Manuel Joseph "Jim" Rivera (July 22, 1921 – November 13, 2017) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He played for three

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) teams over ten seasons:

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

(1952),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

(1952–1961), and

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

(1961).

Career

Rivera was born to Puerto Rican migrants in New York City. He was first called "Jim" when he was 17, "Big Jim" when he started playing for the

during the 1952 season, and then "Jungle Jim" in 1953 which was initiated by ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

sports writer Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

Edgar Munzel Edgar Herman Munzel (January 14, 1907 – October 4, 2002) was an American sportswriter who covered baseball for the ''Chicago Herald-Examiner'' and ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1929 to 1973. Biography Munzel first worked for the ''Chicago Herald-E ...

. This was due largely to his unorthodox playing style, and for his highly extroverted personality. Rivera threw and batted left-handed; he stood 6 feet tall and weighed 196 pounds during his playing days. In 1953, he led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

(16) and in 1955 in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s with 25. He was a sparkplug for the 1950s Go-Go White Sox team which eventually won the American League pennant in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. A smart and fast runner, Rivera ran the bases with abandon, sliding into bases on his belly before it was fashionable, and made many a game-saving catch playing right field. A

ground ball In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

hitter, he used his speed to full advantage and was a much tougher in clutch situations. However, in that year's World Series, which the White Sox lost in six games to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, Rivera went hitless in 11 at-bats. Rivera had a .256 lifetime

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 83

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 422

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

, 503 runs, 155 doubles, and 56 triples in 1,171

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

. He also had a career total of 160 stolen bases and a lifetime .978

fielding average In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, divi ...

. At age 40, Rivera appeared in 64 games for the Kansas City A's during the 1961 season, hitting .241 to cap his career. Rivera said

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

was the "toughest"

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

he ever faced and he liked it when he was called "Big Jim." Rivera would go on to be a part-owner and manager for both the

Fort Wayne Scouts The Fort Wayne Scouts were a professional softball team that played in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL) in the 1979 season at the Tah-Cum-Wah Recreation Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. League history During the late 1970s and ear ...

(1979) and Fort Wayne Huggie Bears (1980) who played in two

men's professional softball leagues During the late 1970s and early 1980s, several men's professional slow-pitch softball leagues were formed in the United States to build on the growth and talent in the booming men's amateur game during this period. The American Professional Slo-Pi ...

. Rivera died on November 13, 2017, at the age of 96.

References

External links

Smiley, Richard, ''Jim Rivera''

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Baseball Biography Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Jim 1921 births 2017 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American League stolen base champions American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from New York (state) Charros de Jalisco players Chicago White Sox players Gainesville G-Men players Indianapolis Indians players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Mexican League baseball managers Pacific Coast League MVP award winners Pensacola Fliers players Seattle Rainiers players St. Louis Browns players Tigres del México players American people convicted of rape American people convicted of attempted rape American people convicted of assault United States Army personnel who were court-martialed United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government

Career

See also

References

External links