The Minnesota Twins have had plenty of memorable players over the years, but not all of them were superstars. Some became fan favorites for their personalities, others for unforgettable moments on the field. A few have stories that are too good to leave unmentioned.
This offseason, I'm starting a new series called Twins Time Capsule, where we'll revisit some of the more interesting players and unusual stories from the team's history. Some names will be familiar to you, while others might have you digging through your memory bank. For our first installment, we're heading back to the late 1970s, when a relatively unknown outfielder arrived in Minnesota and became an unlikely local celebrity. His name was Bombo Rivera.
Twins Time Capsule: Who was Bombo Rivera?
Born Jesús Manuel Rivera Torres in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Rivera earned his unforgettable nickname as a child. According to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he often hit towering fly balls as a youth baseball player. They weren't necessarily long, but they were high enough to earn him the name "Bombo." He eventually signed with the Montreal Expos in 1970 and made his major league debut in 1975. Following the 1977 season, Minnesota purchased his contract.
Rivera arrived at a particularly difficult time for the Twins. The team had lost Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock to free agency, attendance was struggling, and the glory days of the 1960s were becoming a distant memory - sounds familiar - but sometimes a struggling franchise finds an unlikely hero. For Minnesota, that hero was Bombo.
Bombo-mania takes over Minnesota
Rivera was hardly a superstar. In three seasons with the Twins, he appeared in 257 games, hit eight home runs, and drove in 64 runs. Nevertheless, fans at Metropolitan Stadium adored him. His enthusiasm, hustle, and memorable name made him an instant favorite. The crowd enthusiastically chanted "Bombo!" whenever he was announced.
His popularity even caught the attention of Minnesota humorist Garrison Keillor, who wrote and performed "The Ballad of Bombo Rivera" with the Powdermilk Biscuit Band in April 1978. Imagine arriving in Minnesota as a relatively unknown outfielder and discovering that someone had already written a song about you. Even Rivera was surprised. In an April 1978 interview preserved by Minnesota Public Radio, he said he wanted to get a recording of the song as a souvenir.
But a folk song wasn't the strangest demonstration of Rivera's popularity. In the spring of 1979, University of Minnesota students cast 971 votes for a presidential candidate who had never announced his candidacy, never campaigned, and wasn't even enrolled at the university. That candidate was Bombo Rivera.
Rivera didn't win the student body presidency, but he did finish ahead of two candidates who actually campaigned for the position. He may not have been qualified to lead the student government, but there was apparently no shortage of people willing to vote for him.
For all the attention Rivera received, his popularity wasn't entirely disconnected from his performance. He hit .271 in 1978 and improved to .281 the following season. On May 19, 1978, he went 4-for-4 with a home run against the Kansas City Royals. But perhaps his finest moment came on July 21, 1979.
With Minnesota trailing Toronto 3-2 in the eighth inning at Metropolitan Stadium, Rivera stepped to the plate with a runner on second. He connected with a slow curveball, sending it approximately 390 feet into the left-field seats for a two-run home run. The Twins won 4-3. According to SABR's account of the game, it was the only one of Rivera's 10 career major league home runs that gave his team the lead. Manager Gene Mauch even joked afterward that the blast might earn Rivera a few more votes in his unofficial presidential campaign.
A legacy bigger than the box score
Rivera's Minnesota career took an unfortunate turn on April 28, 1980, when he collided with the right-field foul pole at Metropolitan Stadium while chasing a fly ball hit by Seattle's Willie Horton. The collision fractured his kneecap, and Rivera had to be carried from the field. He missed about two and a half months of the season, and his production suffered after he returned. The Twins released him before the 1981 season, but he continued playing professionally, including stops in Mexico and Japan, and briefly returned to the majors with Kansas City in 1982. But his time in Minnesota remained the most memorable chapter in his career. His unusual popularity even earned him a mention in W.P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe, the book that inspired the film Field of Dreams. Who knew?
Rivera never became an All-Star or led the Twins to a championship. His career statistics won't place him alongside Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, or Kirby Puckett, but that's what makes his story so enjoyable. Baseball history isn't written exclusively by Hall of Famers. Sometimes it's written by an ordinary outfielder with an extraordinary nickname, an infectious enthusiasm for the game, and nearly a thousand people willing to vote for him for president.
Bombo Rivera may have been a modest contributor on the field. Still, for a few unforgettable seasons, he was one of Minnesota's biggest personalities, and nearly five decades later, that's a legacy worth remembering.
For a glimpse of Rivera in action, here's some actual game footage from 1978, when the Twins hosted the Seattle Mariners at Metropolitan Stadium. Rivera doesn't exactly produce a highlight-reel moment in this particular at-bat, but it's a rare opportunity to see him playing in Minnesota during the height of Bombo-mania.
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