Editing Jim Rice (section)

==Career accomplishments==
[[File:Jim Rice - Boston Red Sox.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|218x218px|Rice in 1977]]
Rice led the AL in home runs three times (1977, 1978, 1983), in RBIs twice (1978, 1983), in slugging percentage twice (1977, 1978), and in total bases four times (1977–1979, 1983). In fact, his 1157 total bases over the three consecutive seasons leading the league ties him for seventh place with [[Rogers Hornsby]] and is five total bases shy of Babe Ruth's three year mark of 1162 total bases. Rice also picked up [[Silver Slugger Award]]s in 1983 and 1984 (the award was created in 1980). Rice hit at least 39 home runs in a season four times, had eight 100-RBI seasons and four seasons with over 200 hits, and batted over .300 seven times. He finished his MLB career with a .298 batting average, 373 doubles, 79 triples, 382 home runs, 1,451 RBIs, 1,249 runs scored, 2,452 hits, 670 walks, and 4,129 total bases. He was an American League All-Star eight times (1977–1980, 1983–1986). In addition to winning the American League MVP award in 1978, he finished in the top five in MVP voting five other times (1975, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1986).

Rice is the only player in history to lead the league in home runs, RBIs, and triples in the same year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blevins |first=David |title=The Sports Hall of Fame Encyclopedia: Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Soccer |publisher=[[The Scarecrow Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8108-6130-5 |location=Lanham, Maryland |pages=800}}</ref> He is also the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more home runs for three consecutive years. He had tied the AL record of leading the league in total bases for three straight seasons. Beside being one of three AL players to have three straight seasons of hitting at least 39 home runs while batting .315 or higher. Also in 1978, Rice became the fourth and final MLB player to lead both leagues at the same time in hitting the most Home Runs and having the most Hits in the same season. During his most productive 12-season span from 1975 to 1986, Rice collectively led all American League players in total games played, at bats, runs scored, hits, homers, RBIs, slugging percentage, total bases, extra base hits, go-ahead RBIs, multi-hit games, and outfield [[assist (baseball)|assists]].<ref>[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/riceji01.shtml Jim Rice Statistics] Baseball-Reference.com</ref> Among all other MLB players, including those in the National League, Rice was the leader in five of the above 12 categories ([[Mike Schmidt]] is next on the leader board; he led in four).

In 1984 Rice set a major league single-season record by hitting into 36 double plays. On the backside of a 1964 Topps baseball card of Earl Wilson No. 503, Goose Goslin who got his start in 1921, was credited with grounding into 48 double plays in a season during his career. However, this mark was not followed closely until the mid to late 1930s Rice's 315 career double plays grounded into ranks him tied in eighth place on the career leaders list with [[Eddie Murray]]. . Rice did break [[Brooks Robinson]]'s AL record for GIDP by a right-handed hitter (297) in 1988. [[Cal Ripken Jr.]] eventually surpassed this mark in 1999. Rice had led the league for four seasons (1982&ndash;1985), which tied the major league record that had been established by [[Ernie Lombardi]]. In 2009 [[Miguel Tejada]] recorded his fifth season leading his league in this category and now holds this record. During the time Rice was the annual GDP leader he also had averaged 112 RBI's per season which is ten RBI's better than second place [[Albert Pujols]]  RBI average of 102 following his four-year GDP leadership. The on-base prowess of Rice's teammates placed him in a double play situation over 2,000 times during his career.  Rice posted a batting average of .310 and slugging percentage of .515 in those situations which is better than his overall career marks in those categories.

{{MLBBioRet
|Image  = Red_Sox_14.svg
|Name   = Jim Rice
|Number = 14
|Team   = Boston Red Sox
|Year   = 2009
}}
During his career Rice played in 35 games where he hit two or more HRs, and drove in four or more runs in a game 48 times. He could hit for both power and average, and currently only 12 other retired players rank ahead of him in both career home runs and batting average: [[Hank Aaron]], [[Jimmie Foxx]], [[Lou Gehrig]], [[Willie Mays]], [[Stan Musial]], [[Mel Ott]], [[Babe Ruth]], [[Ted Williams]], [[Chipper Jones]], [[Vladimir Guerrero]], [[Mike Piazza]], and [[Larry Walker]]. In 1981, [[Lawrence Ritter]] and [[Donald Honig]] included him in their book ''The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time''.

Rice was an accomplished left fielder, finishing his career with a fielding percentage of .980 and 137 outfield assists (comparable to Ted Williams' figures of .974 and 140). Although he did not possess great speed, he had a strong throwing arm and was able to master the various caroms that balls took from the [[Green Monster]] (in left field) in [[Fenway Park]]. His 21 assists in 1983 remains the most by a Red Sox outfielder since 1944, when [[Bob Johnson (outfielder)|Bob Johnson]] had 23. Aside from playing 1,543 games as an outfielder during his career, Rice also appeared as a [[designated hitter]] in 530 games.

Rice's number 14 was retired by the Red Sox in a [[pre-game ceremony]] on July 28, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 28, 2009 |title=Red Sox retire Jim Rice's No. 14 |url=https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Red-Sox-retire-Jim-Rice-s-No-14-12096819.php |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425203614/https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Red-Sox-retire-Jim-Rice-s-No-14-12096819.php |archive-date=April 25, 2023 |access-date= |website=The Register Citizen}}</ref>