Jim Rice, one of baseball's premier power hitters during his 15 seasons with the Red Sox, ended his career in Boston on Monday when the team placed him on waivers.
Rice, who had 382 homers, 1,451 RBIs and 2,452 hits, will become an unrestricted free agent Thursday if he clears waivers. The Red Sox last month indicated he had no future with the team when they refused to exercise a $2.4 million option in his contract for 1990."Jim Rice has been a very good player for us through the years, but we felt it was time to make a change," Boston general manager Lou Gorman said. "Jim had asked us to consider giving him release. He's a Type B player, and any team signing him would have had to give up a first- or second-round draft choice, making it difficult to sign him."
Rice batted .234 this season with three homers and 28 runs batted in. He had midseason surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow and saw limited action after that. He refused the team's offer to have a day in his honor, insisting he planned to play next season.
Locally . . .