Del Rice

Delbert Rice Jr. (October 27, 1922 — January 26, 1983) was a catcher, coach and manager in American Major League Baseball. A native of Portsmouth, Ohio, Rice played in the major leagues for 17 years (1945-61), appearing in 1,309 games. The righthanded hitter played the bulk of his career for the St. Louis Cardinals (1945-55; 1960), where he was a regular or semi-regular from 1947-52. He finished his career as a reserve catcher for the Milwaukee Braves (1955-59), Chicago Cubs (1960), Baltimore Orioles (1960), and Los Angeles Angels (1961), hitting .237 with 79 home runs. Rice also had a brief career in the National Basketball League, playing 11 games for the Rochester Royals during the 1945-1946 season.^[1] One of the 18 games Rice caught as a Cub was Don Cardwell's no-hitter (May 15). Rice was a longtime member of the Angels' organization. After he played in their maiden '61 campaign, he was the first-base coach for the club (1962-66). He spent the 1967 season as a coach for the Cleveland Indians, but then returned to the Angels as a minor league manager and had success at the AAA level. In 1972, he spent a season as skipper of the Angels, but after a 75-80 (.484) fifth-place finish, he was replaced by Bobby Winkles. He died in Garden Grove, California, of cancer at the age of 60.

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External links

• Baseball Reference
• Baseball Library
• Baseball Almanac
• The Deadball Era