GUEST BLOG / By Mary Ann Besser--Jim Rice is one of the all-time great baseball players. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. As amazing as his exploits on the baseball field were, Jim Rice deserves to be best known for an incredible accomplishment that had little to do with baseball.
On August 7, 1982, Jim Rice's Boston Red Sox were playing against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park. In the fourth inning, Red Sox player Dave Stapleton rocketed a line drive foul over the Boston dugout.
Four-year old Jonathan Keane, who was sitting just above the dugout with his father, had no time to react before the ball smashed into his face and covered in blood. Jonathan collapsed in blood. Jim Rice jumped onto the field and looked above the dugout to see what happened. Rice leaped into the stands and grabbed Jonathan and raced into the dugout.
Inside the team's clubhouse, the Red Sox team physician and his staff worked on Jonathan and rushed him to Boston Children's Hospital.
Medical experts said afterward that Jim Rice's heroics saved Jonathan Keane's life. The foul had caused a skull fracture.
Since then Jonathan has repeated that Jim Rice that day did save his life.
Jim Rice simply replied, "If it was your kid, what would you do? The baby was crying and there was a lot of blood."
Jonathan Keane is currently CEO of CustomerHD in Raleigh, NC., an organization that helps persons with disabilities develop skills and network to find jobs He still has a scar on his face but no memory of anything that happened on that day.
Jim Rice said of his own career, "I've hit a lot of home runs. I've driven in runs. but as far as something that stands out, it was when I went up into the stands and took the kid out of the stands who was hit by the foul ball."
Forty years later on a national TV broadcast of a Red Sox game, Jonathan repeated that Jim Rice saved his life. Said Rice in response, "I guess that makes me part of the family."
ONE YEAR LATER IN 1983:
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