Mickey Rivers was lightning quick in the outfield and on the base-paths. In 1974 & 1975, playing for the California Angels he led the AL in triples and stole a league high 70 bases in 1975, the highest total in the AL since Ty Cobb stole 96 bases in 1915. Rivers was a hard line drive hitting lead-off man and during his career he grounded into only 44 double plays, as a fact - that's only one in every 128 at bats (the third best total in all of baseball history). Traded to the New York Yankees in December of 1975, he was their sparkplug for three straight pennant winning years, 1976-1978. Rivers was traded to the Texas Rangers in late 1979, and he excelled in 1980 batting .333, while scoring 96 times. He missed most of the 1982 season with injuries but came back to hit .300 for the Rangers in 1984, his final year. Mickey Rivers played in 1,468 games, scored 785 runs, stole 267 bases and had a lifetime batting mark of .295. baseballhistorian.com |