So rare are the days a real record in the sports world is broken and understand its history in the making. It’s simply a true growth of excellence from the past to present that we all witnessed together as another human being strives to the top.
In 1995, I was fifteen years old and a young man came up from the minors to start a few games for the New York Yankees. His name was Mariano Rivera, nicknamed “Mo”. Rivera was signed by the Yankees organization in 1990 as an amateur free agent in Panama. He struggled in ten game starts when brought up to the Major League level and suffered a 5.51 ERA. A number he would never come close to in the next fourteen years that followed. In his sophomore year in the “Biggs” he pitched a career high 102 innings in relief. His ERA dropped significantly to 2.09 all while surrendering only one single home run the entire season. In his Rookie season he lobbed up eleven bombs to opposing hitters. He finished 1996 like he started it going 8-3 while entering the “saves” category for the first time with 5 on the season. Mainly a set-up man for John Wetteland he pitched the 7th or 8th innings at this turning point in his career. It was no surprise Mo was dominant and the Yankees “suites” knew it.
The managers knew it.
The fans knew it.
For fifteen straight years this man Mo, saved at least 25 games a year all while keeping his ERA at an average of 2.22. Want another amazing stat? Sure you do. Ten of the fifteen years in his dominant stretch, Mo had an ERA under 2.00. Look around the league people. You don’t see this too much anymore. So consistent and such a force batters would be intimidated to step in the box against him. Six hundred of anything in life is a ton, this right here… what’s taking place today, in the most historic sports franchise…? It’s just simply a giant milestone reached by another man in Pinstripes.
Enter the Sandman and he will put heads to bed in a regular, calm, straight forward fashion. Three pitches…Changeup, Curve and his signature pitch the Cut Fastball or “cutter”. No gimmicks, rarely any hiccups all while retaining an accent from his mother land. Never had I understood a post game speech from Mo, but never did I actually care to listen. He's a closer, not a public speaker. He's a master at his craft and most of us in our twenties and thirties had a firsthand witness to his greatness.
This weekend Mariano will hope to have his chance at tying the all-time saves leader in Trevor Hoffman, and surpassing him if he gets two save before week’s end. Trevor Hoffman left the league after helping the Padres and Brewers to the playoffs in his long career. He had a fantastic 14 years that he succeeded at the closer role in his 18 year career. A high point was saving 53 games in 1998 taking the San Diego Padres through the playoffs capturing the NL Championship only to lose quickly in the World Series to none-other-than Mariano Rivera's New York Yankees. Once again the time has come for Mo to overshadow Mr. Trevor "2nd best" Hoffman and take the crown he only had the chance to hold for five months of baseball. That's right, Trevor retired after last year (2010) and his record was broken in less than one season.
As I've said before there have been great closers in Dennis Eckersley, Lee Smith and Billy Wagner however none as great and more dominant then the man who just compiled 600 saves on one team. The historic New York Yankees. The most successful team in all of sports history, this I sincerely believe. We got to see Rivera's career unfold. We had the opportunity to see him strikeout batter after batter. We witnessed a master at work for fifteen straight years. We all had the chance to see, hear and feel the power of one man closing out important games one after another...and another and yet another. The two most memorable stats I love about Mariano Rivera's long career...ONE: He never blew 3 consecutive saves ever! Wow, I mean the Mets RP Bobby Parnell blew six games in ten chances in just over two months. TWO: His post-season ERA is unreal standing at 0.71 pitching 139.2 innings giving up only 11 ER's. It's absolutely unfathomable.
Mariano Rivera is a master of his craft and I'm proud to have stories of him to tell some young ones in the future.
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