Pat Rice and five teammates slept in the living room, because that was the only air-conditioned area of their two-bedroom apartment in northwest Salt Lake City. They joined in a welcome-home barbecue for a neighbor’s relative who had just completed his sentence for murder — or that’s the version the story he likes to tell, three decades later.
That’s all part of what he labels an “awesome” summer that altered his career plans, thanks to Rice’s signing with a Seattle Mariners scout at Duffy’s Tavern during the celebration of the Salt Lake Trappers’ 1986 Pioneer League championship.
Back in town as the pitching coach for the Salt Lake Bees, Rice is the only player from the eight-year Trappers era to have reached the major leagues from that unlikely launch point of an independent rookie-league team.