Who is the man: Bill Rigney was entering his second season as manager of the Twins when this card was issued. He led the Twins to the AL West title in 1970.
Can ya dig it: Rigney is featuring the tell-tale leather neck of old-timey managers.
Right on: Rigney's card is 10 cards after the Twins team card. That might be the shortest number of cards between team card and manager in the set. (Yes, I think of stuff like this).
You see that cat Rigney is a bad mother: Rigney took the second-year Angels to a third-place finish in the American League in 1962, behind only the Yankees and Twins. The Angels were in first place on Sept. 12 and Rigney was named AL Manager of the Year after the season.
Shut your mouth: Rigney has one of my favorite quotes about modern ballplayers who think they have all the answers: "They really don't want to know. All they say is, 'hey man, that was 40 years ago. Things are different now.' Oh really? How different? Do they run to third base instead of first? Come on."
No one understands him but his woman: Rigney was both the first manager of the L.A. Angels and the first manager of an MLB team in San Francisco.
(A word about the back): When Rigney started his managerial career with Minneapolis, he also played several games for the team in 1954 and 1955.
those first year in pro ball/first game in majors years are deceiving. Those are first years managed. Otherwise he would have been 36 when he broke into pro ball and 38 when he made his MLB debut!
ReplyDeleteI think you mentioned that once on a manager card...
Rigney was a hard-nosed infielder for the New York Giants. He was an All-Star in 1948 and played on the 1951 pennant winners. He was also known as a stern skipper.
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