Rivich's RBI record still stands in Stockton

Aaron Bates proved last month that baseball history isn't necessarily something that comes from an old and faded press clipping. Any player can make history at any given moment and Bates certainly carved his name into the league record books in impressive fashion.

The Lancaster first baseman belted four round trippers against Lake Elsinore on May 19 while also setting the league record for total bases [17] in a game, breaking a mark that had stood for nearly eight years. Still, even with that gargantuan effort, Bates fell well short of the league mark for RBIs in one game, surprisingly knocking in only six.

Stockton's Robert Rivich holds that standard, having collected 11 RBIs in a game against Bakersfield on May 22, 1954, almost 53 years to the day before Bates joined him in the California League record book. Rivich, a catcher, connected for a pair of homers and two doubles en route to breaking the league record of 10 RBIs set in 1949 by Bakersfield's Wellington "Wimpy" Quinn.

The record for most RBIs in a game, according to Lloyd Johnson, the editor of The Minor League Encyclopedia, is 16, set by Corsicana's Nig Clarke on June 15, 1902. In that historic Texas League game, Clarke hit home runs in eight consecutive at-bats in a 51-3 win over Texarkana.

A pair of Cardinals, Jim Bottomley and Mark Whitten, share the Major League record with 12, the former setting the mark on Sept. 16, 1924 against Brooklyn with the latter equaling it Sept. 7, 1993 against Cincinnati.

"The bases were loaded pert near every time I came up," Rivich, 75, said. "And the fabulous part about it, I didn't play the whole game. The manager [Gene Handley] took me out after five innings because we were way ahead. He didn't know it, but I could have broken a record. He told me had he known I could have broken a record he would have left me in.

"I didn't realize what I was doing during the game. I found out after the game when someone looked at the box score and said that I had 11 RBIs. I said 'no' and he said, 'You damn sure do.' Then I thought, 'God, 11 in one game. How did Jim Bottomley get 12 in one Major League game? It was a heck of a game."

The Ports topped Bakersfield that Saturday night, 16-3, behind Rivich's impressive effort. After belting a three-run homer off Alex Ropek in the fourth inning, Rivich connected for another three-run shot off Ned Marks, in the fifth inning before retiring for the evening.

The Stockton Record dubbed him "Rampageous Robert" in Sunday's newspaper. That afternoon he lived up to the name by slugging another homer as Stockton, which was affiliated with the Cubs at the time, completed the weekend sweep with a 9-6 victory. His three home runs that weekend more than doubled his season output while doubling his RBI total.

"It didn't seem like much work," Rivich said. "I was just stroking the ball and let it go. The only other time I thought about it was later on. One of the Cubs officials was in town and I ran into him in the team hotel. He asked me after that, 'How many RBIs do you have for the year now? 12?'"

One of the highlights of Rivich's '54 season, aside from his 11-RBI game, was having the chance to see Don Drysdale pitch. The future Hall of Famer was with Bakersfield that summer though he didn't make it to the mound on Rivich's record-setting weekend.

"He was an 18-year-old rookie," Rivich said. "He was intimidating -- a big, strong right-hander. He could throw that ball."

Drysdale went on to star for the Dodgers while Rivich, who now lives in Texas, was out of baseball by the end of the decade. He began playing professionally in 1950 and, after spending two years in the service, went as high as Double-A ball with Memphis before retiring in 1958. A strong defensive catcher with an accurate arm, he started everywhere he played until '58 when his arm began to deteriorate.

"My arm just went dead," Rivich said. "I could throw about four or five back to the pitcher and that was it. I think it was a rotator cuff but back in them days they didn't check to see what it was. But I couldn't get the ball to second base to save my life. So after the '58 season I just quit and went into the business of managing bowling lanes in Memphis and did that for 25 years."

It's been another 24 years since and Rivich still owns his place in the California League record book.