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Manuel Joseph Rivera
Chicago White Sox
Outfield
Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 6'0" Weight: 196
Born: July 22, 1921, New York, NY
Acquired: Purchased by the Chicago White Sox from Seattle (PCL).
Major League Teams: St. Louis Browns 1952; Chicago White Sox 1952-1961; Kansas City Athletics 1961
Died: November 13, 2017, Fort Wayne, IN (96)
Jim Rivera was a mainstay in the White Sox line-up throughout the 1950s, and all but 161 of his 1,171 career games were played for Chicago. A speedy outfielder who hit for average, Rivera was the White Sox starting center or right fielder for four consecutive seasons between 1953 and 1956. As pointed out by his SABR biography, Rivera earned the nickname of "Jungle Jim" for his "daredevil running and sliding, his terrific fielding and . . . his all-out style," which made him one of the more popular White Sox players from that era.
Despite his popularity, I found Rivera to have one of the most troubling histories of anyone I've researched so far within the 1956 Topps set. He honed his baseball skills while playing for a prison team while serving out a life sentence for the attempted rape of the daughter of an Army officer. Paroled after only five years, Rivera was scouted and eventually signed by Rogers Hornsby, following the baseball legend when he was named manager of the Browns. Traded to the White Sox
In his 10 big league seasons, Rivera hit .256 with 83 home runs and he found himself atop the leaderboard for fielding statistics in most seasons. In his sole postseason appearance, Rivera went 0 for 11 against the Dodgers in the 1959 World Series. He stayed loyal to the White Sox after his playing days, modeling the shorts players would wear for one game in 1976 and appearing with his 1959 teammates as Luis Aparicio (#292) threw out the first pitch prior to Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.
Pictured to the right are J.C. Martin, Billy Pierce (#160), Rivera wearing #7, Aparicio, then White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Jim Landis and Bob Shaw. Rivera was 84 at the time this picture was taken.
Building the Set
October 3, 1999 in Raleigh, NC - Card #184
We bought this card on October 3rd at the Raleigh Sports Card Show, and it ended up being part of a birthday present to me from my Dad. I was still living in Raleigh in late 1999, and my parents made the trip south to visit me for my birthday. We bought 8 cards that day (that I knew about) paying $5 for seven of the cards, including this Rivera card, and $2 for the Grady Hatton (#26) card. Unbeknownst to me, my Dad also purchased the Sandy Koufax card (#79) but squirreled that one away until Christmas morning 1999.
The Card
What a fantastic action photo! So far in the set, the majority of the action photos have been posed shots or maybe a scene featuring a baserunner and a fielder. This action photo for Rivera features him about to make a catch (maybe?) while several spectators look on and what looks to be a security guard ducks out of the way. The fans, which appear to be all men, are shown with mouths open and necks craning as they wait to see if Rivera will make the catch. In a sign of the times, most of the fans are wearing sport coats, I see one hat and the guy all the way to the left is wearing a tie and appears to be smoking a cigarette.
The birth year on the back of the card is off by two years, as he was actually born in 1921. Rivera not only led the A.L. in stolen bases in 1955 with 25, but he also led the league in the caught stealing category with 16. His teammate Minnie Minoso (#125) was runner-up in leading the league in steals with 19.
1956 Season
Rivera was 33, soon to be 34 at the start of the 1956 season and he shared White Sox starting outfield duties with Minoso and Larry Doby (#250). He appeared in 139 games, hitting .255 with 12 home runs (third on the team) and 66 RBIs.
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First Mainstream Card: 1953 Topps #156
First Topps Card: 1953 Topps #156
Last Topps Card: 1961 Topps #367
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2010 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-JR
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (9): 1953-1961
39 - Rivera non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 10/11/19.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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Order Collected: #67 Vic Power - Kansas City Athletics / #115 Jackie Jensen - Boston Red Sox
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