Pitcher Andy Pettitte recalls the days back in 1996 when Mariano Rivera was first starting in the major leagues. He had no remarkable pitches and his fastball didn't have much to it. "It was like, `Man, he'd better come up with a little bit more stuff to be able to start in this league,'" Pettitte said. The following year, Rivera was sent to the bullpen a year later and he has never looked back.
Who is going to replace the hopeful-future-Hall of Famer? Well, the question is simple. No one. The thing about Mariano Rivera is that he is not just one of the best closers of all time; nor is he just a great teammate. Rivera's integrity, sportsmanship, classiness, and dignity encompass it all. He is a role model to the young rookies just starting out in the MLB, and an inspiration to young little-leaguers who only dream of making it to the MLB. Yet, Rivera has never been named the AL (American League) MVP, nor has he ever won a Cy Young award.
His statistics speak for itself. Rivera is a seven-time pennant winner, five-time World Series Champion, and a 12-time All Star. In his seventeen years in the major leagues he has 608 saves, with an earned run average under 2.30. In his playoff appearances over sixteen years, Rivera has a .070 ERA and 42 out of 96 saves. As Yankees GM Brian Cashman stated twice, ""You'll never see that again, you'll never see that again."
We can only hope that Rivera gets what he deserves in his last year with the Yankees. He deserves to throw the last pitch in the ninth inning and save the game to win the 2013 World Series with the New York Yankees.
so sad! He's such a legend, and the Yankees will not be the same without him. My brother was at the press conference when he announced his retirement. Sidenote, when I saw his wife, I assumed she was his mother =x haha
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous that your brother got to attend the press conference! Was he sitting near Jeter or Pettitte?! His wife does look older, though. haha.
ReplyDelete