Yesterday was the 65th birthday of 8-time All-Star Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice. He was a key part of their 1975 and 1986 AL Pennant-winning team. Rice was a pretty consistent player, never hitting below .280 from 1975-1986. He provided the offensive power for the Sox for many years, earning an MVP award along the way in 1978.
Rice snuck into the Hall of Fame on his last ballot by a mere 1.4% margin. I may be a bit biased, but I think a career .298 hitter with nearly 2,500 hits and almost 1,500 RBI is deserving of the Hall of Fame. He did, however, have some bad years towards the end of his career. But, it's his All-Star seasons that the fans remember and made Rice the player he is.
My Jim Rice player collection is 87 cards strong, making it one of my largest Red Sox player collections along with Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Pedro, and Boggs. Here are my favorite 5 cards of Jim Rice.
#5 2004 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts
I've been trying to include less modern cards of these vintage players on my top 5 cards post because I really try to show off the older cards more despite many of the cards I have are modern and from the 2000's and 2010's. Modern cards can get a bit repetitive, so I really tried to choose the best of the best modern cards of Rice, and I feel this card from 2004 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts was a step ahead of most of the other cards I have of Jim Rice. The 70's looking Red Sox home jerseys are front and center on this card along with the hat from their old school uniforms as well. The sides of the card feature a gold and black design that's fairly simple but does its job of not distracting from the image. I also like how this card includes more information than the usual card by stating Rice's jersey number and his years spent in MLB.
#4 1985 Donruss Diamond Kings
The 1985 Donruss set definitely my favorite Donruss set of all-time. The Diamond Kings cards from the 80's are my favorite cards from the Donruss brand. By combining 2 of my favorite things about the Donruss brand, plus a Red Sox legend, makes for one of my favorite cards of Jim Rice. The Diamond Kings background for this card took after the Red Sox team colors by creating a blue and red background design. Nothing too fancy, but enough not just to draw my attention to the card, but to peak my interest and cause me to truly appreciate how good of a job Donruss did with the Diamond Kings cards back in the 80's.
#3 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter
The 2nd and final modern Jim Rice card to make the list once again shows off the vintage 70's style Red Sox jersey, this time as a card in 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter. The card is basically an improved version of the Legendary Cuts card shown at #5. It picks up where that card lacks off by putting an Allen & Ginter spin on the card. The dark blue color in the background is one of just a few colors that would really work well with this card, so it was certainly a good choice by Topps. I also love the image they chose, especially because it shows Rice holding a bat. It's still pretty simple because it's Allen & Ginter. However, simplicity works extremely well with a card like this, especially since it was good enough for the #3 spot.
#2 1978 Topps
Speaking of simplicity, it made its return for the card at the #2 spot on the list, Rice's 1978 Topps base card. This card is not just one of the most simple cards I have of Rice, but it's also from a very simple Topps set, 1978. With all that being said, I really and truly cannot help but love pretty much everything about this card. The picture of Rice shows him smiling and he looks incredibly happy. Just enough of the jersey is shown to make it a nice looking card without having the picture be too much of a close-up. Plus, the distinctive cursive writing from the 1978 set works very well on a card like this and adds a nice and needed detail to the card. It's a big lesson directed at all the complex sets out nowadays, all of those refractor cards may be cool to look at, but cards like these are timeless, and that will never go away.
#1 1981 Perma-Graphics
The sheer idea behind this oddball card is enough for me to like it enough to put it in the top 5. But it's the picture of Rice and the crazy Red Sox name written in orange on this card that catapults it to the top. This 1981 Perma-Graphics card is also referred to as "Topps Credit Cards" probably because the cards faintly resemble a credit card, notably in shape. Now that's an oddball set if I've ever seen one. The rest of the card is relatively simple except for the odd Red Sox team name written in a weird orange font that I've never seen before or since. It's a pretty strange concept, but that's part of what makes 80's cards so great. And if you can pull off a weird card like this and make it into something cool and collectible, that, to me, is worthy of the #1 spot.
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