Thu Jan 12, 2023 1:13 am
Hall of Famer Sam Rice was playing for a semi-pro team at the start of his career in 1912 when a tornado killed his wife, both his children, his mother, his father, and his two youngest sisters. He spent the next year wandering the Midwest doing odd jobs, then enlisted in the Navy. By the time he logged his first full season in the majors he was already 27, then his military service caused him to miss almost all of 1918 for WW1. He was 29 for his second full season. From age 29 onward, only 40 position players recorded more WAR than Rice according to Fangraphs. A .322 hitter, just think what his career might have been like if that awful storm hadn't killed his family and he had spent his 20s playing ball. Despite becoming a famous ballplayer, no one in baseball even knew about Rice's connection to that storm until 10 years after his death. But yeah he was an orphan for his whole MLB career.