Is Jim Riggleman The Luckiest Coach Ever?
In the annals of Seattle Mariners managerial history, Jim Riggleman will probably be forgotten.
Compiling a 36-54 win-loss record over roughly half of the 2008 season, Riggleman was a good guy in a bad situation. The de facto backup option when first-stringer John McLaren couldn’t get his ballclub on the winning track.
Riggleman was handed the keys to a broken down jalopy of a vehicle and instructed to drive it as well as he could. He lasted until season’s end, was replaced by Don Wakamatsu over the offseason, then became the bench coach for the Washington Nationals and manager Manny Acta.
Skip ahead a few months and here we are in July. Thirteen months after he vultured the managerial post in Seattle, Riggleman is doing it again, this time in DC.
Reports are surfacing that Acta has been fired and replaced by his bench coach, Riggleman. From a win-loss standpoint, this comes as no surprise. The Nats have the worst record in baseball (26-61) and appear to be years away from contention.
What is surprising is that Riggleman finds himself in the right place at the wrong time once again. In fact, this is the third time (out of his four managerial jobs) that Riggleman has obtained his skipper status by taking over during the year. In addition to doing it last year in Seattle, he also became manager of the 1992 San Diego Padres with 12 games remaining in the midst of an otherwise lost season.
In that sense, Riggleman is a lucky man. Three-quarters of his managerial hirings have come based on fortune and timing, if nothing else.
At the same time, the three midseason takeovers have been with teams that were mired in a losing atmosphere. The chances of Riggleman succeeding at any of these jobs have been extremely low, and in that sense he’s about as unlucky as they come.
Riggleman is essentially becoming a highly-paid babysitter, charged with the task of watching the kids until the parents come home. What this means for his managing future remains to be seen, but as an oft-promoted bench coach, Riggleman has proven he can control a team in the worst of situations. If nothing else, he’d be a great candidate for a crisis control position somewhere in the U.S. Government.
Jim Riggleman is a great guy. He deserves to be in DC near all his old friends and family.i have known him since we played junior high school basketball against each other. I might have known him from playing against him in LL in Rockville. My recently deceased father in law was his American Legion coach and my wife was there scorekeeper. He should be able to finish his career in DC and I hope that will be a long time from now. One thing is for sure. He will boost ticket sales. I already have friends calling to see about going to a game. A great guy hopefully home for good.