Jim Rice stuff
Posted by Chris J. on January 2, 2008
Random bits about Rice. I'm too lazy to save every sort, so you'll just have to settle for the first one and trust me on the rest (unless you want to look throw it yourself).
Jim Rice vs. Pitchers:
He faced Jim Slaton the most. Yea, I hardly remember him either.
Most hits? Dennis Martinez, 32. Then Doyle Alexander at 30.
He never got a hit off of Bill Caudill in 14 PA. He reached base with either a walk or hit against everyone he faced at least 8 times, though.
He hit the most homers off of Jim Palmer - 9. None of them slams, obviously, as Palmer famously never allowed a grandslam in his entire career.
In 73 PA against Dennis Leonard, he never hit a homer.
He had 26 RBIs off of Dennis Martinez. He had no more than 18 against anyone else.
Dan Petry intentionally walked him three times. Well, that's the pitcher who feared the most feared hitter the most.
He faced only four active players: Flash Gordon, David Wells, Jose Mesa, and Jaime Moyer.
Here's a second link - Jim Rice vs. Hall of Fame pitchers.
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
In 1978, his 406 total base and MVP year, Jim Rice advanced 456 bases for his team (including walks, hbp, sb-cs, GDP) in 746 plate appearances. That's a % of .611 bases/plate appearance. 7 of the walks to this most feared hitter were intentional. The win shares formula agrees that he was the best AL player in 1978.
In 1987, Tim Raines led the NL in win shares for the 3rd consecutive year. He advanced Montreal 409 bases in 627 plate appearances (.652%). 26 of his walks were intentional, to a guy with a 90% steal success rate.
To repeat, Jim Rice's highest single-season % for bases advanced, which STARTS with total bases, is a fine .611. Tim Raines averaged slightly higher than that FOR THE FIVE YEARS 1983-1987.
Tim Raines earned 390 career win shares. Sam Rice earned 327, Jim Rice is credited with 282. Raines was so feared he was walked on purpose 148 times (vs. 77 for Jim Rice).
As long as people understand what Tim Raines accomplished, they can vote for whomever else they want.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 am
In fairness with regards to the disparity in IBB between Raines and J Rice (BTW what made you mention Sam Rice?) I think Raines played on worse teams, where they could afford to IBB him more often. Rice had guys like Yaz, Evans, Lynn, etc around him, for whom you didn't want to put him on base too much.
January 5th, 2008 at 3:05 am
I think Raines played on worse teams, where they could afford to IBB him more often. Rice had guys like Yaz, Evans, Lynn, etc around him, for whom you didn’t want to put him on base too much.
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OK, this doesn't sit well with me. The Expos were a good team most of the years Raines was there. He deserves a lot of credit for that.
Raines was a SUPER SB threat -He racked up the majority of his IBBs while he hit in front of guys like Dawson, Carter, Wallach, (a young Galarraga) in the 80's & then got another 25 in front of a Frank Thomas in his prime(!) & Ventura from '91 - '95.
I wouldn't walk Rickey or Raines, with the 2,000+ SBs between the 2 of em, but there was a reason why guys pitching to them did.