Player #74J: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 3. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.
The Pirates, on the other hand, weren't in much of a saluting mood. They refused to believe Rice had made the catch, and demonstrated that belief loudly. . .
. . . Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, usually not one to shy away from controversy, called for Rice after the game. The "czar," the unofficial title conferred on Landis often by the press in the days since his landmark Black Sox ruling, had witnessed the hysteria surrounding Rice's tumble into the bleachers. While others scrambled to assemble eyewitnesses to the play, Landis was eager to take the primary participant's account.
"Sam," the commissioner asked him, "did you catch that ball?"
Landis was nobody to mess with. Though most famous for tossing eight members of the infamous 1919 White Sox out of the game for the World Series-fixing scandal, that wasn't Landis's only decisive moment in his role. Before the 1922 season, he was so infuriated with Babe Ruth that he suspended the game's greatest player, along with slugging Yankee teammate Bob "Irish" Meusel, for a quarter of the season. The pair's offense had been participating in a barnstorming tour during the offseason, a practice banned for World Series participants. A few months later, had become irritated when umpires called a tied World Series game due to darkness in the tenth inning. He ruled that all profits from that day be given to charity to avoid baseball any embarrassment.
Rice carefully answered Landis' inquiry.
"Judge, the umpire called Smitty out," came Rice's non-answer answer.
"That's exactly what I wanted you to say," replied Landis, "and that's the way I want you to answer anybody else asking you that question."
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