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A mid-November information blitz by the Red Sox helped but was not enough to carry Red Sox slugger Jim Rice over the top in Hall of Fame balloting. Results released yesterday had only reliever Bruce Sutter getting the required 75 percent for induction.
Rice, on the ballot for the past 12 years, finished in second place with 64.8 percent of the ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America who have been in the organization for 10 straight years or more. Rice has just three years remaining on the ballot, and next year likely will be another tough sell with Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn and Mark McGwire on for the first time, but the Red Sox are bound and determined to expand their campaign on Rice’s behalf.
“To me, it’s a real shame he did not get in,” said Dick Bresciani, Red Sox vice president of publications of archives and the mastermind behind a multipage e-mail detailing Rice’s offensive exploits from 1974-1989 that went out to almost 300 writers. “I never realized how dominant he was from 1975 through 1986 or 1987 or so, and when you look at his numbers, it’s ridiculous when you see others who are in the Hall. He should already be in.”
Added team president Larry Lucchino in an e-mail: “All of us at the Red Sox are keenly disappointed. Jim Rice richly deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and we hope and believe the extra few votes he needs will come his way in the very near future. He is a good man, and he was a great player.”
Rice has come a long way from his first year of eligibility in 1995, when he was named on just 29.8 percent of writers’ ballots. He received votes from 137 writers that year, and his total showed 200 more believers yesterday, but he still is 53 votes shy of the 75 percent minimum. Rice has gained an average of 8.7 percent of the vote total every three years during his candidacy. At that rate, he still will be short in 2009, the final year of his candidacy Rice has gained 12 percent in the past three years, however, and his stock is on the rise. Voters likely are starting to give stars from the pre-steroids era a bit more respect, and Rice will not be hurt when more writers who were impressionable baseball fans during his glory years become eligible to vote.
Bresciani hopes to send out another e-mail next year to even more writers in the weeks leading up to the distribution of ballots. Rice’s numbers will not have changed, but the hope is to have more writers change their minds.
“I think we can send it out again, and look at the numbers more critically and see if we can make it even better,” Bresciani said. “I hope we’ll keep plugging away.”
Sutter, the first pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame with no career starts, gained induction rights in his 13th year of eligibility. The pioneer of the split-fingered fastball had 300 career saves and a 2.83 ERA.
Rich Gossage was not far behind Rice with 64.6 percent of the vote, followed by Andre Dawson with 61 percent and Bert Blyleven with 53.3 percent. Rice’s second-place finish was his highest yet. He finished third in 2000 and 2002, and he has four fourth-place finishes. The Hall of Fame has not inducted a left fielder since Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski in 1989.
All three first-time candidates - Ripken, Gwynn and McGwire - will get serious consideration next year. McGwire no doubt will become a lightning rod among voters, who will have to weigh seriously the steroids allegations swirling around his career against his prodigious final numbers. It is not at all out of the question for Rice’s campaign to actually benefit from the expected uproar regarding McGwire.
Rice was the Red Sox’ left fielder for 16 years, winning AL MVP honors in 1978, when he led the majors in home runs (46), RBI (139) and triples (15). The eight-time All-Star hit 20 or more home runs 11 times with eight 100-RBI seasons. Rice, 52, lives in North Andover and works as a studio analyst for Red Sox telecasts.