{{Short description|American baseball player (1918–1992)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox baseball biography |name=Len Rice |position=Catcher |image=Len Rice.jpg |bats=Right |throws=Right |birth_date={{Birth date|1918|9|2}} |birth_place=Lead, South Dakota, U.S. |death_date={{Death date and age|1992|6|13|1918|9|2}} |death_place=Sonora, California, U.S. |debutleague = MLB |debutdate=April 26 |debutyear=1944 |debutteam=Cincinnati Reds |finalleague = MLB |finaldate=September 29 |finalyear=1945 |finalteam=Chicago Cubs |statleague = MLB |stat1label=Batting average |stat1value=.223 |stat2label=Home runs |stat2value=0 |stat3label=Runs batted in |stat3value=7 |teams= *Cincinnati Reds (1944) *Chicago Cubs (1945) |highlights= *Member of 1945 NL champion Chicago Cubs; did not play in 1945 World Series }} '''Leonard Oliver Rice''' (September 2, 1918 – June 13, 1992) was an American Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds (1944) and the Chicago Cubs (1945). A native of Lead, South Dakota, he stood {{convert|6|ft}} tall and weighed {{convert|175|lb}}.
Rice is one of many ballplayers who only appeared in the major leagues during World War II. He may be most well known for being a reserve catcher on the last Chicago Cubs team to win a National League pennant (1945). That was his best season, as he got into 32 games and hit .232 (23-for-99) with 7 runs batted in and 10 runs scored. He had played in just 10 games for the Reds the year before, going 0-for-4, then was drafted by the Cubs from the Reds in the 1944 rule V draft (November 1).
He died at the age of 73 in Sonora, California.
== External links == *[https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ricele01.shtml Baseball Reference] *[http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pricel101.htm Retrosheet]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Len}} Category:1918 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Major League Baseball catchers Category:Baseball players from South Dakota Category:People from Lead, South Dakota Category:Cincinnati Reds players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:20th-century American sportsmen
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