Riles grew up in Georgia, where he was the youngest child in a family of ten boys and one girl. He played
baseball his entire life and idolized
Bert Campaneris as a child. Riles attended
Bainbridge High School in
Bainbridge, Georgia, where he was coached by
John Palermo. Riles was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers from Middle Georgia College in the
1981 Major League Baseball 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 teammate
Teddy Higuera. After frequent trips to the
disabled list, Riles was traded from the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for
Jeffrey Leonard on June 8, 1988. The Giants were in need of infield roster depth at the time. He belted the 10,000th
home run in Giants history during a 21–2 rout of the
Cardinals. Riles played in the 1989 World Series as a member of the Giants. Riles started the first two games of the World Series as the Designated Hitter for the Giants. Riles also played with Oakland and Houston, and ended his major league career with the Boston Red Sox in the 1993 season. Over a nine-season major league career, Riles was a .254 hitter with 48 home runs and 284
run batted in in 919
games played. ==References==