Bombo Rivera

Bombo Rivera's legend far exceeded his actual impact on the Twins. He played for just three years, only 257 games, and hit a total of 8 home runs with 64 RBI and a 699 OPS. So how did he become the toast of the Twin Cities in the late 70s? One word: Bombo.

The Met's fans chanted it from the bleachers. U of M students wrote in votes for that name. Garrison Keillor wrote a song for that name, complete with a rhyme. Even the holiest of baseball literature, Shoeless Joe Jackson by Ray Kinsella which was turned into the move "Field of Dreams," reveres its reverie. 

“We drive on to Minneapolis. We are all relaxed at the game, cheering the Twins to an easy win, chanting ‘Bombo! Bombo! Bombo!’ each time the Twins’ right fielder Bombo Rivera is announced. He is a good young player, but not great. It is his name that intoxicates the crowd.”

It probably helped that the Twins were excessively mediocre at that juncture. Tight-fisted Calvin Griffith had traded away Rod Carew and historically had made it clear he would do so with any player good enough to earn free agency. In that way, Rivera's good-not-great performance was ideal for Twins fans that wanted to love baseball but had grown bored or frustrated with the team. He was fun to watch, but not so good that he would need to leave soon.

He did, however, leave. After breaking a kneecap in 1980, he was released by the Twins just prior to the 1981 season. He signed as a free agent with the Royals, playing in AAA in 1981 and most of 1982 except for a five game callup back to the majors to finish out the season. Of course, that drew more pop culture references, as Ken LaZebnik wrote an ode called "Fare Thee Well, Bombo Rivera" in his own maagazine called Minneapolis Review of Baseball and later Elysian Fields Quarterly. 

But that was not the end of his playing career, and the Twins were not the beginning. The youg man from Puerto Rico, who was born Jesus Manuel River Torres, had a pro career spanned 21 years, playing in Mexico, Japan, and 18 seasons in the Puerto Rican Winter League. His professional career started with the Expos, who signed him in 1970. He debuted with them, too, in 1975 as a 22-year-old. The Twins purchased him following the 1977 season. 

In 1978 he started 57 games in right field, splitting time with Hoskin Powell. The Twins had lost their  "Lumber company" corner outfielders Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostok the previous offseason, and would lose "Disco" Danny Ford after 1978, so manager Gene Mauch cobbled together an outfield out of replacement parts to try and keep the team's head above water. It sort of worked; the Twins finished fourth in the seven-team AL West, but they were 19 GB of the division-winning Royals. 

His next two seasons, the Twins finished aroudn the same place, and just below .500 ball. Attendance for those seasons averaged less than 5500 fans per game. But they were all chanting in unison when Bombo Rivera came up to bat. 

*Mambo. It rhymed with mambo.

Here is a link to an MPR report that includes an interview with Rivera as well as the Ballad of Bombo Rivera by the Powdermilk Biscuit Band. It starts at 3:48.