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Albany Times Union, N.Y. Mark McGuire column: Rice patient when it comes to the HallCOOPERSTOWN, May 16, 2009 (Albany Times Union - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Jim Rice wasn't a patient man at the plate. That wasn't his job. In a slugger's world of that era, a walk meant you got your base, but had no ... well, you get the idea. "You want me to walk batting third, batting fourth? I don't think so," said the left fielder, who'll join his Fenway Park predecessors Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in the Baseball Hall of Fame come July. "Believe me, I wasn't paid to walk. I was paid to try to do some damage." No, Rice got his hacks in over his 16-season career, all with the Boston Red Sox. An average 162-game season for Rice consisted of 30 homers, 113 RBI and a mere 52 walks. He didn't wait around to try to do some damage. But Rice, who last played in 1989, couldn't jump on the first good fastball when it came to being elected to the Hall of Fame. So he waited, and waited. Five years became 10. The Red Sox not only won a World Series, but two. Finally the phone rang in January, in his 15th and final year of eligibility before his candidacy would shuffle over to the Veteran's Committee. Rice maintains he wasn't waiting by the phone. "The only reason that I was at home was because it was honey day," Rice said Friday. "My wife wanted me to do something." In actuality, Rice sat engrossed in his soap opera when The Call came. "You're in," president Jeff Idelson said. "Thank you," Rice responded. That's it. No big celebration. No rushing to call family and friends. "I sat there and watched my soap opera another 15 minutes," Rice said. He couldn't wait to see how "The Young and the Restless" turned out that day. Sitting in the Hall of Fame Gallery, Rice said he wouldn't have been angry by another snub. Making the Hall of Fame, he said, was not in his control. "I think I'm ahead of the game, because I played 15 years," he said. "I wouldn't say it was a matter of time." No regrets. Well, some. "I probably would have went to the National League -- it doesn't matter which club -- and try to be in another category of one player that was able to win an American League and National League MVP," Rice said. The 1978 AL MVP would have joined Frank Robinson as the only players to pull that off. Rice is a fit 55 and old-school tough. He's certainly a "Back in my day" kind of guy -- and that doesn't make him wrong. "Things have changed. The generations have changed," Rice said. "We are more apt to not be rough enough with these guys." Rice gestures over his shoulder. "They weren't gentle with Babe, with Cobb, with Gehrig and all those guys." And don't even get him started on pitch counts and steroids. Rice did not have a warm relationship with the media during his career. He was not a glad-hander. As a result, he appeared surly. Rice may not have been loved, at least outside of Boston, but he was truly feared. He wasn't going to change. On this day he's relaxed, but measured. Rice says he tries not to get too high or too low and that's on display. Jim Rice is who he is, still not changing. Well, he at least admits he learned something over 14 years of being told he was not good enough for Cooperstown: "Good things come to those who wait. Be patient." Mark McGuire can be reached at 454-5467 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Visit his blog at http://blogs.timesunion.com/mcguire. To see more of the Albany Times Union, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesunion.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Albany Times Union, N.Y. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |