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The Cohasset native hit three home runs in the Yankees' 14-4 shellacking of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, July 6 in the Bronx. It was the most times a rookie has ever gone yard in a single game for the Yanks.
“It’s definitely a day I’ll never forget,” Rice told MLB.com. “I’m just pumped that it was a big-time win for us, a good bounce-back win, and over my hometown team. So it’s pretty cool.”
The Yankees' social media team nicknamed him "Ben Thrice."
Rice was called up to the Bronx to play first base on June 18 after Anthony Rizzo was placed on injured reserve with a broken forearm.
But Rice was almost a Red Sox.
“I had a chance to get drafted by (Boston),” Rice told MLB.com. “This is actually true: It was either going to be the Red Sox or the Yankees, probably, that picked me. Those were the teams that I knew liked me the most.”
Despite growing up in Red Sox country, Rice had an outspoken loyalty to New York. He would often wear pinstripes while his friends rocked Red Sox red. He even once scrawled "Yankees Rule" on "Pesky's Pole" in right field at Fenway Park, per MLB.com.
Rice starred at the Noble and Greenough School, a boarding school in Dedham, before taking his talents to Dartmouth College, according to his biography. The 25-year-old was drafted in the 12th round of the 2021 draft and worked his way up through the Yankees farm system, where he most often played catcher.
Rice will try to continue to prove his place in the starting lineup when the Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, July 9, at 6:50 p.m.
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