1975 IN-ACTION: MICKEY RIVERS

Haven’t added to my long-running “1975 In-Action” series in a while, so let’s go and add “Mick the Quick” Mickey Rivers to it today shall we:
Take a look:

Mickey was coming off his first full year in the Big Leagues, leading the American League with 11 triples in 1974 while batting .285 with 133 hits in 466 at-bats while stealing 30 bases.
1975 would see him lead the American League once again in triples, this time with 13, while also topping the Junior Circuit with 70 steals while hitting .284 on 175 hits in 616 at-bats.
Man, "Mick the Quick" was a player I loved when I first got seriously into baseball in 1976 or so. He was that New York Yankee with the speed and flash that my six-year-old mind latched on to back then.
He put together a nice 15-year career that saw him lead the league in stolen bases once and triples twice, while topping 200 hits in 1980 with the Rangers when he hit .333.
He even managed to retire from the game hitting .300 his final year in the big leagues, playing for Texas in 1984.
He'd finish with a .295 batting average with 1660 hits and 267 stolen bases, as well as those two World Championships in the Bronx in 1977 and 1978.

 

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970'S- "MICK THE QUICK" RIVERS

Gotta have a “Nickname of the ‘70’s” card for my favorite speedster as a young Yankee fan in the late-70’s, Mickey Rivers: aka “Mick the Quick”:

Rivers was as colorful off the base-paths as on them, and if you don’t know what I mean just read some of the “Bronx Zoo” books like “Number 1”.
Absolutely hilarious dude!!
He also wasn’t so bad as a player either!
He would finish his 15-year big league career with a nice .295 batting average, with 1660 hits over 5629 at-bats in 1468 games with the California Angels, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers between 1970 and 1984, with 267 stolen bases.
He led the American League in triples twice (1974 and 1975) while also topping the league with 70 steals that second year as well.
His finest season had to be 1980 with the Texas Rangers when he collected 210 hits, giving him an excellent .333 batting average with 96 runs scored (a career high) along with 32 doubles six triples and seven homers.
Of course he was also a member of those two consecutive World Champion Yankees of 1977 and 1978, giving the Yanks that speedster at the top of the order for guys like Munson, Jackson and Nettles to drive home.

"MICK THE QUICK" AND HIS DUPLICATE CARD IMAGES IN 1972 AND 1973

Here's another set of cards that Topps used the same image for: the 1972 and 1973 Mickey Rivers editions.

Check them out:

1972

1973

Interesting how Topps ever-so-slightly rotated the 1973 version while zooming out a touch to actually give it a bit of a different feel.

Nevertheless we're looking at the same image used twice in a row.

Always cracks me up considering Topps had no competition and could have done whatever they wanted.

Well, I guess THIS counts as doing whatever they wanted, right? Just not how I would have done it…

Man, "Mick the Quick" was a player I loved when I first got seriously into baseball in 1976 or so. He was that Yankee with the speed and flash that my six-year-old mind latched on to back then.

He put together a nice 15-year career that saw him lead the league in stolen bases once and triples twice, while topping 200 hits in 1980 with the Rangers when he hit .333.

He even managed to retire from the game hitting .300 his final year in the big leagues, playing for Texas in 1984.

He'd finish with a .295 batting average with 1660 hits and 267 stolen bases, as well as those two World Championships in the Bronx in 1977 and 1978.