'Go-Go' Chisox outfielder 'Jungle Jim' Rivera dies at age 96 - NY Daily News: "Jungle Jim" Rivera, an outfielder on the 1959 "Go-Go" White Sox pennant-winning team, has died.
He was 96.
The team says he died Monday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The AL leader in triples in 1953 and steals two years later, "Jungle Jim" played for the White Sox from 1952 to 1961. He was part of the 1959 team that — led by Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Early Wynn — captured the franchise's first pennant since 1919.
Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.
3 comments:
I thought of him as a journeyman, moving from team to team, mostly a back-up outfielder. But in his first 5 seasons, he was a regular (1952-1956) for the Browns and the White Sox. How I thought of him fits his last 5 seasons pretty well, except he didn't move around. (And I didn't really pay much attention to baseball until about 1958 or so).
I remember 1959 well because that was only the second year in my life (the other was 1954, when I was too young to know it) that the Yankees lost the pennant. Of course, I rooted for the White Sox against the Dodgers in the World Series. That was one of several Dodgers teams I thought had no business winning the World Series who did - 1981 and 1988 were the others.
I was a big fan of Luis Aparicio on that team.
Something I jus found out, courtesy of the SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) Biography Project--Rivera's baseball career started remarkably late--because he spent 5 years in the slam after being convicted of rape.
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/d856e0d3
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