Jim Rice's 1982 Decision

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It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Jim Rice was going purely on instinct.

In August of 1982, a line drive off of the bat of Dave Stapleton hit a 4-year boy square in the face. The boy bleeding was badly, and screaming. Rice immediate went into the stands, grabbed the boy, took him into the Red Sox dugout, and the boy was given immediate medical attention by the Red Sox' team doctor (Arthur Pappas.) The Red Sox then rushed him to the hospital. His skull was fractured, and he spent the next 5 days in the hospital.

The boy believes that Rice saved his life.

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Wow. That's quite a story. I've always like Jim Rice. One of my favorite non-orioles.

That story reminds me of my own accident at the ballpark as a young boy. July 2, 1976. I was sitting in the upper deck of Memorial Stadium at the very end of one of those wooden bleachers. We were pretty high up, like 3/4 of the way up. Memorial Stadium upper deck was much steeper than Camden Yards. Anyway, a drunk came barreling down the isle from up top. He fell right into me and I went flying through the air. I somersaulted down the concrete aisle and got knocked unconscious only stopping because of the entrance portal to our section. I had bruises all over my body. Half the skin on my nose was torn away. I spent the rest of the summer recuperating. I was lucky not to break anything or get paralyzed. The drunk guy got up and ran away. I didn't get anything for my ordeal. No signed ball or bat. Nothing.

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych was supposed to pitch that game but he was scratched due to an injury. Here is a video showing the phenom that was Fidrych. I also post it because of who the Yankee batter was in the video clip.

Sorry if this hijacks the thread on Rice. Thanks for posting it. I enjoyed reliving my youth.

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Happy birthday, Jim Rice.

Thanks to you, the little boy that you helped 33 and-a-half years ago has had many birthdays since that time, also.

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It was 37 years ago on Monday that Jim Rice made one of his greatest plays ever.

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Today they'd probably advise the players not to get involved helping an injured fan because of the liability that would ensue if the fan's condition even arguably was made worse by getting involved.  

On 2/18/2016 at 9:22 AM, SouthRider said:

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych was supposed to pitch that game but he was scratched due to an injury. Here is a video showing the phenom that was Fidrych. I also post it because of who the Yankee batter was in the video clip.

Sorry if this hijacks the thread on Rice. Thanks for posting it. I enjoyed reliving my youth.

At the risk of further hijacking the thread: Fidrych pitched the next night and drew a crowd of 51,032, compared to 32,338 on the Friday game you attended and 14,454 on Sunday, July 4.    That's how big a draw he was.

The next year, Fidyrch pitched in a Monday 4th of July game in Baltimore that drew 45,339.   I was at that game and got interviewed on local TV about Fidrych, and said he was a great pitcher but I thought we'd get to him.   We did get to him, scoring 6 times in the 6th inning.   Sadly, Fidrych was never the same after that game.   He came into it carrying a 1.83 ERA and having pitched 7 complete games in his 8 starts.   He developed arm trouble in that game and was never really healthy again, though he managed to pitch in another 20 games over the next 3+ years.

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

At the risk of further hijacking the thread: Fidrych pitched the next night and drew a crowd of 51,032, compared to 32,338 on the Friday game you attended and 14,454 on Sunday, July 4.    That's how big a draw he was.

The next year, Fidyrch pitched in a Monday 4th of July game in Baltimore that drew 45,339.   I was at that game and got interviewed on local TV about Fidrych, and said he was a great pitcher but I thought we'd get to him.   We did get to him, scoring 6 times in the 6th inning.   Sadly, Fidrych was never the same after that game.   He came into it carrying a 1.83 ERA and having pitched 7 complete games in his 8 starts.   He developed arm trouble in that game and was never really healthy again, though he managed to pitch in another 20 games over the next 3+ years.

I had friends that went to that July 4 Fidrych game and I was jealous that I didn't get to go.

Very faint darkest recesses of my mind recollection... did the O's rob someone of a HR with a leaping catch at the fence in that one?   Maybe Pat Kelly did it?

Honestly, I remember almost nothing about that game except that we won and knocked Fidrych out of the game.   

Damn.  I don't remember anything about Fidrych pitching in Baltimore on July 3.   I remember we specifically wanted to go to the July 2 game to see him pitch.   I wonder why my family didn't switch games.  It's not like you had to buy tickets in advance in those days.  I guess we didn't get word of the switch.  Should have checked online before heading to the game.   

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Jim Rice in action, August of 1982:

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On 8/11/2017 at 3:44 PM, OFFNY said:

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Jim Rice in action, August of 1982:

 

 

 

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Rice's humanitarianism efforts were not limited to little kids.

Here here is carrying injured teammate Jerry Remy off of the field in 1979.

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