Edgar Rice is in baseball’s Hall of Fame. Better known as Sam Rice, the outfielder played for the Washington Senators from 1915 to 1933. He regular led many offensive categories in the American League. He led the Senators to three postseason appearances and a World Series Championship in 1924.
He is most famous for “the catch.” In the 1924 World Series, the Senators were leading the game 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning when Rice was shifted from center to right field. Earl Smith drove a ball to right center field. Rice made an amazing catch near the fence, but that was just the beginning. Rice tumbled headlong over the fence. When he came back up, he had the ball in his glove. The umpire called the batter out, but the controversy raged. Did he hold onto the ball the entire time behind the fence. Rice would not answer questions after the incident, saying only that the ump had ruled. He wouldn’t even accept money to answer the question, saying the mystery was more fun. He wrote a letter to be opened after his death, and when he died, it was read. The last line said, “At no time did I lose possession of the ball.”
But Rice’s baseball career was nearly derailed by personal tragedy. He married Beulah Stam in 1908. They had two children over the next four years. On April 12, 1912, Rice was pursuing his dream of being a baseball player. He left his wife and two small children at home as he barnstormed with a minor league team in Galesburg, Illinois. His wife left their home in Illinois and traveled to spend time with Sam’s parents at their farm in Morocco, Indiana. They spent the day visiting friends and returned to the farm around 6 p.m. They were at home with Sam’s father Charles and mother Louise when a fast moving tornado, or cyclone, as they were called in that day destroyed the house. Beulah and the two children, Bernie,3, and Ethel, 18 months, were killed along with Sam’s mother Louise and two of his sisters. A hired hand was also killed. Devastated by the disaster, Sam’s father died from his injuries two weeks later.
Seventy five people died on that deadly day across Indiana and Illinois. Just two days later, the Titanic disaster also occurred.
– Bill Murray
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