Measure the pitcher’s heart rate when Rice steps into the box. If it goes up, then clearly Rice is a fearsome presence.

Science is easy!

Bill James understands the value of what we can see with our own eyes when we watch a player play.

I’ll take a .298/.352/.502/.854 (128 OPS+) line in a pitchers’ era any day. Was his defense that bad? And his SB success rate isn’t that significant, when he’s stealing only a handful of bases each year, and even fewer in the latter 1/2.

Maybe my expectations are just too low. Hey, I don the Royal blue, figuratively, after all.

I have read too many columns from BBWAA members saying they’re voting for him.

HE KNEW HOW TO WIN!!!!! BY ALLOWING MORE RUNS WHEN HE HAD TO!

personally. He was a really good player, just not sure if he is HOF worthy. Remember, the HOF isn’t gor good players, it is for the all time great players.

This game … It was about a 4 hour road trip for us to the stadium, my dad, brother and I got up early and stood in line for a long time for left field GA tickets. in the bottom of the 1st Willie Wilson hit an inside-the-parker that Rice kicked around a little right in front of us. It ended up being the only run scored in the game and Rice got heckled mercilessly the rest of the game.

I was only 9 so I don’t remember a lot of the details, but I’m sure I was pretty disappointed at the lack of offense….quintessential Royals of the day – speed and pitching.

A Boston sportswriter made yet another case for Rice getting into the HOF. Pat Sullivan tears it to shreds.

The case against Rice is simple.
1) Playing home games in Fenway drastically inflates the value of his production. Hitting in the same lineup as players like Wade Boggs and Dwight Evans (a much, much better Hall candidate btw) inflates his RBI total. Context matters.
2) He did not play for a very long time by Hall standards; did not play at a HOF level for enough seasons.
3) His defense or base running were not such that they make up for his batting statistics, which fall well short of HOF caliber.

The sportswriter who makes the case for Rice has this to say about many of us:

On the other hand, we have members of Bill James Youth who’ve never been out of the house who believe Rice has no business being in the Hall.

Its nice to see that he jumps over the slide rule and pocket protector stereotype and goes straight for the Nazi reference. Sweet.
And he ends with this gem:

Guess you had to be there. Or maybe talk to some of the players and managers who were there.

He saw him play with his own eyes! That means so much more than your precious, meaningless stats!

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2008/12/14/bruce-jenkins-likes-gut-feeling-over-stats-in-hall-of-fame-votin/