Jim Rice Whines About the Yankees

For better or worse, this is Jim Rice's moment in the sun. The former Red Sox outfielder was elected to the Hall of Fame in his final try last week, and now everyone wants to hear what he has to say about anything and everything, no matter how misguided it is.

Enter intrepid Newsday reporter David Lennon, who asked Rice about failing to win a World Series during his playing career and got an answer that seems both faulty and unbecoming of a guy about to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

When asked about Boston's failure to win a World Series during his career - 1975 to 1989 - up to the Bambino-busting 2004 season, Rice pointed directly to the Bronx.

"During that time, [George] Steinbrenner spent more money than the Red Sox," Rice said. "He had more free agents. So when you get the best free agents, and you get the superstars from other ballclubs, that's what made you have a better team. The more money you can spend, the better you should get."

Just in case you were wondering, Jim Ed still doesn't approve of the Yankees' free-spending ways.

Even now, Rice remains annoyed by the Yankees' habit of throwing money at their problems. Not surprisingly, he lauds Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein for doing things the right way. "If you look at the Red Sox now, you see them bringing guys up in the organization," he said. "That's why Theo has been the person he's been over the last couple of years. He'll bring young kids up and stay within the organization.

"The Yankees haven't won in the last eight years. What do they do? They go out and buy high-priced players in the hope to get back the winning percentage they had 10 years ago."

The problem here is that Rice betrays his original point by noting that New York's free-agent binge hasn't really led to a bunch of titles. The Yankees have spent wildly in the 2000s, but been unable to recapture the heights of the dynasty teams of the late 1990s, a significant portion of which was homegrown.

The Yankees went to the World Series four times during Rice's 16-year career, but it's not like the Red Sox didn't have their chances. They went to the World Series twice during the same span (though Rice missed the 1975 Series with an injury) and for the second half of the slugger's career, the Bronx Bombers posed little obstacle, failing to qualify for the playoffs once from 1982-89.

The Steinbrenner family and the Yankees have never made life easy on the Red Sox, but they're hardly the biggest reason Boston couldn't get over the hump during Rice's playing career. Bill Lee's eephus pitch, Bill Buckner, Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley jump to mind first.

As for Rice himself, well, he's hardly the first soon-to-be Hall of Famer to sound more like an old man telling those damn kids to get off his lawn than one of the best baseball players who ever lived. Just ask Goose Gossage.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

1-19-2009 @ 4:41PM

bedivere6 said...

Yeah Jim, the Red Sox have it all over the Yankees in the class department. Like in 1989 on the second-to-last day of the season when they released you and Bob Stanley without so much as a "Thanks for the Memories" for all you contributed. Didn't even let you finish the year and announce a fitting tribute. The Red Sox best offensive player of a generation and their all-time leader in pitching appearances kicked to the curb like yesterday's trash. Now, that's style!

1-19-2009 @ 5:20PM

Welcome, Hotness said...

Rice is a joke... He shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. He doesn't deserve it. He shouldn't even open his mouth, he's an idiot....

1-20-2009 @ 7:20AM

msmcreid said...

so are you, moron!!

1-19-2009 @ 7:25PM

jm4279 said...

Welcome Hotless...You are a joke!!!

1-19-2009 @ 9:09PM

William said...

Give the guy his due, if he had played in this era his numbers would be completely sick. As for class, those days are over for the Sox they now have it and the Yankees have A-Rod. Good Luck.

1-19-2009 @ 11:22PM

murph said...

Rice Hit this one out of the park they way he did back in the day.. The point is not the yanks winning or not. It’s how they try to win. You can spend cash smartly or poorly. When you have more than anyone you else and spend the right way you win and when you don’t you loose. But the point is the rest of baseball looses because of the way the yanks play the game. Even when the yankee's screw up (like they are doing now) everyone else pays the price. Higher ticket prices, cable fee's on and on, because when they over pay players it raises the salaries of every player in baseball. Market values go up for next years free agents based on what the yankee’s spent this year. Arbitration costs skyrocket based on the bloated payrolls new york has year after year. This is the point not how many world series a team did or didn’t loose

1-20-2009 @ 6:31PM

nsykes15 said...

The word is LOSE, not loose!

1-20-2009 @ 3:25AM

chuckie said...

This is why this a-hole had been passed over so many times. Shut up, Rice, and show some class. Each year the Hall gets a little more diminished because of people like you getting in. You didn't deserve it before and you sure as hell don't deserve it now.

1-20-2009 @ 7:05AM

Aaaaww.. Chuckie...You know he deserves it so keep quiet!

1-20-2009 @ 8:05AM

johnnyfullhouse said...

ok Mr. Rice so lets see just how homegrown the red sox are...varitek? no, lowell? no, ortiz? no, lugo? no, bay? no, drew? no, beckett? no, matsuzaka? no, wakefield? no! There are more but these are a pretty important group. Sure they have homegrown guys in there but don't be absurd! When they broke the curse almost the whole team was made up of free agents!

1-20-2009 @ 8:10AM

Jack said...

if rice can make it in why not santo!!!

1-20-2009 @ 8:52AM

Jane said...

Too bad this stupid yutz squeezed in to the Hall of Fame. Many more talented people are standing outside who wouldn't be so bitter and mean-spirited.

1-20-2009 @ 9:06AM

Billybrw said...

Maybe I missed something but I thought you had to accomplish something to get into the hall. Rice was such a career average player at best his own team dumped him unceramonally before the end of his last year. Got to have some African going in I guess the new rule is, weather deserved or not.

1-20-2009 @ 10:04PM

kimmeyson said...

Just couldn't leave the racist crap out could ya? I suppose you think Rickey Henderson is white so Rice is the token, huh? Such a dumb a**

1-20-2009 @ 9:40AM

rboberg said...

Jim Rice was one of the most feared hitters of his era. That's a fact--An all natural power hitter-as it should be--Outspoken and contraversial? So What? It comes with the territory quite a bit in major league baseball and is encouraged by the story hungry sports media who make ballplayer's words earthshaking and absurdly important.

1-20-2009 @ 9:54AM

howardfrankfort said...

If you don't like the yanks, the reporters don't like you.

1-20-2009 @ 10:24AM

bowlnavy said...

What he meant to say was "The Yankees SUCK!"

1-20-2009 @ 12:59PM

terry williams said...

although I do not care for either Rice or Henderson the latters records speak for themselves.However both have always been whiners and cry babies.At least Rickey has a ring.

1-20-2009 @ 2:08PM

Eddie said...

no bow WHAT HE ACTUALLY POINTED OUT IS THAT THE RED SOX AS A RIVAL TO THE YANKEES ,WHEN THEY HAVE NOT EVEN ACCOMPLISHED AS MUCH AS THE ST LOUIS CARDINALS (10 CHAMPIONSHIPS)IS A JOKE!!RED SOX AND THEIR LIVING IN A NO REALITY WORLD STOUT DRINKING FANS,ARE LIKE THE PREGNANT WOMAN ALWAYS BI***ING!! AND LOOKING FOR EXCUSES CASE IN POINT,AFTER THE 5 GAME MASSACRE IN FENWAY IN 2006,RED SOX PLAYER ,AND I QUOTE "PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE YANKEES ACQUIRING BOBBY ABREU" IN OTHER WORDS ITS NOT OUR FAULT,ITS ABREU AND THE YANKEES FAULT,THE BOTTOM LINE IS YOU BETTER PICK ANOTHER RIVAL LIKE THE METS,BECAUSE THE PARTYS OVER 27,28,29,30 COMING SOON AND BOSTONS 15 MINUTES OF FAME ARE OVER!!IF THE BEST YOU COULD DO IS WHAT YOU DID AGAINST THE YANKEES IN 2008 ,(SPLITTING 18 GAMES 9 TO 9)AGAINST A YANKEE TEAM THAT HAD NO PITCHING AND NO HITTING ,YOUR FU**ED!!YOU CANT WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH ALL YOUR PLAYERS NAMED MCKREEVY AND MCKEEVER,THE MANNY CURSE IS UPON YOU,ENJOY THE NEXT 86 YEARS OF NOTHING,YANKEES RULE!!!!OH AND F**k JIMRICE LOSER!!