Player #74J: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. 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.
We are going to jump over Rice's 1925 season with the pennant-winning Senators and go straight to Carroll's account of "The Catch": (Bucky) Harris made a couple of defensive changes to start the eighth (of Game Three of the 1925 World series, with Washington ahead 4-3). With (starting pitcher) Ferguson having been pinch-hit for in the bottom of the seventh, Bucky Harris sent his ace reliever Marberry to the mound. He also moved Rice from center field to right, the position he had played for most of the past three years (and for the rest of his career), to start the inning. The move was necessitated by McNeely's entry into the game as a pinch runner in the bottom of the seventh. Harris kept McNeely in the game, batting in Ferguson's original ninth spot, and placed him in center.
It would be a fateful move.
Marberry dispensed of Glenn Wright and George Grantham easily to begin the inning, striking both men out. Grantham was now 0-for-11 in the three games of the series, and McKechnie's patience was beginning to wear thin.
Smith, the brash Pirates catcher, came to the plate with two outs and the Senators still clinging to that 4-3 lead they had just seized. Smith had put together a decent series to that point, reaching base once in each of the first two games, and twice already against Ferguson in Game Three. But the damage he had been able to cause was minimized by the fact that he was batting between the slumping Grantham and the pitcher's spot.
The New York Times described Smith's seeming arrogance as he looked toward Marberry: "He looked over Marberry's pitching with an arrogant sneer. Crouched at the plate, Earl is not an easy batsman to pitch to. He worried Marberry. Then Smith caught hold of one his pitches. His left-handed swing was deadly and true, and the ball went soaring far and straight into right field."
We are able to show a Sam Rice baseball card at this point courtesy of Val Kehl who has dipped into his world-renowned Sam Rice master collection to provide:
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1683796303
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1683796308