Professional career
California Angels
Originally signed by the Atlanta Braves,Rivers began his big league career in 1970 with the Angels,playing center field. He stayed with them through the 1975 season. Rivers played part-time in his first few years,until becoming the starter in 1974. He led the American League in triples both years and stole a career-high 70 bases in 1975,tops in the league. [1]
New York Yankees
Rivers was acquired along with Ed Figueroa by the Yankees from the Angels for Bobby Bonds on December 11,1975, [2] a trade that immediately paid dividends for the Yankees. Figueroa won 19 games and Rivers enjoyed a career year. Rivers was named to the All-Star team,batted .312,stole 43 bases and posted then-career highs in home runs (8) and runs batted in (67). [3] Rivers placed third in the Most Valuable Player voting behind teammate Thurman Munson and George Brett [4] and was named an outfielder on The Sporting News AL All-Star team.
Rivers posted good numbers in his two other full Yankee seasons,including a .326 batting average in 1977,but was traded in the middle of the 1979 season to Texas.
Texas Rangers
Now with the Rangers,Rivers set the single-season record for hits by a Ranger with 210 in 1980. He concluded his career in 1984 with a .295 lifetime average,267 stolen bases and 1,660 hits. Rivers posted a .308 average in his 29 postseason games. [5]
Legacy
While Rivers played for them,the Yankees won the World Series in 1977 and 1978,both times against the Los Angeles Dodgers. [6] They won the 1976 pennant,but lost in the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. In the 1978 one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox,Rivers reportedly gave a bat "with a home run in it" to Bucky Dent,who proceeded to hit a home run over the Green Monster in Fenway Park to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. [7]
In 1983,Rivers got into a fistfight with teammate Mike Richardt on a plane trip home,over what Richardt called a “misunderstanding”. [8]
On September 30,1984,in Rivers' final major league game,he and the Rangers were the victims of the Angels' Mike Witt's perfect game,Witt winning 1-0. [9]
Bill James ranked Mickey Rivers as the 59th greatest center fielder of all time. His stooped shuffle as he ambled to the plate masked quick speed out of the box on bunts and sustained speed around the bases. He would often twirl his bat after each pitch.
Personality
Rivers was honored with many of his teammates from the 1977 World Series champion New York Yankees in the Yankee Old Timers Game in 2007.
In The Bronx Is Burning ,the ESPN miniseries based on the 1977 Yankees,he was portrayed by Leonard Robinson and depicted as experiencing financial problems.
When Reggie Jackson remarked to a reporter that he had an IQ of 160,Rivers responded,"Out of what,a thousand?". Rivers' tenure in the Bronx produced other classic quotes,such as when he tried to explain the bizarre dynamics of the Yankees,who featured controversial owner George Steinbrenner and contentious manager Billy Martin. "Me and George and Billy," Rivers said,"we’re two of a kind." According to Goose Gossage,when the newly acquired reliever went through a rough stretch of blown saves,Rivers once jumped on top of the bullpen car to prevent Gossage from entering the game. [10]
He was portrayed as the representation of Yankee imperialism by Garrett Morris in the "Bad Red Chinese Ballet" sketch in the November 18,1978 installment of Saturday Night Live . [11]
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