Luncheon features Red Sox legend
COLONIE, N.Y. » Who would have thought there were so many Boston Red Sox fans in the heart of New York Yankee country?
Judging by the line of people queued up to have their picture taken Tuesday with Red Sox icon and Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice during the New York-Penn League’s All-Star Luncheon at the Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, there’s at least a strong cult following in the area. Count Kate Cronin of Troy among those fans, or at least among the fans of the burly South Carolina slugger, who began his professional career in the New York-Penn League, playing in 1971 for the Red Sox affiliate in Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
“I’ve been a Red Sox fan since I was younger,” Cronin said after having Rice sign three baseball cards she collected during his playing days. “I only collected Jim Rice cards. I would open a pack, take out the piece of gum, and if it was a Jim Rice card, I’d keep it. If not, I gave it to my brother.”
After a lifetime as a fan, Cro-
nin said the opportunity to meet Rice was everything she had hoped it would be.
“It’s awesome,” she said after her moment with the Hall of Famer. “I’m still shaking, I was so excited.”
She was far from alone, as people paraded past Rice for nearly an hour, asking him to sign everything from pictures and jerseys to a number from the iconic left field scoreboard at Fenway Park, brought by George Roh, a General Electric employee who said he actually worked inside the scoreboard from 1989- 91, near the end of Rice’s career, and has had the placard signed by dozens of players — both Red Sox and visitors.
Rice proudly said during a news conference prior to the luncheon that the Red Sox have been his sole employer since he signed his first professional baseball contract after graduating from high school, and he has served as an analyst for the team’s pre- and postgame shows for two decades. He remembered his time in the league as a very important step in his development as a player by giving him the opportunity to play with and learn from older players, something he said he had already done from the time he began playing American Leagion ball in seventh grade.
“It was a learning experience for me, just coming out of high school,” he recalled more than 45 years later. “I’ve always played with older guys, and from my experience, when you play with older guys when you’re coming right out of school, it makes you better.”
The Red Sox still have a team in the league, though it is now located in Lowell, Massachusetts, just a few miles from Fenway Park, while Williamsport — more famous as home to the Little League World Series — still fields a team in the league, though the Williamsport Crosscutters are now affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies. Players from Lowell, Williamsport and the league’s other 12 teams, including the hometown Tri- City ValleyCats, took to the field at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy later Tuesday for the league’s 2017 AllStar Game.
For about a half- hour prior to the luncheon, Rice — along with Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown — opined on a host of baseball-related topics, especially regarding the Red Sox. Weighing in on his role as an analyst, Rice said he is more reticent in criticizing players — “No one’s out there trying to mess up, but it’s going to happen” — that some, especially citing fellow Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, a game analyst for Red Sox telecasts who had a controversial confrontation with star Sox pitcher David Price over some of his on-air criticism.
While Rice said he would not likely be as critical in the broadcast booth as Eckersley, he also said players like Price could learn a few things from those who played before them at Fenway.
“The media is soft right now,” he said bluntly, directing his statement towards Price, who is currently on the disabled list.
“Think about when I played the game. If he thinks this is hard right now, the media in Boston used to be much tougher. You get criticized because you’re not doing your job. If you do your job, you get praised. They used to criticize me, and I played there 15 years.”