Rick Miller was a standout pitcher and fleet-footed center fielder who starred first at Union High, then at Michigan State University and ended up playing 15 years in the Major Leagues with the Boston Red Sox and California Angels.
Miller, also a standout in football and basketball, was one of the top athletes in the City League in 1966 much like his father Irwin had been during his high school years and took advantage of a baseball scholarship offer from Michigan State.
At MSU he walked-on to the basketball team and played for one season before an ankle injury made him decide to concentrate on baseball. He became an elite center fielder for the Spartans and won the Big Ten Conference batting title as a junior (.429 in 1969).
The Red Sox made him their second selection in the ’69 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut in 1971 after minor league stops and played from 1971 to ’77 with Boston, left as a free agent to play with the Angels from 1878 to ’80 and then returned via trade to Boston for the last five years of his career.
He played in 1482 MLB games compiling a .269 batting average (1046-for-3887) with 28 home runs and 369 RBI. Defensively, he recorded a .986 fielding percentage at all three outfield positions and first base. He played with the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series and with the Angels in the 1979 AL Championship Series, and he won a Golden Glove in 1978 as the regular centerfielder for the Angels. In 1981 he tied an MLB record with four doubles in a single game, and he led the American League in 1983 in pinch hitting average (.457). In ’79 with the Angels he hit a career-best .293 while primarily serving as the leadoff hitter.
He went into financial planning and coaching amateur baseball following his playing career. He is the brother-in-law of former Boston teammate Carlton Fisk. He married Fisk's sister Janet.