triples and 4 times into double plays grounded into. The GIDP has been for some voters a HUGE knock on Rice. He is 6th all-time in that category. The top five are 5. Eddie Murray 4. Dave Winfield 3. Carl Yastrzemski 2. Hank Aaron 1. Cal Ripken. The top 5 are all HOF members. End of argument.
When compared to the Hall Famers above he more than holds his own. Jim’s numbers compare favorably to the HOF’s listed above. He is only missing a batting title and maybe a few more All-Star games but even without those look at his numbers compared to Mantle.
My opinion is that Jim Rice deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and that the Hall voters are either blind or high or both. In fact I’d be willing to bet if you looked at numbers of some other players who aren’t in from the same era they deserve to go as well. I remember watching some of these guys that I mentioned above as a kid and announcers and writers would say they were having a hall of fame career. If that’s so how come these guys, especially Jim Rice, are not in the Hall?
