You sound like my wife.

: )

All players decline. Even granting Rice’s prime—1975-1986—he wasn’t Hall-worthy. Rice’s best years were:

1977 – 39 HR 320 AVG/.376 OBP/.593 SLG (147 OPS+)
1978 – 46 HR .315 AVG/.370 OBP/.600 SLG (157 OPS+)
1979 – 39 HR .325 AVG/.381 OBP/.596 SLG (154 OPS+)
1983 – 39 HR .305 AVG/.361 OBP/.550 SLG (141 OPS+)

Those are also the only years that Rice had 30+ HR. Rice only had one other season with a .500+ SLG (1980) and those years were the only seasons with an OPS+ of 140+. (Kevin Youkilis had an OPS+ of 143 last year).

From 1996 to 2003, Nomar Garciaparra had 6 seasons with a SLG over .500 (he also had on in LA). Here are Nomar’s three best years:

1998 – 35 HR .323 AVG/.362 OBP/.584 SLG (140 OPS+)
1999 – 27 HR .357 AVG/.418 OBP/.603 SLG (153 OPS+)
2000 – 21 HR .372 AVG/.434 OBP/.599 SLG (155 OPS+)

Where did yo find that? I haven’t seen a site that allows the division?

In re Nomar, Drugs, a 12 year stretch as one of the top hitters in baseball (judging by HRs, RBI, go ahead RBIs, SLG, total bases, triples) dwarfs Nomar’s 6 year run.

In re Burks and Alou, both very good hitters, but not top three of their era. Rice trailed only Schmidt and Brett. Burks and Alou were behind Griffey, Bonds, Belle, Manny, Vlad, Helton, Arod, Sosa, McGwire, McGriff, Canseco, etc.

In re defense, I’m going to quote this blog’s analysis at length:

During his career, Jim Rice accumulated 35.6 Win Shares for his defensive play. That compares well to other outfielders, particularly corner outfielders. For instance, nineteen different retired Gold Glove winners posted lower career totals. To be fair, Rice played a relatively long career, so his raw total of defensive Win Shares should be higher than most players’ totals. A more fair comparison would be to examine his Win Shares per 1000 defensive innings played. Rice posted 2.63 Fielding Win Shares per 1000 innings in the field. Thirteen different Gold Glove-winning outfielders, men who combined to win 36 outfield Gold Gloves, posted equal or lower figures:

    * Hank Aaron 2.63
    * Dave Parker 2.63
    * Sixto Lezcano 2.62
    * Frank Robinson 2.58
    * Roger Maris 2.56
    * Ellis Valentine 2.48
    * Rickey Henderson 2.42
    * Joe Rudi 2.41
    * Wally Moon 2.37
    * Barry Bonds 2.26
    * Tony Gwynn 2.26
    * Jay Buhner 2.04
    * Dave Winfield 1.92

Another group of 15 Gold Glovers finished just ahead of Rice:

    * Carl Yastrzemski 2.65
    * Raul Mondesi 2.66
    * Dusty Baker 2.70
    * Al Kaline 2.70
    * Jackie Jensen 2.72
    * Tony Oliva 2.76
    * Minnie Minoso 2.76
    * Rick Manning 2.79
    * Bobby Murcer 2.79
    * Dale Murphy 2.80
    * Bobby Bonds 2.81
    * Dwight Evans 2.82
    * Pete Rose 2.85
    * Roberto Clemente 2.87
    * Al Cowens 2.90

James took the extra step of assigning letter grades to each player for their defensive prowess. Rice received a C+, which certainly appears to be only slightly better than mediocre until we examine the others who received the same or similar grade. Carl Yastrzemski and his seven Gold Gloves playing the same left field as Rice also scored a C+. Dwight Evans and his eight Gold Gloves across the Fenway outfield scored a B-. Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson were C+ defenders. Roberto Clemente was a B-. So was Al Kaline. We’re talking about perhaps the finest corner outfielders, in terms of defense, in the game’s history.

In fact, very few corner outfielders rank higher than the C+/B- range because James lumped them in with center fielders when passing out grades. Obviously, center fielders are of higher defensive value because more balls are hit to them. James asserts, and there is really no reason to doubt him, that the data simply wasn’t there to allow the corner outfielders to be separated. Fair enough. But what that means is that the scale for corner outfielders’ grades has to be shifted downward a bit. Those in the D+/C- range were probably average. Anyone in the C/C+ range was a good defender, anyone in the B-/B+ range was outstanding, anyone higher was a freak of nature.

That scale would hold to form if we examine just the left fielders currently in the Hall of Fame.

    * Al Simmons – A
    * Fred Clarke – A-
    * Joe Kelley – A-
    * Stan Musial – B
    * Jesse Burkett – B
    * Joe Medwick – B-
    * Ed Delahanty – B-
    * Zack Wheat – B-
    * Carl Yastrzemski – C+
    * Goose Goslin – C+
    * Jim O’Rourke – C+
    * Ted Williams – C
    * Billy Williams – C
    * Chick Hafey – C
    * Heinie Manush – C
    * Willie Stargell – C-
    * Ralph Kiner – C-
    * Lou Brock – C-


Only eight of the eighteen posted better defensive grades than Jim Rice, with seven ranking lower and three being tied with a C+. So, in short, Jim Rice would be an average defensive left fielder compared to others in the Hall of Fame. That’s not a bad label to have.

Of course, this fact didn’t stop Bill James from making false statements about Rice’s defense either. James took a great deal of time and space in his comments about Roy White to demonstrate why he felt White was a better overall left fielder than Jim Rice. When he compared them as defenders, he was very short on facts and very long on opinion. With just one sentence, he judges the competition in favor of White, with no supporting documentation whatsoever.

“Jim Rice wasn’t a bad outfielder, but Roy White obviously was better.”

It might be obvious to James, but it certainly isn’t obvious to the Total Baseball authors. Their statistic for measuring defense, Fielding Runs, ends in a dead heat. Each man compiled 71 Fielding Runs in his career. Since Rice played slightly fewer outfield games, he actually accumulated a better rate of Fielding Runs per game played. To put those 71 Fielding Runs in context, only twelve Hall of Fame outfielders have exceeded that total. In addition, Rice’s figure of 0.046 Fielding Runs per outfield game played is bettered by just seven Hall of Famers – Richie Ashburn, Max Carey, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Kirby Puckett, Tris Speaker, and Carl Yastrzemski. It’s a who’s who of outfield defense.

But anyways, it’s all moot. He’s in.

Cut me some slack, I’m responding to three different naysayers.
.

I don’t see him. Which list?