Sam Rice - Early Life and Entry To Professional Baseball

Early Life and Entry To Professional Baseball

Rice grew up in various towns near Morocco, Indiana, on the Indiana-Illinois border, and considered Watseka, Illinois, his hometown. In 1908 he married Beulah Stam, and they had two children. They lived in Watseka, where Rice ran the family farm, worked at several jobs in the area, and attended tryouts for various professional baseball teams.

In April 1912 Sam traveled to Galesburg, Illinois for a baseball tryout, and his wife took their children to the homestead of Rice's parents in Morocco, Indiana (about 20 miles from Watseka) to spend the day. A storm arose, and a tornado swept across the homestead, destroying the house and most of the outbuildings, and killing Rice's wife, two children, his mother, his two younger sisters and a farmhand. Rice's father survived for another week before also succumbing to his injuries. Rice had to attend two funerals: one for his parents and sisters, and a second for his wife and children.

Probably wracked with grief, Rice spent the next year wandering the area and working at several jobs. In 1913 he joined the United States Navy and served on the USS New Hampshire, a 16,000-ton battleship that was large enough to field a baseball team. Rice played on that team during one season. He was on the ship when it took part in the ill-fated United States occupation of Veracruz, Mexico.

In 1914 Rice tried out for a professional baseball team in Petersburg, Virginia, and was accepted. As a pitcher, he compiled a 9–2 record during the year that he played for that team. Team owner "Doc" Lee owed a $300 debt to Clark Griffith, who owned the major-league Washington Senators at the time, and he offered Rice's contract to Griffith in payment of the debt.

Lee is credited with two acts which influenced Rice's subsequent career: he changed the player's name from 'Edgar' to 'Sam', and he convinced the Senators to let Rice play in the outfield instead of pitching.

Rice played for 19 years as a Senator, and played the final year of his career with the Cleveland Indians, retiring at age 44.

Rice eventually married for a second time (Mary). His wife Mary had a daughter by a prior marriage, Christine. Contrary to prior reports, Christine was not Sam's biological daughter. In 1965 Rice and his family were interviewed in advance of a program to honor his career. The interviewer asked Rice about the tornado, and as he told of the storm and its destruction, his wife and children learned for the first time of the existence of his previous family.

Rice died on 13 October 1974. He was buried in Woodside Cemetery in Brinklow, Maryland.