Harold Housten Rice (February 11, 1924 – December 22, 1997), nicknamed "Hoot", was a professional baseball left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1948 to 1954. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Cubs. Most of his career was spent with the Cardinals, where he backed up Stan Musial in left field.
Early life
Hal Rice was born as Harold Housten Rice on February 11, 1924, in Morganette, West Virginia, to the parents George and Bertha (Hale) Rice. He attended Ball State University, a public coeducational research university in Muncie, Indiana. Despite his future in playing major league baseball, Hal never played for The Ball State Cardinals, while he attended the school. Hal was only one of four major leaguers to never play for the BSU Cardinals but attend the school, along with Mike Dimmel, Harley Grossman, and Steve Hargan.
Professional career
Minor League Baseball (1941-1942) (1946-1948) Rice began his professional baseball career in 1941 by signing to the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent at the age of 17 years. His first professional team was the Williamson Red Birds, the St. Louis Cardinals class D affiliated team in Williamson, West Virginia. In 1941, Rice would end his first season in professional baseball batting .258 for the red birds. In 1942, Rice hit .349 for Williamson, prompting his promotion to the class B team, The Asheville Tourists. Rice struggled with his stint on the Tourists batting a .204 average.Despite his struggles on the tourists, his combined batting average for 1942 was a .303, ending his first stint in the minors.
In the early to mid-1940s baseball players from all across the country, joined the military to help out with the war effort after the United States became involved in World War II on December 7, 1941 because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Much like Rice's baseball peers, he also decided to also enlist in the military, so after Rice’s 1942 season, he joined the army to assist in the war effort. He served in the military for three years, 1943-1945. While in the army, Rice was a tank lieutenant in the Pacific theatre. Rice was later awarded the Purple Heart for his involvement in the war.
Rice would rejoin baseball in 1946 after his stint in the military was completed. His first year back in baseball he played on the Cardinals C-class team of that year, The Winston-Salem Cardinals, now known as the Winston-Salem Dash. His performance that year, .335 batting average, 139 singles, 21 doubles, 10 triples, caused Rice to be promoted to St. Louis’s Triple A team the Rochester Red Wings for the 1947 season. Hal would then spend the 1947 season and part of the 1948 season on the Red Wings, where he ended up hitting .248 in 1947, and .321 in 146 games during the 1948 season. During his 1948 season with Rochester he got his first shot at the majors on September 25, 1948 and spent 8 games with The St. Louis Cardinals that year.