'The Mystery is More Fun'

Today is the birthday of Hall of Fame center fielder Edgar “Sam” Rice, born February 20, 1890, in Morocco, Indiana.

At the height of his fame, baseball fans knew little about the Washington Senators’ star player. Even his name wasn’t truly his—the papers called him ‘Sam’, and he never corrected them.

As far as the press and public were concerned, Rice’s story began the day he stepped off the USS New Hampshire in Virginia after the Battle of Veracruz and joined a minor league team. He never spoke to reporters about what came before.

At the time, the biggest mystery surrounding Rice wasn’t about his past, but a single play in Game 3 of the 1925 World Series. In the eighth inning, Rice tracked a ball off of Earl Smith’s bat deep into right center, leaped to grab it, and then tumbled head-over-heels into the stands before popping back up seconds later with the ball in his mitt. Umpire Cy Rigler called it a catch.

For years, fans debated whether he’d actually made the grab. When asked to tell his side of the story by Commissioner Landis, Rice simply said, “The umpire said I caught it.” Pressed further by the press, he contended, “The mystery is more fun” and wouldn't elaborate.

After his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1963, he wrote a letter to be opened at his funeral, revealing the truth about the catch. When he died over a decade later, the letter stated he had “maintained possession of the ball the entire time.”

It wasn’t until 1983 that John Yost, a reporter for the Newton County Enterprise, revealed yet another secret that Rice had maintained throughout his life.

In 1912, Rice’s wife and two children went to live with his mother, father, and two younger sisters on their homestead while he traveled to Galesburg, Illinois to try out for a minor league team. On April 12, at 6:30 p.m. while he was on the mound nearly 200 miles away, a tornado ripped through the family property. His wife and children—along with his mother, father, and sisters—all died.

With nothing left, Rice drifted. First to a series of odd-jobs, then the Navy, and eventually, a small club near a port in Virginia where his story began again.

MLB News

Beards, Buck, and Bad Off-Seasons

• Buck is Back – Joe Buck will call the Yankees-Brewers opening day game, his first national MLB broadcast since 2021.

• From Bad to Worse – The Blue Jays already didn’t have the best off-season. While they were part of the mix for quite a few prominent free agents, they weren’t able to close any deals. Now, according to the four-time All-Star himself, the club wasn’t able to lock in Guerrero for a long term contract. Hot-Stove 2025 will be interesting.

• Steve Cohen: We Spent a Lot of Money – This isn’t really surprising, right?

• Testing New Tech – After testing it in the minor leagues, MLB will be rolling out a test of an automated ball strike (ABS) challenge system in spring training. The idea is that balls and strikes will still be called by an umpire, but teams will have two challenges each that they can use immediately after a pitch is received. Only the pitcher, batter, or catcher can use the challenge. Then, the pitch will be reviewed electronically. Read more about it here.

• Steinbrenner Still Looms – At least in that his ‘no facial hair’ policy from the 1970s still causes a stir every once in a while. Most recently, Devin Williams’ follicles have made some waves. What are the odds they’ll make him re-take the photo?

On This Day

Anhueser-Busch Takes Over in St. Louis

• 1953 — August A. Bush Jr. buys the Cardinals for $3.75 million from Fred Saigh.

  Saigh, who was charged with, and pled guilty to tax evasion knew he’d be banned from baseball for his crime, so in an effort to keep the team local, he sold it to the president and CEO of the powerful Anhuesuer-Busch brewing company.
  
  Up until that point, St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck had hoped that through the sheer ingenuity of his promotions he’d be able to force the Cardinals out and corner the St. Louis market. After August Busch bought the Cardinals, he saw the writing on the wall. Busch was too powerful, and had too many resources at his disposal.
  
  Veeck sold the Sportsman’s Park—which was owned by the Browns and rented out to the Cardinals for games—to August and in September of that year, moved his team to Baltimore. They’d be renamed the Orioles.