Ernest Riles

Ernest Riles (born October 2, 1960 in Cairo, Georgia) is a former shortstop and third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1985 through 1993, Riles played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1985–1988), San Francisco Giants (1988–1990), Oakland Athletics (1991), Houston Astros (1992) and Boston Red Sox (1993). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Career

Riles was a promising infielder with a good throwing arm and great bat speed, but a litany of injuries and ineffectiveness forced his retirement in 1995, at age 34. He was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1981 amateur draft. In 1983, he led the Texas League in batting average (.349), on-base percentage (.450) and OPS (.958), being promoted to Triple-A Pacific Coast League the next year.

Riles debuted with the Brewers in the 1985 mid-season. In his first major league stint, he hit .286 and finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year vote behind Ozzie Guillén and Teddy Higuera.

After frequent trips to the disabled list, Riles was traded by Milwaukee to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Jeffrey Leonard in the 1988 mid-season. Riles belted the 10,000th home run in Giants history during a 21–2 rout of the Cardinals.^[1]

Riles also played with Oakland and Houston, and ended his major league career with the Boston Red Sox in the 1993 season.

In a nine-season major league career, Riles was a .254 hitter with 48 home runs and 284 RBI in 919 games played.

Post-Season Appearances

• 1989 NL Championship Series
• 1989 World Series

Facts

• Riles is one of three people to be from Cairo, Georgia and play Major League Baseball. The others are Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson and infielder Willie Harris who is his nephew.
• Before being drafted, he attended Middle Georgia College, which also was home of future big leaguers as Andy Abad, Kal Daniels and Jody Davis.
• Was named "1985 Brewers' Rookie of the Year".

References

Sources

• The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Library
• The Baseball Page
• Baseball Reference