UNCLE BILL’S YANKEE LEGEND SERIES: MARIANO RIVERA.
It might be said that no baseball reliever ever affected a team as Mariano Rivera had on the New York Yankees. The Hall of Famer was the first player to be inducted in the Hall with a 100% vote the first time his name was presented. The boy in Panama that used a stick for a bat and a crushed milk carton for a glove would go on to be the greatest baseball closer of all time.
Mariano Rivera Girón was born in Panama City, Panama, on November 29, 1969. He lived in a two-room shack with a tin roof. His parents Delia and Mariano, his older sister, and two younger brothers lived together down a dirt road in the village of Puerto Caimito. Most of the residents of this seaside village were fishermen. Mariano’s Dad was no different, captaining his own boat. As a child, he loved playing soccer and baseball. One day while playing soccer, he would injure an eye. In his impoverished village, few kids had any sporting goods and fashioned equipment from what was available. A glove was a crushed milk carton, a bat was a selected tree branch, and the baseball was fashioned out of wrapped and taped discarded fishing nets. At the age of 12, his father bought him his first leather glove.
As a teen, his grandfather would take him to the sugar fields where he would be taught to cut cane with precision, with the last-minute flick of the wrist, a movement that would aide him years later with his fluid pitching style. At the age of 16, “Mo” would learn the fishing trade from his father. He would work six days a week, while his spare time was spent playing soccer and baseball. Sometimes his childhood girlfriend Clara would watch him play. One day while fishing, Mariano would nearly be killed in a fishing accident that killed his uncle. At the age of 17, after a series of soccer accidents, he would spend more time on his beloved baseball. The next year he would play shortstop for a local amateur team. In a game, their pitcher had pitched so severely that Mariano would be asked to pitch, even though he had no experience as a pitcher. He threw well and eventually went to baseball tryout in Panama City. Yankee scout Chico Heron was there, and while not impressed by Mariano’s fastball, he was impressed with his delivery and accuracy.
Heron arranged a tryout with Herb Raybourn, the head of Latin American scouting for the Yankees. Raybourn viewed the 155 pound Rivera as a raw talent with a beautiful fluid pitching style. He signed the amateur to a minor league contract with the Yankees in the living room of the family home on February 17, 1990, and thus would begin the 29-year journey to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rivera reported to the rookie-level Gulf Coast Yankee affiliate. Being away from home, Mariano became homesick and would write home often. His family’s house had no telephone. In Tampa, he was not considered a significant prospect and often only pitched out of the bullpen. At the end of the season, Mariano was allowed to start in a doubleheader that would end the season. In his first and only start of the year, he would pitch seven scoreless innings. In 1991 he would be promoted to the Greensboro Hornets. He recorded 123 strikeouts and walked only 36 in 114 2/3 innings that year while learning the English language. At the end of the season, he would return to Panama and marry his childhood sweetheart Clara. Both he and Clara were very religious and were married in a formal ceremony in front of family and friends.
1992 would be a rough patch for Mariano, first sidelined with elbow stiffness and later in the season requiring surgery to his UCL. The operation was not Tommy Johns surgery, and the ligament didn’t need to be replaced, just repaired. Because it was only a replacement, the Yankee doubted he would miss the entire 1993 season. During rehab, he would play catch with Whitey Ford and Ron Guidry. In the spring of 93, he would return to Greensboro Hornets under pitching duration limitations. A young shortstop Derek Jeter would keep track of his pitch count in games. At the end of the season, the team official scorer didn’t see much of a future for Mariano, saying, “I thought he was on a one-way trip to nowhere.” How wrong was he?. In 1994 he would pitch for three teams, ending up at AAA Columbus. Rivera finished his season with a 10–2 record and a 3.09 ERA overall, but he struggled in Columbus, recording a 5.81 ERA in six starts. He would start 1995 with Columbus going 1-1 in four starts with a 1.50 ERA.
On May 23, 1995, Mariano Rivera would make his major league debut as a starting in a game against the Angels. Rivera had always had a mediocre fastball in the low 90’s, but in his last game with Columbus, it would increase four mph, which was unexplainable, When Mariano would be asked how it happened, he would say it was an act of God. That increase in speed prevented the young Yankee from being traded. During 95, he would both start and relieve. John Wetteland was the Yankee closer. Rivera would not start another game when he was permanently assigned to the bullpen on September 10th. The Yankees would go on to win the first-ever wild card game. In-game 2 of the ALDS against Seattle, John Wetteland had yielded a two-out homer to Ken Griffey Jr., giving the Mariners a 5-4 lead, and he left the game after Edgar Martinez singled. In his first-ever postseason appearance, Rivera struck out the first batter he faced, and the Yankees retied the contest at the bottom of the inning. Rivera would come out at the top of the 13th and pitch 3 1/3 innings of no-hit ball. Yankee catcher Jim Leyritz would win the game for the Yankees with a home run. The Yankees would eventually lose the series when Seattle would take the last three games. In-game five Rivera threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
With Rivera’s winning ways and poise on the mound, the Yankees decided not to re-sign Wetteland, and Rivera became the Yankee’s closer. In 1997, he would blow 3 of his first six save opportunities. Joe Torre would speak to him about not demanding so much of himself and not try to be so perfect, and he would go on to 12 saves in a row. I could write volumes about how he would come out on the 8th or the 13th and save the game. But I won’t. I will say that when #42 entered the field to the Metallica tune, “enter sandman,” the Yankees, as well as the opposing team, felt the game was over.
There were very few hiccups in Rivera’s career; one was in game 7 of the Diamondbacks World Series when he failed to save the game in the ninth. He loaded the bases and allowed a bloop single giving the D-backs the 2001 World Series win. Rivera’s career was marked by the steady accumulation of relief pitching records. On June 6, 2006, he passed Dennis Eckersley for fourth place all-time in saves and six weeks later became the fourth major-league pitcher to reach 400 saves. He finished the 2006 season with 34 saves in 37 opportunities and an ERA of 1.80, his fourth consecutive season below 2.00. In 2007 he would sign a three year $45 million contract and would become the highest-paid reliever in baseball. On September 15, he recorded his 479th save to surpass Lee Smith for second place on the all-time save list. With his signature cutter pitch, every player knew what was coming, but few were able to hit it as Rivera would continue to amass saves.
On June 28, 2009, he would become the second pitcher with 500 regular-season saves. The Yankees would win the 2009 World Series under new skipper Joe Girardi. Rivera was the only closer who did not record a loss or blown save that postseason. With Trevor Hoffman retired and his save record for regular-season saves frozen after the 2010 season, Rivera would become all-time saves leader on September 19 at Yankee Stadium, by closing out a 6–4 win against the Twins. The President of Panama would congratulate him. In 2012 after just nine games, Mariano would injure his knee while catching a ball during batting practice that would end his season. Many thought it would be the end of his career. After successfully rehabbing the knee, he returned with a new one year contract. Before the season began, he announced that he would retire after the season was over. Throughout the year, he would receive gifts and be celebrated in ever away park for his incredible career. That final year he amassed a .750 winning record with 44 saves. In his last game at Yankee stadium, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter would walk to the mound to take the ball from Rivera; he would break down and cry on their shoulders before being given a loud standing ovation from an adoring Yankee crowd, many of which were crying themselves.
Mariano, in his 19 major league seasons with the Yankees, would be an All-Star 13 times, an MVP candidate nine times, and be a Cy Young candidate six times. Rivera won five American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards. He also is the owner of five World Series rings. He would have a career of 652 saves and a career 2.21. ERA. In 2007 Yankee Manager Joe Torre would say, “It gets to the point where you take him for granted. You never want to assume anything, but for the 12 years I have been here, he’s the greatest assumption of my life. He has put himself in a place where nobody has ever been.” In his first year of eligibility, Mariano Rivera became the first player to be unanimously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
Since his retirement, Mariano and Clara reside in Westchester County outside of New York City. In 2009 they founded the Iglesia Refugio de Esperanza (Refuge of Hope Church). Clara serves as the pastor. The couple raised three sons. Mariano is involved with the church but also is active in philanthropic causes for needy families in the United States and his home country of Panama. In 2018, he was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. And so goes the very abbreviated story of the career of the greatest closer of all time.
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