Longtime big league coach and manager Jim Riggleman has been hired to manage the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League, according to an announcement from Mustangs’ clubhouse manager Harrison Faulk (Twitter link). The Pioneer League is an independent circuit designated as an official partner league of Major League Baseball.
Riggleman played in the minors during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, topping out at Triple-A. He’s more known for his post-playing accomplishments, as he’s spent the better part of four decades coaching and managing. Riggleman spent most of the 1980’s as a minor league skipper in the Cardinals’ farm system. He got his first MLB managerial opportunity with the Padres in 1992, holding that role for three seasons. Riggleman managed the Cubs for the second half of that decade.
Over the past couple decades, Riggleman has worked more frequently as a bench coach. He spent some time as an interim skipper with the Mariners in 2008, then took over the Nationals’ dugout on an interim basis the following season. Riggleman was promoted to full-time manager in the nation’s capital, holding the role until resigning midway through the 2011 campaign. He’d again get to lead a dugout in an interim capacity in 2018, taking over for the Reds after Cincinnati dismissed Bryan Price that April.
The Reds didn’t retain Riggleman after the season, and he spent the 2019 campaign as Mets’ bench coach. Now 69 years old, he’ll make the jump to the independent ranks with the Mustangs.