Sport: Baseball
Born: November 9, 1952
Town: Fort Dix, New Jersey
James David Riggleman was born November 9, 1952 in Fort Dix, New Jersey. Jim and his three brothers grew up in Rockville, Maryland after his father passed away and his mother remarried. Jim was a Washington Senators fans—both the original Senators (who became the Minnesota Twins) and the expansion club that began play when he was 8. Jim excelled in baseball, football and basketball in the local youth leagues and was a standout in baseball and basketball at Richard Montgomery High School. His older brother was the football star in the family, playing for the University of Maryland in the early 1970s.
Jim attended Frostburg State College in Maryland. He was a point guard on the basketball team and played second base for the baseball team. As a sophomore, he led the Bobcats to the NAIA World Series, where they finished in 5th place. He led the team in homers and RBIs in each of his three varsity seasons and graduated with school records for career home runs and total bases.
In the 1974 draft, the Dodgers selected Jim in the fourth round. Their first pick was Rick Sutcliffe. The Dodgers farmed Jim out to Waterbury of the Eastern League, where he hit for decent average and power and even stole a few bases. However, he was no threat to unseat Davey Lopes in LA, and he was traded during the 1977 season to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Jim made it all the way to Class-AAA New Orleans but did not hit for average, and spent the rest of his career at AA. He belted 27 homers and knocked in 90 runs for the Arkansas Travelers in 1980, leading them to a league title. But when his numbers dropped a year later, he was done as a player. The Cardinals kept Jim in the organization, assigning him to manage their teams at A and AA into the 1988 season. In 1991, Jim managed the Padres’ AAA club in Las Vegas and, in 1992, he took over in San Diego after Greg Riddoch was fired.
Jim managed the Padres through 1994, then moved over to the Cubs. He was at the helm in 1998 when Sammy Sosa dueled Mark McGwire for the single-season home run mark. Chicago defeated the Giants in a play-in game for a Wild Card berth but could not get past John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux in the Division Series, losing three straight to the Braves. After one more year with the Cubs, Jim became a bench coach in Los Angeles under Jim Tracy. Jim’s son, Jon Riggleman, was drafted by the Dodgers in 2002.
Jim coached for the Mariners in 2008 and then replaced John McLaren in June as Seattle’s manager, but was let go after the season. Jim was hired as a coach by the Washington Nationals the following year, and replaced Manny Acta as manager at midseason, bringing McLaren aboard as his bench coach. Jim won the final 7 games of the 2009 season and did a good job developing the young Nats in 2010 and 2011.
In 2012, Jim’s club won 11 of 12 games when he suddenly quit, claiming he was unhappy that the team had not picked up his contract for 2012.
Jim managed in the Reds organization in 2013 and 2014, and was named Cincinnati’s third base coach in 2015. In 2018, he was named interim manager after Bryan Price was fired. He spent a year as the bench coach for the Mets in 2019.In 2022, Jim returned to minor-league managing, guiding the independent Billings Mustangs, who had been a farm team of the Reds while Jim was in Cincinnati. The team went 5–41 and made the playoffs.