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Leamington Letters #68: Let us now praise famous men

3/2/2014

12 Comments

 
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One of the occasional delights of the bleak mid-winter in the UK is a chance encounter with a fellow Sox fan and the opportunity to talk baseball when there is no baseball to talk about.

One such occasion was Tuesday evening last week in Wilde’s, when three guys strolled into the bar, and one ordered with an unmistakeable New England accent.

“Where are you guys from?” said I.

“Connecticut.”

Now we know that Connecticut is, in the words of Rick Hough, “a twilight state”. It is split pretty much 50-50 between the Red Sox Nation and the Evil Empire. So, with some trepidation, I asked: “Sox?”.

Not just Sox, it turns out, but someone who has actually played at Fenway. Who was coached by Johnny Pesky and Bill Lee.

Cue serious Sox talk, while his colleagues chatted amongst themselves.  Being Sox fans, we first of all discussed the disappointments and the failures of many, many years. We moved on to those greats who never won a ring (Peskey, Tiant, Williams). We spoke of Tim Wakefield and, through him, to those players who gave back so much to the community, especially those whose work was so often unheralded.

And Mark, because this is you Mark DeLuzio, told me a story about Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice, our own power-hitting left fielder, who hit for power and average, which I have his permission to write about here.

Mark comes from New Britain and is an alumnus of New Britain High School, where he was a year ahead of Tom Thibodeau, the Associate Head Coach of the Cs a few years ago and now Head Coach of some team called the Chicago Bulls.

Anyway, Mark told me a story about a young kid, maybe 12 years old,  from New Britain, who wrote to Jim Rice asking for advice on hitting, mentioning that he was scheduled to be in Florida during Spring Training. Now, you can be sure that almost every MLB player gets scores of such letters everyday, and the huge majority of them are ignored. If the kid is lucky, he gets an autographed photograph and a scribbled note about working hard, staying off the booze etc etc.

Not this one. Jim Rice called his home and told him to be at the Sox training ground at 5am on a given day. The kid turned up. So did Jim Rice. No-one else.

This was not a photo-op. This was not a publicity stunt.

With no-one else around, Jim Rice taught this kid everything he knew. And he was hard on him, too. He wasn’t going through the motions. He was taking it seriously. Because baseball is serious and Jim Rice took hitting seriously.

But, as anyone who saw that moment in 1982 when he left the dugout and rushed into the stands to help a 4 year old boy who was bleeding heavily after being hit by a line drive, he was so much more than a baseball player. Rice carried the boy onto the field, through the home dugout and into the clubhouse, so that he could be treated by the Sox medical staff.

Jim Rice was voted into the Hall of Fame at the 15th and final attempt. There are still those who argue that vote, citing a plethora of sabermetric stats. But in my view he should have been a shoo-in on the first ballot. 

And anyway, as Arthur Schopenhauer famously said, "The longer a man's fame is likely to last, the longer it will be in coming."

It took a long time coming. But Jim Rice's fame will last long. As a ball-player. And as a human being.

Almost time for Pitchers & Catchers. My tickets for the opening homestand in April are confirmed. Go Sox!

Today from the everysmith vault: Stumbled over a Jefferson Starship show, but have no details of date or venue. Set list sounds as if it's about 2008, but can't trace it. Wherever it was, the locals heard a great gig.

12 Comments
Ted
3/2/2014 07:42:03

Great story. Which confirms one's view of the man. Would walk into any Humanity Hall of Fame.

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Allan
3/2/2014 07:51:28

So much philanthropy from over-paid sportsmen is for 'tax-deductible charity organisations' or with a view to a headline. This is excellent and thank you (or your friend) for it.

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Will
3/2/2014 08:14:47

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW4NkJsgyuw
is worth checking out re the kid that Rice saved. As you say, great ball-player, great man.

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Sean
3/2/2014 08:39:00

Good story, and what a treat for you to have that guy walk into Wilde's and talk Red Sox with you. The HOF seems so arbitrary to me. His career and numbers say he should have walked in immediately, as you say. His number being retired says all anyone needs to know about how Sox fans view the man. The romantic in me would like to think the kid he taught to hit went on to play in the show.

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Neil
3/2/2014 08:55:06

Wouldn't that have been something?! I wonder. One suspects that there are several of the current squad who are involved in similar acts of kindness and generosity, with their money and their time. Word is Big Papi and Pedey are pretty special in this way.

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Sharon
3/2/2014 14:21:18

Let's be honest - these guys are insanely disproportionately paid. What would be a huge donation for most of us is merely loose change for them. Note Gerrard's donation to the Hillsborough fund, and also the publicity which surrounded it. What I like about this story is that Rice was prepared to get up early and to spend time with a young boy (assume a boy!). That took commitment. Handing out a few grand would not.

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MichaelD
4/2/2014 03:18:54

Not sure £96K is loose change! But I take the point. What I love about the story is that was hard on the boy, that he took it seriously as a coaching session. Not meet-and-greet but proper and professional.

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Sean
4/2/2014 03:59:38

Gerrard's actions across his years at Liverpool regarding Hillsborough are unimpeachable. The 96K this time around was more about keeping the fight for justice in the public eye, not about him receiving plaudits.

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BobP
4/2/2014 02:07:32

Like the Schopenhauer line. Hope for all of us! Jim Rice a gentle man and a gentleman.

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JonR
4/2/2014 12:53:45

Lovely story. Which would only have emerged without your friend from New Britain. It is good to praise famous men. The problem, these days, is to identify them.

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CJ
4/2/2014 14:05:00

Not a Red Sox fan but agree. Rice a great player and a great man. Good luck tracking the JS show. They have been travelling the world playing some great music. Kantner a hero. Kathy Richardson does Grace and Janis as well as ... Grace and Janis. Kantner, Freiberg, Cknstanten. Old men now, but more Atrium than Amadeus!

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Rick Hough
5/2/2014 20:20:21

That's a wonderful glimpse into the quiet workings of a man who rarely seemed comfortable in frequently nettlesome spotlight of his periods fandom. One of the joys amidst the modern Nation has been to see Jim Ed appear to truly enjoy himself.

Great read.

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    Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father, grandfather and son. Resident in Warwick, England.

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